SWISS is continuing its Premium Economy seat installation as it introduces the product on its Airbus A340-300 platform.
SWISS Premium Economy Seat – Image, Swiss International Air Lines
The first of the fleet to have the seat installed – HB-JMB – is back in service with the airline after being retrofitted. The aircraft departed from Zurich for Johannesburg on its first flight with the new seating class installed.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) started the Premium Economy Class installation programme for its Airbus A340-300 fleet in December 2022.
All four SWISS Airbus A340s will feature the Premium Economy seating travel class this April. From the same date, Premium Economy Class will also be newly bookable for SWISS services on the Zurich-Johannesburg, Zurich-Hong Kong and Zurich-Chicago routes.
SWISS has installed Premium Economy Class throughout its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, whose first aircraft was completed at the end of February 2022. SWISS was the first airline in the Lufthansa Group to introduce the Premium Economy seat, based on a ZIM Aircraft Seating ZIMPrivacy Seat.
Economy Class and Beyond took a look at this seat last year.
In Quotes
SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour said:
“Our new Premium Economy Class has rapidly established itself as a hugely popular way of travel,”
“And the highly positive feedback that we’ve received from our customers – on the greater seating comfort, the enhanced service, the wider choice of meals and the quality of the food – has only strengthened our resolve to offer this top-quality product on more of our routes.”
Tidying up the fleet
With the Boeing 777 fleet wrapped up with the installation and the Airbus A340 fleet now gaining the travel class (which fills in that important gap between the “cheap” seats and the “expensive” seats, SWISS has realised that passengers are willing to pay more for a larger seat, more space and elevated in-flight service.
Once this is done, there is one more fleet to be done (before the Airbus A350 fleet comes on stream) – that’s the Airbus A330 fleet. With 14 aircraft to install into, it is going to be longer than the five months SWISS took to install the new seats on the A340 – but with the knowledge of multiple installs now, hopefully, the rest of the fleet will get the upgrade, bringing a uniform passenger experience to the fleet.
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