Swiss Upgrades Business Class

Swiss has become the first airline in mainland Europe to offer its travelers lie-flat seats in Business Class on the carrier’s three new A-340-300s. Seat pitch has been increased to 60 inches and the middle row middle seat has been eliminated, giving Business Class a 2-2-2 configuration. Swiss Business Class seats are 20.5 inches wide.

The A340-300’s new in-flight entertainment system features on-demand video and audio which allows passengers to view films on their personal screen at any time. The system also features a selection of video games and a text messaging service that can send brief messages to mobile phones, faxes or e-mail addresses anywhere in the world.

The new seats are available on Swiss’ three new A340-300s, which are currently deployed on routes from Zurich to Dubai and Muscat, Dubai and Karachi, and Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Singapore, and Tokyo. The beds go into service on other routes from Zurich as follows: Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Manila in December; Johannesburg and Cairo in May 2004, and New York in October 2004.

Air France Bucks the Trend

The airline has invested 300 million euros and two years in its new Business and First Class cabins. It plans to retrofit 69 aircraft with the new seats and will make them the standard on 15 new aircraft.

l’Espace Première (First Class) The carrier is making First Class more exclusive by reducing the number of seats to 8 from 12, providing passengers with 50% more space, and installing real beds and mattresses, reclining 180 degrees. Seats have 79 inches of pitch and are 20.5 inches wide.

Each of the First Class seats is fitted with a PC power outlet, 10.4-inch video screen, personal telephone, and an individual fiber-optic reading light.

The new cabin will be available on flights to about 40% of Air France’s long-haul destinations. Thirty-three aircraft, including nine new Boeing 777-300s, will be fitted with the new l’Espace Première cabin between April 2004 and summer 2005, the airline says.

l’Espace Affaires (Business Class) Biz Class is also getting a makeover with the installation of lie-flat seats (at a 13-degree angle, not completely horizontal) and seats that the airline claims will have 27% more personal space. This will bring Business Class close to the present First Class cabin, continuing a trend that has already occurred with carriers such as BA and Singapore. Seats are 21 inches wide (a half-inch wider than First Class) and offer 61 inches of seat pitch.

Seat configuration: six abreast (2-2-2) on the Airbus A340 and A330; seven abreast (2-3-2) on the Boeing 747-400, 777-200 and 777-300.

Each seat will have a PC power outlet, 10.4-inch interactive screen, sound-reducing Hi-Fi headsets, telephone, video on demand, and video games.