Swiss International Air Lines announced a new product for first-class passengers earlier this year – Swiss Senses. Swiss then announced a completely new passenger experience, with private sections of almost 3.5 m2, sliding doors, partitions, and seats that are larger than the existing ones. However, a few days ago, a problem came to light: the new seats are too heavy for the Airbus A330.
Specifically, Swiss has announced that it will upgrade all existing Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft with new seats in 2025 and 2026. However, in the past few days, the news has leaked that for the Airbus A330, it will be necessary to add a balancing plate to the rear of the aircraft as a counterweight because the too-heavy seats in the front of the aircraft move the center of gravity, i.e. the aircraft is nose heavy (it tends to sink). The existing Airbus A340 aircraft will not get new seats given the planned replacement with the A350 (which will be delivered with a new cabin), and the Boeing 777 will not have center of gravity problems.
Swiss responded to numerous media inquiries with a public statement, in which it justified the stated situation with trends in aviation. Namely, with the implementation of new materials and innovative production methods, economy seats are becoming increasingly lighter, while business and first-class seats, with the aim of greater comfort and privacy for passengers, are becoming more and more difficult. “These two opposing trends change the center of gravity of the aircraft in which such seats are installed,” according to Swiss. When asked about the mass of the new seats, the spokesperson of the Swiss national airline did not give a concrete answer but stated that the current seats weigh 205 kg and that the engineers will make a detailed calculation of how much the balancing plate mounted in the rear of the aircraft will have to weigh to bring the aircraft back into balance.
Although such modifications are not unheard of, they are certainly not common. This situation is especially welcomed in the negative context of the carbon footprint because, in addition to the fact that the seats themselves are heavier, the plane will additionally be burdened with a balancing plate as a counterweight. The same will affect the aircraft’s performance, fuel consumption, and ultimately the range.
A similar situation was seen with Swiss owner, Lufthansa. Notably, Lufthansa also introduced a new first-class product, Allegris. After a kind of debacle with delaying the introduction into traffic, including the delivery of Airbus A350s without first-class seats, Lufthansa discovered that the new seats were too large for the upper deck of the Boeing 747-8i. In addition to the fact that the German airline will be forced to combine the old and new first-class seats in the same aircraft, it is predicted that the said aircraft will need to be additionally loaded in the tail by about 700 kilograms (in the form of a balancing plate or a water tank), also from due to the shifted center of gravity of the aircraft. In Lufthansa’s case, the problem is all the greater because, after the installation of new seats and counterweights in the tail, the carrier will have problems with the cargo. After all modifications are done, cargo may not be allowed to be loaded into the front holds of the aircraft.
However, prompted by the experience of the Swiss, Lufthansa has confirmed that it will not equip its Airbus A330s with a new first class, to avoid the problem that Swiss is currently facing.
What is the price of introducing glamor into flying remains to be seen. In any case, it is certain that the environment will not profit from these innovations, and that Swiss and Lufthansa will be faced with operational problems that they have not had before. However, considering that not a single carrier has given up on the project of installing new seats, as well as not making modifications to them, it is obvious that it is financially more profitable to modify the aircraft itself, which speaks volumes about the future price of airline tickets for such seats.
