With the increasing demand for luxurious travel, airlines are focusing on enhancing their first-class cabins to resemble mini hotel rooms. These cabins now feature sofas, double beds, televisions, desks, wardrobes, minibars, and, in some cases, even walk-in showers.
Airlines see first class as an opportunity to recover some of the losses incurred during the pandemic. It is considered an exclusive and premium service, leading many airlines to invest billions in redesigning their planes and revamping their first-class offerings. Despite the fares for first-class seats being more than 10 times the price of standard economy seats, there is still demand. People are willing to book these seats using cash or redeem miles accumulated on credit cards during the pandemic.
Leading airlines like Lufthansa and Qantas have introduced redesigned first-class cabins that can be completely closed off with doors. Air France and Japan Airlines are also joining the competition by introducing new cabins as early as December.