Back in March 2019, SWISS announced that it would be introducing a new premium economy class on its long-haul aircraft fleet in spring 2021. While this plan has been slightly delayed, it looks like the carrier will unveil its new service class next week.
Unveiling expected next week
According to Executive Traveller, Swiss is expected to launch its new premium economy class this coming Monday, June 28th. The original launch was to take place in the Spring but was delayed due to the global health crisis. However, all things considered, a delay of just a few months is rather impressive. So what can we look forward to seeing?
Sources note that the new class will appear on its flagship long-haul aircraft: The Boeing 777-300ER. The premium economy cabin will have 24 seats over just three rows, in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Executive Traveller reports that the seats are to be 10% wider with 20-25% more recline than the standard economy seats. Legroom will naturally get a boost, which is expected to be around 20% above economy class.
No finer details, yet
The airline has yet to offer any specifics on the type of seat travelers can expect in this new class. Of course, with SWISS being a part of the Lufthansa Group, we could look to its fellow group airlines for hints.
Lufthansa’s first-generation premium economy seats first rolled out in 2015. Pictured above, this design and offering would be six years old now. Therefore, with the amount of time that has passed, we should look for more recent clues.
Indeed, for a more likely option, we can look back to June 2019, when Lufthansa quietly revealed the cabin for its Boeing 777-9X. During this presentation, visuals were also included for its new premium economy seat.
The Lufthansa seat looks to offer a fairly large IFE screen and indeed appears to be ‘enclosed’ in a shell-style seat that ‘reclines forward’ rather than tilts back into the passenger behind.
With SWISS and Lufthansa operating a fairly high standard of service within the same airline group, it’s a pretty good bet that SWISS will offer something similar to its German counterpart.
Other premium economy benefits
If we remain on the premise that SWISS premium economy service will be similar to Lufthansa’s, then we can also expect the class to have its own amenities kit, or ‘tailored travel kit’ as Lufthansa calls it.
Booking a ticket in this class should also grant travelers access to Lufthansa Group business lounges for a fee, and also provide a more generous checked baggage allowance than economy class.
Of course, while these are educated guesses, they are just guesses at the end of the day. Fortunately, we only have to wait just two more days to find out what SWISS will offer with its new service class.
Are you looking forward to SWISS offering a premium economy class? Let us know in the comments.
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