[SHANGHAI] Air France has unveiled its new first-class section in Shanghai, fuelling an international luxury-seating race to win over Asia's rising number of high-fliers.

The airline's "haute couture" suite will feature a seat that reclines into a bed stretching 2.01 metres long and 77 centimetres across - one of the most spacious in the world.

A total of 76 of the seats will be fitted into the airline's 19 Boeing 777-300 jets at a cost of 50 million euros (S$87 million), the company said on Wednesday as it showed off the new offering in an expenses-paid trip for journalists to China's commercial hub.