Newly-designed aircraft cabins for Swiss International Airlines are aimed at making long-haul flights more comfortable for holidaymakers and more productive for business travelers. Designed by PriestmanGoode, the cabins will provide passengers with more space, storage and privacy.
PriestmanGoode previously worked with Swiss in 2009, designing the carrier's A330 First Class cabin. The new designs will be implemented on a new fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Although the new cabins don't boast the luxury of the recently released VIP cabin concept designs from Mercedes-Benz Style and Lufthansa, they do afford some enviable features for travelers in first and business class.
Seats in first class will convert to a 2-m (6.6-ft) fully-flat bed and will effectively be in their own self-contained spaces or "suites." Passengers will be able to make the space fully open, semi-open or fully enclosed. To create the fully enclosed configuration, passengers need only pull out the doors of their personal wardrobe to create a partition.
The personal wardrobes are one aspect of the cabin design that gives first class passengers 50 percent more personal storage compared with the previous seat type. They are also provided with dedicated storage for amenities and 32-inch monitors, which PriestmanGoode says are the largest in the industry.
Other first class features include electrically-adjustable window blinds, bespoke reading lamps, corian cocktail table surfaces with integrated lighting, and wooden veneer single-piece tables. Acoustic materials are used to dampen sound in the cabin, including for soft walls, woven fabric bulkheads and curtain screens.
As with first class passengers, business class passengers will be able to convert their seats into lie-flat beds and will be able to adjust the firmness of their seat cushions too. They will also benefit from large personal touchscreens, headphone hangers, and straps for storing tablets or magazines.
Perhaps the most important addition for business class passengers will be on-board Wi-Fi, which will be made available throughout the planes. Elsewhere, there will be a customized self-service kiosk for economy class passengers and customized lavatories in first and business class. All seats will feature USB device-charging outputs.
Swiss International Airlines' new twinjet 777-300ER aircraft will seat 340 passengers each and will begin going into service from January 2016.
The animation below provides a fly-through of the new cabin design.
Sources: PriestmanGoode, Swiss International Airlines