Bunk beds for economy passengers take off on Air New Zealand’s new planes

Air New Zealand Economy Skynest bunk beds will start flying on Boeing 787-9 aircraft from New York to New Zealand in November. Air New Zealand via CNN Newsource

Economy passengers can soon pay to lie down and stretch out for a few hours in bunk beds on Air New Zealand’s newest planes.

The airline will offer sleeping pods, known as Economy Skynest, on new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flights. Bookings open May 18 for select flights starting in November.

The six individual spaces arranged like bunk beds, include a mattress with bedding, privacy curtain, seat belt, reading light, charging ports, and amenity kit, according to a news release.

Between each session the cabin crew will change the pillows, sheets and blanket, Air New Zealand said.

The pods will allow customers to “stretch out, lie flat and get a few hours’ proper rest in the air,” Air New Zealand’s Chief Executive Nikhil Ravishankar said in the news release. “By giving more people the chance to properly rest on ultra long-haul flights, it helps make travel to and from New Zealand more manageable.”

Air New Zealand also offers what they call a Sky Couch, where the footrests lift up and three seats turns into a flat surface where economy passengers can stretch out. United Airlines released plans for their own triple seat to couch conversion this year that received a mix of reactions.

Air New Zealand first piloted the beds-on-board concept in September 2024, and will now expand the renovation to its new Dreamliners.

Initial use of the beds will be available on the 17-hour flight between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Auckland, New Zealand, the news release said, which ranks among the longest flights in the world.

Customers can book a bed for four hours at a time, priced at $495 per session.

“The airline did a fair bit of research around sleep cycles,” a representative for Air New Zealand told CNN Travel in 2022. “A typical sleep cycle is around 90 minutes, so a four-hour session gives the opportunity for customers to wind down, fall asleep and wake up.”

CNN’s Lilit Marcus contributed to this report.