Airline brings in ‘Super Club’ lure

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 5

Airline brings in ‘Super Club’ lure

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

Yet another big international airline has announced its intention to lure more business-class travellers on to its flights. Last week, Qantas and Pan American revealed plans to increase the number of business seats on their non-stop Boeing 7475 P services across the Pacific.

Now British Airways has released details of its new “Super Club” business class on all its flights between New Zealand and London from May 1. The airline claims that its new seats — “wider than the average British armchair” — will be wider than any other airline’s business-class seats.

The six-abreast seats, laid out across the cabin in pairs, will have a space of 609.60 mm (24 inches) between armrests: “101.60 mm (4in) wider than most armchairs,” according to a company press release.

Told of the airline’s claim, Air New Zealand yesterday armed an employee with a tape measure and sent him scurrying to one of its 747 s to check the distance between the armrests in its Pacific (business) class seats. The result: about .473 mm (18%in), inside to inside: (British Airways does not reveal whether its measurements were taken from the inner or the outer edges of the armrests.) British Airways offers

business travellers “Club” class seats on its flights to London, but these are little different from the airline’s economy-class seats. “Super Club” was introduced to the airliner’s Atlantic services on trial about 18 months ago. In the last year the airline claims to have flown more than 200,000 “Super Club” passengers to the United States and Canada.

“Super Club is virtually the old style first-class, but at much lower fares,” a company spokesman said yesterday.

Continental Airlines also wanted to introduce a downgraded first-class service at lower fares, but was refused permission by the Ministry of Transport.