After scrolling through countless pages of FlyerTalk pages, I found a post that caught my eye. As an Etihad fan I was very intrigued and tried to find some more info, but nothing was available online. Etihad has a single A320 with lie flat seats.

Images courtesy of VH-RMD on Flyertalk:

It’s also interesting that the seats are covered in the old seat cover, and they don’t feature IFE.

it’s definitely a ‘special’ aircraft as it is quite different to the others in the fleet.

• A6-EIZ is the oldest in the fleet
• It features different engines (CFMI CFM56-5A1)
• It’s the aircraft that does charters

Could this be a  test for their A320NEO fleet? Who knows…

The aircraft does however still operate normal flights to Doha, Oman, Bahrain, etc.

I would love to think that it’s a test for what’s to come as their competitor Qatar also use the B/E Diamond seats on their A320.

Look familiar? Image: Qatar Airways

Bottom Line

I found it very interesting that Etihad has lie flats on their oldest A320, but it would make sense if it is just a test aircraft or dedicated charter aircraft. I would love to see Etihad put Diamond seats on the fleet as their current product is not competitive.