Unum launches Unum One herringbone on TAAG 787 and Wamos A330

HAMBURG — New market entrant seatmaker Unum is no longer just a startup, with its first customers announced as TAAG Angola Airlines on the Boeing 787 and Wamos Air on the A330-200.

For TAAG, Boeing Global Services will be installing 18 Unum One herringbone seats as the new business class cabin on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. For Wamos, 20 of the same seat will be installed in the front zone of the airline’s Airbus A330-200 aircraft by an integrator as yet to be determined.

On TAAG, in terms of the cabin logistics, the business class seats will be installed together with an Unum-made front row monument, with the premium economy seats already on the aircraft being moved backwards, and a commensurate number of economy class seats being removed. 

On the 787, pitch for the outboard seats will be 40”, with the centre pairs at 48”, with the centre seats at a more acute angle pointed towards the centreline of 26 degrees. This arrangement gives more window seats than centre pairs, and also allows for optimal tessellation within the Boeing 787’s relatively small cabin diameter, with seat tracks lining up more closely underneath the seats, optimising load on the tracks.

Window-side versions of Unum One are at a greater angle on the 787 (and indeed A330). Image: John Walton

Runway Girl Network sat down with Unum’s chief executive Chris Brady and vice president for business development Alan McInnes in advance of the Aircraft Interiors Expo, with Brady calling the TAAG deal “ideal” for Unum.

“It’s ideal for a couple of reasons,” Brady says. “It’s ideal that it’s 787, because that forces the integrator to be Boeing Global Services, because they’ve got this monopoly on it, and that means that rigour is applied, and it reassures any skittish horses who might be considering being the second or third customer, because Boeing are involved.”

Unum One is an impressively engineered outward-facing herringbone, seen here in the centreline 787 version with the reduced angle. Image: John Walton

The seats will be installed post-delivery via a Europe-based MRO outfit yet to be determined, with Boeing Global Services as the integrator and the STC holder for non-seat elements like the front row monument, Brady explains.

For Wamos, Brady says, “the great thing is that they’re an A330 customer, and… the A330 is the other major part of our portfolio. In pure commercial terms outside passenger experience, the market for us is 40% 787, 40% A330, 20% single aisle, with maybe a sprinkling of 777s. Having that second airframe in play forces us to go through the diligence of actually putting it in production, and actually making all the parts — not just having that capability or capacity to do, but actually doing it.” 

Having a customer-selected seat on the A330 also means that future customers don’t have to go through the time, effort and risk of being a launch customer — and that the airframer also sees an airline vote of confidence.

The next focus for Unum: “This seat has got to turn up — whatever we’re doing here — on time,” Brady says openly. “That’s really important to us, because I think it’s going to be the foundation of our success. The product is good enough — I think it’s very good, but it’s certainly good enough — but we’re going to bring it in a box, to the quality you expect, on the day you expect it.”

Unum’s focus on the herringbone is notable, given that the seatmaker also offers a stagger, neatly named Unum Two.

At present, “airlines are more interested in the herringbone, and then therefore that’s what’s led product development, certification and thus sales,” Brady notes.

Elaborating, McInnes explains that, when Unum did its research, “back in 2019, the data said: herringbone predominates, the rest are basically staggered, and then a few oddballs, yin yang, and so on. And the data said A330 [for market opportunity]. The data then refreshed and said the 787 is starting to come through, and definitely last year’s Hamburg, we saw the rise of the inquiries on 787, but it’s still dominated by herringbone. So we followed our nose, and lo and behold, we come to Hamburg ’25 with with two customers, both taking herringbone and on two platforms.”

Related Articles:

• Unum shines at AIX with innovative new not-door and launch customer
• Up close with Unum’s first seat, the 34” Unum One herringbone
• Unum Two staggered business suite may be Unum’s first sale

Featured image credited to John Walton

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