From the Australian...
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VIRGIN Australia will intensify its bid to lure lucrative corporate domestic customers from May 15 when it launches a striking new custom-designed business cabin on its wide body trans-continental and Melbourne-Sydney services.
The airline will take delivery of two new Airbus aircraft this month and a third later in the year to give it five of the six A330s it has planned for its fleet.
The contemporary charcoal and white business cabin eliminates the middle seat for business customers with a spacious 2-2-2 configuration that includes 24 seats that fold down to angled flat beds.
A large screen gives travellers the option of watching Virgin's state-of-the-art “red” video-on-demand system or connecting a personal device such as an iPad to play their own movies.
Generous seat storage includes two compartments for personal effects as well as a spot in the centre console to store a laptop. The aircraft is also set up for future wireless inflight entertainment and broadband internet currently under test by Virgin.
Unveiling the new cabin in Toulouse, France, Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said the 2-2-2 configurations meant the cabin was more spacious and comfortable than the A330 cabins inherited from Emirates and featured on its current services.
He also indicated the new cabin would be well suited to international services if the airline decided in future to use its A330s on overseas flights.