Malaysia Airlines shelves plan for premium economy

MAS has shelved plans to introduce premium economy class seats on its upcoming fleet of six new Airbus A350-900s, the first of which will be delivered by the end of December this year. The premium economy class is a small area between economy class and business class. They offer extra legroom and wider seats than economy class, but are cheaper than business class. A Malaysia Airlines spokesman said the airline had initially planned to introduce premium economy seating on its A350-900s but decided against it to accommodate more business travellers. The airline has also reduced the number of its first-class seats on the planes. “The 288-seat A350-900s will now comprise four first-class seats, 35 business-class seats and 249 economy-class seats,” the spokesman said last week. The airline is replacing its six A380 superjumbos with the fuel-efficient A350s on the twice-daily Kuala Lumpur-London route starting in late 2017.<br/>