In December 2022 SWISS started the Premium Economy installation program for its intercontinental fleet of Airbus A340-300s. Four aircraft in total will have this new product in April and will fly the routes from Zurich (ZRH) to Johannesburg (JNB), Hong Kong (HKG) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD).

The first service with the new-cabin A340s was performed yesterday on flight LX282 with the aircraft registered HB-JMB and christened «Zurich», which took off from Kloten Airport (ZRH) at 22:53 local time and landed at O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) at 10:23, after ten hours and 30 minutes.

«Our new Premium Economy Class has quickly established itself as a very popular way to travel,» says SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour.

«And the highly positive feedback we have received from our customers, about the more comfortable seating, improved service, wider choice of meals and quality of food, has only strengthened our determination to offer this premium product on more of our routes,» Pour added.

The A340 will be the second aircraft in the airline’s intercontinental fleet to offer four classes. SWISS in February 2022, began installation of this product on its Boeing 777-300ERs and was the first Lufthansa Group airline to debut the company’s new Premium Economy seat, with nine of the airline’s Airbus A330-300s expected to be fitted with the new product soon.

SWISS currently has a fleet of five Airbus A340-300s with an average age of 19 years, one aircraft will be transferred to sister airline Edelweiss, the other four units will be in service with the carrier until 2025 when they will be replaced by Airbus A350-900s.

See also: SWISS adds Airbus A350s to its fleet by 2025