Swiss starts flying A340s with premium-economy cabins

Lufthansa Group carrier Swiss has started flying Airbus A340-300s fitted with premium-economy seating. Swiss is retrofitting all four of its A340s with the seats, the first of which commenced services with the new configuration on 24 January with a Zurich-Johannesburg flight. The airline says the A340s will all be reconfigured by April.<br/>Swiss began installing the premium-economy cabin in December. The airline will offer the seats on routes including Hong Kong and Chicago. The carrier has already refitted its Boeing 777-300ERs with premium-economy, which features a pitch of nearly 1m and seat width of 48cm. CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour says the airline has received “highly-positive feedback” from passengers over the increased comfort and enhance service, and adds that it has become a “hugely popular” travel option. Swiss finished an A340 cabin refit a couple of years ago, intended to bring the type’s interior into line with that of its 777s. The A340 layout comprised 223 seats, including eight in first-class, 47 in business-class and 168 in the economy cabin.<br/>