SWISS is adopting the innovative ‘Airspace’ cabin concept for its aircraft of the Airbus A320neo family to offer its passengers a tangibly enhanced air travel experience on its short- and medium-haul routes. Key features of the new cabin concept include substantially larger overhead bins, an advanced lighting system that can be aligned to human biorhythms and enhanced seating comfort. The first two SWISS Airbus A320neos equipped with the new Airspace cabin will enter revenue service this month.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is adopting the innovative ‘Airspace’ cabin concept for its Airbus A320neo family fleet. The advanced new cabin will provide travellers with a substantially enhanced air travel experience on SWISS short- and medium-haul routes.
The new Airspace cabin features larger overhead baggage bins that offer some 40 per cent more volume than their conventional counterparts. The new bins can accommodate bigger baggage items up to 61 x 40 x 25 centimetres. They also hold up to four such carry-on cases (instead of the present three) by enabling these to be stowed vertically in the bin. The new Airspace cabin further boasts an advanced lighting system whose ‘Human Centric Lighting’ can be aligned to travellers’ biorhythms: depending on the time of day or night, the system will bathe the cabin in varying types of light that range from warm reds through graduated intermediate tones all the way to cooler blue hues. Seating comfort has been further enhanced, too, with the slimmer cabin sidewalls offering more space, especially at shoulder height. The modern-design washrooms are even easier to use for travellers with disabilities and have also been specifically equipped with antimicrobial surfaces to provide even better hygiene protection.
“As a premium air carrier, we continue to strive to offer our customers the highest possible quality standards, even in the present crisis times,” explains SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. “And Airbus’s advanced and innovative new Airspace cabin concept for our short-haul travellers is making a key contribution to all these endeavours. We are truly pleased to be able to offer our customers even greater inflight comfort, in the form of more space for their carry-on baggage and a new lighting concept that is specifically tailored to their biorhythm needs.”
First flight this month
The first SWISS Airbus A320neo equipped with the new Airspace cabin was delivered at the beginning of this month. Aircraft HB-JDD has been named ‘Elm’ after the Swiss alpine village which is home to the ‘SWISS Altitude 1150’ mineral water that the airline serves on board. HB-JDE, a further Airbus A320neo which was delivered a few days later and which bears the name ‘Mürren’, is also equipped with the advanced new Airspace cabin.
The aircraft will be deployed throughout SWISS’s European route network. The first commercial flight of a SWISS Airbus A320neo with the new Airspace cabin is scheduled for later this month.
SWISS has now taken delivery of five new Airbus A320neo and two new Airbus A321neo aircraft. The remaining 18 Airbus A32Xneos on order – twelve A320neos and six A321neos – will join the SWISS fleet between now and 2025. The ‘neos’ (which stands for new engine option) are replacing older SWISS aircraft of the Airbus A320 family and, with their innovative and more fuel-efficient engines, are helping to substantially further enhance SWISS’s environmental credentials.
