SWISSAIR is to spend £3.25m upgrading the first-class cabins on all its long-haul aircraft by June next year.
Work on the airline’s 15 MD-11s starts this month and is scheduled to be completed by next June, while the first Airbus A330s will be upgraded in January, with the refit completed by March.
Spokeswoman Sandra Karl-Walchli admitted the airline’s existing first class was not as good as that offered by its rivals, including British Airways.
“We have an average 60% load factor in first class, which is one of the highest percentages of all airlines, and we have been talking to our passengers and know there is demand for the upgraded product,” she said.
Central to the new first-class cabin will be seats that lie flat to form a bed. At present, seats recline just 153 degrees. Karl-Walchli said there will still be 12 seats in first and that the new bed-seats will be the longest and widest in the air.
First-class passengers will also be able to choose from a new eight-course menu devised by Swiss chefs Roland Pierroz and Philippe Rochat.
In addition, the Swissair Care Programme is being upgraded to allow first-class passengers to go straight to passport control to check in.
Karl-Walchli said this will be an additional cost that cannot be specified as it will be an on-going programme over the next 12 months.
Under the system, currently being trialled at Zurich Airport, passengers are issued with a card with their own personal identification number and their details are registered at passport control. Bags are dropped at a special point en route.
“It doesn’t work for some routes where security is an important consideration, for instance to the US,” Karl-Walchli said. “We are testing it now and if it is successful, it could be rolled out to other airports next year.”