At a time when some players in the airline industry reel from high fuel costs, SWISS (Swiss International Air Lines) took the industry by surprise when it launched a world's first business seat which sets new comfort benchmarks. In the debut held at the newly-opened posh SWISS “Senator lounge” at Zurich International Airport attended by international media on May 21, SWISS underlined its unequivocal commitment to further strengthen its position as a Swiss quality airline. The three-class lounge concept - for Business Class, Miles & More Senators and First Class travelers - puts a firm emphasis on “SWISSness” to implement this aspect of the SWISS corporate identity. The Jurassic limestone walls lend a particular note and blend superbly with the furnishings, which have been provided by the reputed Vitra design house. The mould-breaking new seating concept for SWISS intercontinental Business Class cabins will be gradually installed throughout the airline's long-haul fleet from spring 2009 onward. Dr. Christoph Beckmann, SWISS chief marketing and strategy officer and a member of the airline's management board, said the new seating will give SWISS Business travelers a “bed above the clouds.” The new business seat is fully reclinable and is two meters long. The lie-flat seat sets new benchmarks with its air cushion feature, which allows seat hardness to be set for each seating position to meet individual wishes and needs. “The new SWISS Business Seat can be reclined to a fully horizontal position, and has a unique pneumatic air cushion - the first of its kind anywhere in the world - that extends throughout its length. The new seat layout will also provide high degrees of privacy and inflight mobility. He said “around a third of our long-haul fleet will be equipped with the new Business Seat by the end of 2009. The bulk of the refurbishment program will be carried out in 2010. And by mid- 2011, SWISS Business travelers will be enjoying the new seating and sleeping comfort on all our long-haul flights” aboard A330s and A340s. “All SWISS Business customers should be enjoying a truly excellent inflight seating and sleeping experience on all SWISS long-haul flights by 2011,” he said. However, under our present plans, “the new A330-300s will initially be deployed on our North Atlantic routes, where we are currently feeling the strongest pressure from our competitors.” SWISS latest initiatives are aimed at staying successful in the competitive international marketplace. “SWISS must remain competitive. And to achieve this, we must secure and maintain a healthy cost structure that is competitive in a global context,” he said. “At the same time, we have to invest in our product and our network if we are to retain our existing customers and win new ones … if we are to remain competitive in the international marketplace,” he added. Moreover “this is the only way we can ensure that SWISS can continue to link Switzerland with the world in the longer term and, as a healthy company, can continue to benefit the general Swiss economy through the thousands of jobs it provides,” he said. The new SWISS Business Seat is regarded as the lightest-of-its-kind as air cushion alone makes the new seat some four kilos lighter than it would be with conventional foam padding. The weight reduction will save SWISS over 650 tons of kerosene a year, and in turn, will lower the airline's annual CO2 emissions by over 2 000 tons. The innovative new interior concept has been developed in collaboration with numerous specialist companies in and outside Switzerland. In a fitting occasion to introduce the new business seat of SWISS, no less than the former Miss Switzerland and now an actress Lauriane Gilliéron served as the model to demonstrate the cozy and distinctive features of the new seat, which showcases the perfect amalgamation of original Swiss design and technology. “And that's not all: the new seat also features a world first in the form of an air cushion that extends throughout its length. Hard as a futon, soft as a water bed or any level in between” according to the passenger's choice, he added. The new seat boasts further extras like an integrated massage function, USB and iPod sockets and a bigger 16:9-format inflight entertainment screen. The SWISS Lantal pneumatic new business seat made a world record not only in terms of quality and ergonomic designs, but also in comfort which offers not just a much wider space but also embodies variable positions depending on the passenger's desire. Lantal is a medium-sized Swiss-based company that is a global market leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of textiles for transport applications, with a particular focus on the international airline community. Both Lantal and SWISS are committed to ensuring optimum comfort and well-being for the traveler. “We are extremely proud to have helped develop this global seating innovation, together with several hundred of our customers,” said SWISS CEO Christoph Franz. “And we are particularly delighted to be the first airline in the world to offer these substantially-enhanced levels of on-board seating and sleeping comfort.” “Our new SWISS Business seat is a further consistent step in our ongoing quality drive that has been under way for more than three years now,” Beckmann added. “SWISS continues to invest in adding value for its customers. And the rightness of our strategy is fully confirmed by our business results: we have seen above-average growth in the use of our Business and First Class since our quality drive began; and this has further strengthened our position and our profile as a genuine quality airline,” he pointed out. “Our collaboration with Switzerland's national airline underlines both our high quality standards and our leading market position,” said Urs Rickenbacher, CEO of Lantal. “We are very proud that SWISS will be the first airline to offer this landmark innovation to its customers. And the development of our pneumatic seat cushion is a tribute to Swiss innovation and to our unique locational advantages.” As part of the Lufthansa Group and a member of the global Star Alliance, SWISS will remain true to its mission of providing quality air services that link Switzerland with Europe and the world. Since it was this writer's first time to fly with SWISS, he couldn't help but be very observant of the crew's behavior. And he can testify to the fact that flying with SWISS, one always feels at home. With its core values of personal care, Swiss hospitality and quality in every detail, SWISS no doubt, will continue to maintain its high market profile as Switzerland's national airline. In 2007, SWISS added several feathers in its cap when it bagged the World Travel Awards as Europe's leading airline and Business Traveler Award for Best European Carrier. ReiseBlick (Swiss magazine) also conferred on the company the Airline of the Year for short-haul services in the same year. In 2008, SWISS was bestowed Airline of the Year Award for Best European Network Carrier by CAPITAL, a German magazine. SWISS serves 76 destinations in 42 countries as of summer schedule this year. Of these destinations, 48 are in Europe and 28 are intercontinental. SWISS carried a total of 2,999,517 from January to March 2008, clocking in 31,943 flights and with a seat load factor of 76.8 percent. SWISS has seen above-average growth in its premium segment in the last few years with a 37 percent rise in passenger volume between 2004 and 2007, compared to a 14 percent increase in Economy Class travelers. With Airbus A330 fleet, SWISS will actually be increasing the seating capacity by some 40 seats or 20 percent more, which will in turn raise the earnings. SWISS flies daily from Jeddah to Zurich via Riyadh. “An attractive product benefits the travel agencies, too, as it allows them to sell more tickets,” SWISS officials concurred. __
