Luxury in the Sky – Beds and Suites on Flights

Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways are planning to launch fully enclosed private bedrooms on aircraft, where customers can experience the same modern technology in the sky that they are accustomed to enjoying at home, call it luxury in the sky if you will.

It’s all about privacy,” Emirates President Tim Clark said in an interview. “Our new bedroom concept will take it to the next level.”

Emirates is the biggest operator of Airbus A380 superjumbo jets and the largest customer of Boeing’s new long-range 777X jet, is in the advanced stages of launching bedrooms that will likely feature on both sets of aircraft and include room service. The Dubai-based airline already has 1,562 private podlike structures it calls “suites” on its fleet of 218 aircraft.

Emirates wouldn’t disclose the price it will charge for its bedrooms. But a return ticket on a New York to Dubai flight retails for around $26,000 in one of the suites, which cost around $500,000 each to produce–roughly the same as the price of a studio flat in downtown Manhattan.

Etihad, meanwhile, on Sunday unveiled a concept called “The Residence,” which will feature an enclosed area with a double bed, an en-suite bathroom, a lounge area and a butler trained at the Savoy Hotel in London. “The Residence” will be available on Etihad’s order of 10 A380s, the first of which will be delivered in December. It will priced at about $20,000 for a one-way trip between Abu Dhabi and London, which compares with the cost of about $100,000 for a private jet, according to Etihad Chief Executive James Hogan.