The good news? This morning Delta Air Lines announced that it was going with full-flat personal sleeper suites in its BusinessElite class. The seats are made by Contour Premium Aircraft Seating — the same guys who make Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada’s lie-flat seats.

The best part of these new seats? Not only are they truly flat, but they allow for each passenger to have free and unfettered access to aisle.

The bad news? Like too many Delta news tidbits of upgrades to service, this one comes more than a year before implementation, as the new seats are not expected to be installed until “early 2008.”

We’ve already seen what American has trotted out for its “C” class customers — and we were not that impressed.

United — it’s your move.

From the airline’s release,

“Delta Air Lines invites international customers to stretch out and lie flat, as the first U.S. airline to announce fully-horizontal personal sleeper suites in BusinessElite. Delta will introduce seats by Contour Premium Aircraft Seating in early 2008, when the airline takes delivery of two new Boeing 777 Long Range (LR) aircraft. The sleeper suites will also feature Delta’s industry-leading entertainment system offering on-demand, digital video and music at every suite.”