Japan Airlines Refurbishes Its 767-300ERs with New Business and Economy Seats

Japan Airlines (JAL) is installing new seats throughout the airline’s two-class international Boeing 767-300ER fleet.

According to Japan Airlines, the latest improvements are in addition to the carrier’s previously announced interior revamp of its four-class international Boeing 777-300ERs.

The JAL Business Class cabin in each refurbished Boeing 767-300ER will be fitted with 24 new JAL Sky Suite II seats, each designed to recline 180 degrees into a fully flat bed.

Japan Airlines has been operating a fleet of 32 two-class Boeing 767-300ERs. While the carrier is refurbishing the interiors of some of the aircraft to offer a new business-class cabin with flat bed seats and a new economy-class cabin with slimmer seats offering greater seat pitch and bigger seatback IFE screens, JAL is likely to retire many of its 767-300ERs as it continues to take delivery of new Boeing 787-8s

In addition, each seat in the 1-2-1 business-class row configuration provides unobstructed aisle access for an undisturbed flight.

Business-class bed length will be approximately 200 centimeters (6 feet 6.75 inches) and seat width will be 52 centimeters (20.47 inches).

Each business-class seat will have a flexible side table and exclusive storage space, as well as 15.4-inch touch-panel TV screen that is almost 1.5 times larger than JAL’s former 767 business-class screen. Each seat is also equipped with a USB port and a universal AC power outlet

In the JAL Economy Class cabins in the refurbished 767s, the airline will install its newest economy class seat, JAL Sky Wider.  Each 767 will have a total of 175 economy-class seats, arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration.

Seat highlights include increased pitch and a slim-style seatback design resulting in approximately 10 centimeters (4 inches) more legroom than the present seat pitch.

This is the JAL Sky Wider seat, a larger and longer-seat-pitch economy seat which features in the Economy Class cabins of Japan Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ERs and 767-300ERs

Economy seat pitch will be from 84 to 86 centimeters (33 to 33.9 inches) depending on the seat (these figures not including the claimed 10-centimeter extra legroom resulting from the fact the seats are slimmer), while seat width between the armrests will be approximately 45 centimeters (17.7 inches).

The individual seatback in-flight entertainment screens for most economy-class seats will be 10.6 inches in diameter, though the seats in the first row 8.9-inch screens in the first row of economy will only have 8.9-inch screens. As in business class, each economy-class seat is equipped with a USB port and a universal AC power outlet.

JAL plans to introduce the revamped Boeing 767-300ERs initially on its service between Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (IATA code NRT) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) from December 2013.

The airline will also introduce the revamped 767-300ERs on select long-haul Southeast Asia routes and Honolulu routes by JAL’s 2014 fiscal year.

As a result of the airline’s latest cabin improvements, all of JAL’s routes operating to and from North America and Europe as well as the airline’s long-haul Southeast Asia routes will offer flat-bed seats in JAL Business Class.