Just a few weeks ago we covered the news coming from Emirates, where the middle eastern carrier’s fleet is undergoing a major renovation programme. This time the programme is not as big however its just as interesting. Today we’ll be looking at some cabin renovations taking place at Swiss International Air Lines.
Swiss Introducing Premium Economy to Its A340-300s
Swiss, part of the Lufthansa Group and the Star Alliance, is taking on some significant cabin renovations for some of its planes. In particular the Helvetic airline will be introducing Premium Economy Class to all 4 of its Airbus A340-300s.
Premium Economy is a product that has gain quite a bit of traction over the past few years. Less business travellers meant that airlines tried to cater more to the needs of leisure passengers. More people have the cash, and are willing to pay, for premium economy than Business class.
This is why the likes of Emirates and in this case Swiss are installing this new product on their planes. Swiss however already operated planes with a premium economy cabin, having installed it on its Boeing 777-300ER fleet.
The first renovated A340-300, registration number HB-JMB, has already returned to service on the 24th of January 2023. At the end of this retrofitting the airline’s A330-300 will be the outstanding long range planes still featuring the old cabin configuration.
The A340-300 Still Here To Stay
The renovation of these planes means that the quad-jet will continue to be part of the Swiss International Air Lines fleet for some time in the future.
Although the A340-300 is the more common version of this plane, compared to the 500 and 600 versions, it is one of the most underpowered planes out there. The type is slowly disappearing from many airline fleet’s lineup, with more efficient and powerful twin jets being favoured in their place.
