business class qf a330-200
A new Qantas Airbus A330-200 is set to shock the airline's top-paying customers.
It is fitted with middle seats in its domestic business class cabin, and it's coming to the Cityflyer inter-capital services next month.
Middle seats have long been the curse of the economy classes.
Being sandwiched between two other travellers is a fact of life for the overwhelming majority of travellers who fly at the back of the bus. But in the new Airbuses - the first two of which are due to go into service by the end of December - there are 38 business class seats arranged two by three by two in five rows.
"The CEOs and CFOs are not going to be amused," said Col Williamson, executive director of Synergi Travel, which has a large number of them in its corporate accounts.
"They pay the business class premium for space, privacy and enhanced service, and they will be very unhappy."
But John Borghetti, the executive general manager, sales and marketing, at Qantas, insisted otherwise.
"People will love the new cabin" he said.
"The middle seats will always be allocated last and often left empty, and we are less than a month away from international cuisine even on the shortest domestic business class flights."
On the new Airbuses, the odds of a business traveller being sandwiched between two captains of industry for four hours and 45 minutes on a transcontinental flight to Perth are six in 38.
Mr Williamson said: "They won't like it." Mr Borghetti said: "They'll like it a lot more than being crammed up against a window seat in a 737."
Time will tell.
Glenn Buckingham, the chief executive officer of the Australasian Business Travel Association, said: "This will add to the perception among members that service standards are falling while the prices stay the same."
ABTA represents the corporate travel account managers of most of Australia's Top 100 companies.
As the Qantas style master, Mr Borghetti has copped constant flack for the cardboard food boxes in economy and insisted the new Airbus business cabin won't cause him as much trouble.
But perhaps that is because there are so few people actually paying business class any more.
"Domestic business class loses us money," Mr Borghetti said.
"Even without counting $50 million spent on new lounges, we don't make a dollar out of it."