Air New Zealand's top secret operation to revamp long-haul cabins

Air New Zealand has launched a top secret project to revamp its business class cabin. The airline has taken space in a secure building near its downtown Auckland headquarters to develop new seats for its business premier class, timed for fitting into its next generation of long-haul planes early next decade, and for retrofitting into the aircraft that remain in its fleet. While the airline is not releasing details of the project, the test site has been dubbed ''Hangar 22'' and for the past month a handful of its customers, including some of its most frequent long-haul flyers have started trialling early-stage product development. The new business class seats are likely to lead to new versions of premium economy and economy seats in other parts of the plane. During testing for new seats participants typically sleep on lie-flat seats for hours, sometimes overnight to provide feedback to airlines and designers. They sample new food, entertainment and service. They are likely to have signed confidentiality agreements and it is understood work at Hangar 22 is so sensitive that the airline's top executives are not allowed to enter the site without an innovation team escort.<br/>