Earlier this month Air France detailed its new business class seat with doors that looks more or less like the current business seat, with a door added. That’s still a very good hard product, but largely a ‘me too’ keeping up British Airways, Delta, Qatar, ANA, and where both American and likely United will be going.

This week we got word that there would be a new Air France first class suite. Details were slight, but Air France shared:

• It would offer “the longest cabin on the market”
  
• It will be “launched during the 2023/2024 winter season”
  
• And there will be up to three modular configurations” for the suite “a seat, a sofa and a fully flat bed”

There’s now a rendering that’s been shared from an Air France deck.

There doesn’t appear to be that much additional real estate involved in the Air France first class suite, certainly in terms of seat width. It gives passengers an additional window length, but it’s not nearly as separate a seat and bed, for instance, as the Singapore Airlines A380 Suites.

No doubt combined with Air France’s excellent first class catering and service, combined with their ground experience in Paris, this will be an outstanding product. And it signals a continued commitment to international first class, which the airline reports is seeing increased demand compared to 2019. But, though the sofa-bed concept is interesting, from the rendering it doesn’t appear as though it will be ‘the world’s best seat.’