SWISS will be ushering-in a new era in the history of its long-haul aircraft fleet next January with the arrival of the first of its nine new Boeing 777-300ERs. In SWISS configuration these new state of the art Boeing aircraft will seat a handsome 340 passengers.
In SWISS’s configuration the Boeing 777-300ER will offer eight in First Class seats, an impressive 62 in Business Class and 270 in Economy. And the totally-redesigned cabin interior of the new SWISS flagship will provide comfort and aesthetics to meet the most discerning of demands in all three seating classes.
Designed by London based Priestmangoode, the design agency had their hand in reimagining the carriers iconic First Class, Business Class, monuments, galleys, entrances as well as consulting on trim and finish in Economy Class. The designs may feel familiar and there is good reason for this. PriestmanGoode actually has a long-standing relationship with SWISS and designed the airline’s A330 First Class cabin back in 2009. The new designs are a natural evolution of those award-winning cabins and “aim to provide passengers with an enhanced version of the previous seat with more space, storage and privacy whilst maintaining key elements of the brand identity.” say PriestmanGoode.
The sleek contemporary residential feel in both First Class and Business Class is created by swathes of wooden veneer, rich deep textured fabric, and colour palettes that sit comfortable in the neutral and masculine colour spectrum, with a myriad of personal lighting options to further enhance the homely feel of the cabins.
First Class
The SWISS First seat (formed in 2 rows of 1 x 2 x 1 seating) will be transformable into the occupant’s own private suite that includes a 32-inch screen, the largest in the industry. SWISS First guests will also enjoy electrically-adjustable window blinds and their own personal wardrobe. Priestmangoode also employed acoustic materials including soft walls, woven fabric bulkheads and curtain screens to offer an even more quiet cabin.
Other features of the First Class seat include a two metre fully flat bed, three privacy modes that include fully open, semi-open or fully enclosed – which are created by pulling the door open of the individual wardrobe, and over 50% in personal storage compared with the previous incarnation of the seat and a perforated wood panel and bespoke reading lamp carry the design language from the SWISS airport lounge on to the aircraft. Passengers will also have access to two toilets now in first class.
Our favourite element is the Corian cocktail table surface which has integrated mood lighting to add that ‘precious feel’ of the cabin and highlights the attention both Priestmangoode and SWISS have to detail.
Business Class
The Business Class cabin features seats developed from the airline’s previous Business Class seat, which was designed bespoke for SWISS. The colours and materials palette has been updated to tie in with the First Class cabin and offer a consistent design language throughout the aircraft. Key features like headphone hangers and straps for storing tablets/magazines have been added to create a comfortable and practical environment. Personal stowage has also increased considerably.
The seat itself sits somewhere between the Thompson Vantage and Vantage XL products, found on competing carriers. However with a few clever design finishes, Swiss’s business class product now feels like a micro-first class, with enhanced privacy due to the partitions between seats, although there are still a few seats which don’t offer aisle access. The good news, as always, is all the seats in the SWISS Business cabin can also be quickly and easily converted into a lie-flat bed that is over two metres long.
Comprised in rows of 2 x 2 x 1 seating, there are still the popular throne seats situated by the windows, which offer the greatest privacy and feature their own wooden veneer panel situated on the aisle to increase the privacy of what will become the ‘best seats in the house’. All seats will over a 16″ touchscreen, and a secondary screen found in the handset of each seat, which will offer useful information, and increase ease of use of the IFE.
The best seats will be in rows 3 and 4, which is a smaller cabin of Business Class seats, situated just behind First Class. Aim for 3A or 4K if you are a solo traveller
Economy Class
Sadly Swiss has brought in the narrower seat layout, featuring 10 across, with 3 x 4 x 3 seating through the cabin. But the good news is the trim and finish has also been updated in Economy Class. SWISS is one of the only airlines in the world to feature a light coloured seat in economy.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Economy class passengers will be able to enjoy a large personal touchscreen. The biggest development is the introduction of a new walk-up bar. Outside the regular cabin service, all SWISS Economy guests will be able to make use of a self-service kiosk offering a wide range of drinks and snacks.
All nine Boeing 777-300ERs will also feature wireless internet via a broadband connection, enabling passengers to surf or send emails on their laptop, tablet or smartphone device. “With our new Boeing 777-300ERs we will be setting new benchmarks in terms of our guests’ overall comfort and travel experience,” says SWISS CEO Harry Hohmeister. “And on top of that, with their state-of-the-art engines, our new twinjets will give us substantial savings in fuel consumption and carbon emissions terms.”
Completing the residential feel, SWISS have an entrance to the aircraft that is treated like a reception, creating a welcoming area as you board the plane. It features an illuminated welcome panel, and the illuminated world map in a wood finish mirrors that in the reception of the SWISS lounges at Zurich airport.
In First and Business Class, the front bulkhead features a Matterhorn print, referencing Switzerland’s most famous mountainscape as well as featuring fully customised lavatories to continue the design aesthetic including the SWISS European oak signature finish.
Nigel Goode, Co-Founding Director of PriestmanGoode comments “SWISS has always been a world class airline, and their commitment to the passenger is exemplary. We are very happy to have worked with them again, enhancing our previous award-winning design to create an even better, more comfortable experience. We took inspiration from Switzerland’s design and craft heritage, as well as SWISS’ own brand identity, including the airline’s headquarters and flagship lounges in Zurich. The resulting cabins are luxurious, elegant and timeless with a lightness of touch, precise craftsmanship and attention to detail that embody the SWISS brand.”
We love this new product, it’s clean, contemporary, functional and inherently SWISS. There is something Iconic about swiss interiors, that lift the carrier to a design carrier echelon, and instead of opting for off-the-shelf products, the carrier has invested into producing something that will provide their customers with an excellent inflight experience, no matter what class they fly.
But where will it fly?
The Boeing 777-300ER offers the ideal range to serve SWISS’s farthest destinations non-stop from Switzerland. From the 2016 summer schedules onwards, the new aircraft will be deployed primarily on services to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Los Angeles. San Francisco, São Paulo and Tel Aviv will also receive Boeing 777 service several times a week.
The first six SWISS Airbus A340s will be withdrawn with the arrival of the more fuel efficient replacement Boeing 777-300ER fleet. Three further A340s will be replaced by new Boeing 777-300ERs between 2017 and 2018. These A340 aircraft will be transferred to SWISS’s sister carrier Edelweiss.
The Big Picture
TheDesignAir 
So the longest routes on the Swiss Map will get 10 abreast in Economy! What a progress from the quite A340 in 8 abreast seat configuration.
Also,why only those pale colors, light brown is not really refreshing, if you look at it for more than 10 hours squeezed into you Eco-Seat!
Oh wow… I absolutely love it! The attention to detail is impressive and the colours are so pleasing to the eye. I always thought that Swiss has the most understated and refined F-class cabins around. This is one splendid looking cabin!
holaaaaa
10 across in the back? Buh-bye.
But where will you go? Won’t be long until ALL carriers have 10 abreast on their 777s.
If all 777’s become 10-across I’ll avoid 777’s.
There are alternatives to claustrophobic economy class cabins. In November I’m sailing from Italy to Florida, rather than flying, and the fare for the voyage (in a spacious outside stateroom) is less than the one-way airfare on Alitalia! Not everyone has that luxury of time, of course (I’m retired), but my point is that for those traveling for pleasure, there are lots of options out there. One needn’t be held hostage by airline bean-counters.
This is simply beautiful.
It *is* beautiful, but how comfortable is it? I’ve been in Business Class window seats during overnight flights and had to climb over the sleeping person on the aisle, and it’s always awkward. Getting back into my seat is even worse. The only REAL Business Classes in my book are those in which every seat has access to the aisle. Those are the only airlines I fly.
And the 10-across in the back is just awful. I don’t care how many airlines do it. I don’t care if they offer leg rests and hot towels and free Champagne. It’s still terribly claustrophobic. And when the person in front of you reclines their seat and the movie screen is six inches from your nose, “updated trim and finish” on the pale colored seats doesn’t mean diddly squat.
I was a huge fan of Swissair. Of SWISS, not so much.
I’m not surprised about economy going 10 across, but I really though they where going to add a premium economy. Can’t wait to try the new business, First looks nice, but not much different then the current product.
So, more than a year into the deployment of its “beautiful” new cabin, how is Swiss’s 777 layout doing with its “delight”ed customers? Let’s check the reviews on Seatguru:
* “I highly recommend you to boycotted Airlines that use the B777 with 3/4/3 configuration in the Eco. To flight in this narrow seat for 12 hours is a trip to the hell, and the use it on all long hole flight to Asia (Singapore, Bangkok, HKK..) I do not know how the management of a “premium” Airline can order a cabin configuration like this. ”
* “Swiss managed to shoehorn in way too many people on this 777. Swiss missed the mark for passenger comfort”
* ” I was glad to get off the plane after 70 minutes. Armrests are small and too low. Seat too narrow in width. This ECO-Seating is definitively sub-standard and should be avoided by all means.”
* “Welcome to Swiss-Air Boing 777-300 means welcome to hell for people above 1,80m”
* “I am not giant (185cm x 72kg), but I had to (try) sleep twisted so to avoid the shoulders of me neighbor and the wall of the cabin. Overall, terrible experience. 3-4-3 configuration is excessive on this aircraft.”
This is just a small, small sample of the very many reviews on seatguru expressing their “delight” with Swiss’s “beautiful” new 3~4~3 layout. Well done, Swiss! 😉
https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Swiss_Airlines/Swiss_Airlines_Boeing_777-300ER.php
United said they would not implement 3-4-3 on their B777 used for international flights, only for the ones they use mostly to Hawaii. Well, we all knew that was a lie. Now their 777s they’ve ordered to replace their 747 fleet will be outfitted with the seats from hell. That’s why my favorite is 767. No matter how much they want to, they’ll never bee able to squeeze an eighth seat in each row. Too bad 767’s are going to dwindle in the coming decade.