Air New Zealand will on 18 May start selling sessions in its Economy Skynest bunk beds on the Auckland-New York route for travel starting in November. The six lie-flat sleep pods on new Boeing 787-9s – placed between the economy and premium-economy sections of the aircraft – will be available for passengers in any class to book for 4h sessions on the flights. Initially, two sessions will be offered on the New York flights. Personal storage and USB device charging are included. "It's a simple idea with a powerful impact: swap the headrest for bedrest, and arrive ready to go," states Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar.

Air Canada, Lufthansa and Qantas are set to become launch operators of Airbus's upgraded A220 cabin interior this year. Delivery of A220s with the new cabin equipment will usher in a new era in which all of Airbus's in-production models feature its Airspace interior line, noted vice-president of cabin marketing Ingo Wuggetzer at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg on 14 April. In 2023, the European manufacturer disclosed its intention to update the A220's cabin with larger luggage bins, new passenger service units and fresh lighting. Airbus says the new bins – supplied by Diehl Aviation – will have 20% more volume and hold 15% more baggage than the previous, Safran-supplied ones. As on A320-family jets, the new bins are fixed, and their lids open toward the ceiling. Wuggetzer says boarding and disembarkation will be easier than with the previous pivoted bins. Airbus has previously said the new bins will become line-fit standard and be available for retrofit. Cirium fleets data shows that Air Canada has 42 A220-300s and another 23 on order. Qantas has 11 A220-300s – operated by its subsidiary National Jet Systems under QantasLink branding – and a further 18 on order. Lufthansa is scheduled to receive this year the first of 40 A220-300s on order for its City Airlines subsidiary.

Air India will be among the customers for a new first-class suite Airbus is developing for installation on A350s from 2030. At the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg on 14 April, Airbus vice-president of cabin marketing Ingo Wuggetzer named Air India as one of five airlines involved in the development, but did not disclose the others. First-class suites with floor-to-ceiling walls have entered service on A350s operated by Lufthansa and sibling carrier Swiss. Wuggetzer sees this as part of a wider trend for more personal space and privacy – and as a starting point to push the design limits further. "We had talks with a lot of customers who want the extra, the ultimate [level of comfort]," Wuggetzer says, adding: "We stopped the studies [and] are now in the development phase of the next generation of first-class seats." At last year's AIX event, Airbus revealed the design of an enclosed first-class suite in the centre of the cabin, featuring large immersive screens, sofas that can be configured as a dining area or bedroom for two passengers, a separate dressing room, and a private lavatory. Wuggetzer now says that a new modular monument in the forward cabin centre is key to the development and facilitates relocation of lavatories from current lateral positions. He suggests that the new central monument and rearrangement of the forward cabin may open up space further aft for additional business seats. Airbus is additionally redesigning the cabin entrance area immediately forward of the central monument with higher ceilings and new lighting, to "make it a really unique, private space". Wuggetzer acknowledges the challenges in creating a "very customised, highly complex, high-end quality" seat amid comparatively low production volumes. One objective of the 2030 service-entry target is to develop a reliable supply chain and avoid potential future delivery problems, he says. "We start the project now, so we are four years ahead to get all the suppliers that we want [and] they are ready in terms of volume, because today we see clearly bottlenecks, especially in seating." He adds that there is a shortage of seat manufacturers available and that Airbus wants to grow its supplier base. "We are starting to develop new suppliers. Especially in first class, you only have maybe two at the moment. We try to get four or five that are capable of delivering a high-quality, complex first-class seat."