Air France’s new Stelia first class: a paragon of elegant simplicity

Right after this year’s Paris Fashion Week, it’s the turn of Air France’s new first class seat to head down the runway, and it would receive a full two nods — perhaps even a smile? — from The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly.

Air France’s very concept of La Première first class has long revelled in its elegant simplicity, taking an opposite point of view to many showier, flashier suites with its high curtain instead of heavy, bulky walls.

Its new first class seat from Stelia Aerospace maintains this principle, even as striking as it is in its size and its simplicity of design, replacing the chair that converts into a bed with a separate armchair and chaise longue (amusingly for linguists, in French this type of furniture is called a méridienne) that converts into a full two metre (6’7”) bed.

Stretching a full five windows down the Boeing 777-300ER fuselage on which it will first be installed, the new seat is the length of the bed plus the separate chair, much longer than previously.

In style, the new seat echoes the previous generation in curving whites and greys, with pleasing leather armrests and headrests, with the latter embossed with the iconic Air France crevette (or “shrimp”, officially “seahorse”, or hippocampe). Metallic accents are in a delightful Champage-coloured effect, including around the table and the sidewall-side structure of the seat, with more crevettes on the lamps as well.

Air France retains its unique privacy curtains, which stretch to the ceiling and seem thicker and more luxurious than previously. Gone are the overhead bins, with storage for each seat in a large side cabinet that pulls out from the side table next to the chaise longue, while overhead lighting and presumably the storage for the seat’s twin oxygen masks are contained in a pair of pill-shaped features high above the windows.

Each seat has a personal wardrobe for hanging items, especially after passengers slip into their new Jacquemus loungewear, while a smaller shoe drawer with a bright red lining that harks back to Louboutins pulls out sideways from underneath the chaise longue itself.

Next to the head of the armchair there is a small compartment with backlit mirror, while in sleep mode the base of the lamp on the chaise longue side has a very thoughtful lip that lets passengers deposit smaller items like eyeglasses (or, rather daringly in the PR snaps, their jewellery) while they sleep.

Both the side table on the armchair side and the chaise longue/bed side feature large and clearly marked wireless charging pads, each, again, with a lip that means devices won’t slide off. AC and USB-A/C power sockets abound, while the armchair and chaise longue sides both have a dock for the seat’s own tablet, which allows control of the seat, the two 32” 4K IFE screens, the lighting and the window shades.

Pleasingly, it also seems that the lower surface of the dock also contains some specific seat controls, allowing passengers to make small adjustments swiftly.

Air France has only released pictures of the outboard product at this point, so the centre pairs — and how they will allow passengers to travel à deux, as promised — will be forthcoming.

Seatmaker Stelia, plus partners Design Investment and SKG Brandimage, have done excellent work with this design, which walks a really impressive job of drawing inspiration from the residential world while not pretending that the passenger isn’t on an airplane.

Four suites will gradually be introduced on a selection of Air France 777-300ER aircraft, with the first inflight experience available beginning in spring 2025, according to Air France.

In terms of connectivity on board, the airline says: “soon, Air France will introduce a new ultra-high-speed connectivity service across its fleet”, but notably does not mention the word “Starlink”, whose association with Elon Musk and the current US administration might be sounding some long sobs of autumn violins at Air France’s Roissypôle headquarters.

Air France’s statement last fall suggests the carrier will progressively roll out Starlink starting this year. “Over time, this Wi-Fi service will be made available on board all the airline’s aircraft, replacing the current offer,” said Air France.

As part of its La Première offering, passengers will enjoy a new private ground experience at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. Image: Air France

Related Articles:

• Air France to offer SpaceX Starlink inflight Wi-Fi across fleet
• Air France goes industrial minimalist with new Expliseat seat for Hop
• Stelia takes focussed approach to perceived seat quality
• Air France CDG L satellite lounge: great bones, missed opportunities 
• Brand new interiors delight on Air France 777 and A220 twinjets

All images credited to Air France 

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