Small First Class, Large Premium Economy: Swiss Reveals Configuration of New Airbus A350

As announced at the end of 2022, Swiss will receive a total of five Airbus A350s starting in 2025. Shortly thereafter, it became clear that these aircraft would feature the new business & first class with the codename Swiss Senses from the outset.

What remained unclear until now was how the seats would be distributed among the four travel classes. This detail was unveiled today, along with the seating plan for the new long-haul jet. As expected, it is a configuration that heavily favours premium classes, with a significant portion dedicated to business and premium economy. In contrast, the first class and economy sections are relatively small.

In total, the A350 will accommodate 243 passengers, distributed as follows:

• First class: 3 suites (max. 4 passengers)
• Business class: 45 seats, including 8 suites
• Premium economy: 38 seats
• Economy: 156 seats

Further details can be seen in the seatmap:

Here are a few observations we made when looking at the image above:

• Similar to Lufthansa, there are “only” 3 seats in first class, with space for up to 4 passengers.
• In business class, there are a total of eight business class suites (2 rows of 4 seats each). These are separated from the aisle by doors and are available for an additional fee.
• In premium economy, the 2-3-2 configuration remains, which means the seats are wider compared to airlines like Singapore Airlines or SAS with a 2-4-2 layout. Lufthansa also has a few planes with a 2-4-2 configuration (used A350s from Philippine Airlines).
• At the end of the premium economy cabin, two rows of economy class seats have been added.
• For business and economy class, there will be small self-service snack bars. Premium economy passengers can use the economy snack bar at the rear.
• There is 1 toilet for first class, 2 toilets for business class, and 5 for economy + premium economy (shared).

In the first class, there are new doors that can be closed with a curtain. The new business class seats will also be installed. You can learn more about the new seats in the following article:

Swiss Senses: Swiss International Airlines Unveils New Long-Haul Cabin

Comparison with Lufthansa

Lufthansa already announced the cabin configuration of its new Airbus A350-900 in February. Therefore, it’s interesting to compare the aircraft of Swiss and Lufthansa:

In a direct comparison, Swiss replaces 45 economy class seats with 7 additional business seats and 14 more seats in premium economy.

Sources: press release and Swiss on X

Cover Picture: © Swiss International Air Lines