Air China has fitted the CL6720 lie-flat business class seats from Recaro on its long-range Airbus A350 aircraft. The Beijing-based carrier has also selected the Recaro PL3530 and CL3710 for A350's premium economy and economy cabins, respectively, the seat manufacturer says. The customised seat features include a Chinese-style lamp in each suite, upper stowage with a drawer, specially made privacy dividers and an Air China customised inner soft-touch back-shell. This marks the first cooperation between Air China and Recaro for a lie-flat business class seat for their long-range A350 aircraft.

Strike action by airport workers has led to the cancellation of all passenger flights at Berlin Brandenburg airport, the largest facility serving the German capital. The Verdi union, representing ground handling services, airport and security staff, called the strike amid a dispute over pay, with collective bargaining agreements having failed to reach agreement. “Due to the announced warning strike at Berlin Brandenburg airport, no passenger flights are possible today, 25 January 2023,” states the German airport. Data shows that 137 services were due to depart the facility today, with a capacity of 172,000 seats.

Swiss has begun installing premium-economy seats on its Airbus A340-300 fleet. The Lufthansa subsidiary says the first aircraft (HB-JMB) featuring the new cabin layout was returned to service on 25 January, after installation of the new seats had begun in December. Three other A340-300s in Swiss’s fleet will be completed by April. The airline has opted to install 21 premium-economy seats under the new configuration, which reduces the number of business seats from 47 to 42, and economy seats from 168 to 144. A section with eight first seats remains unchanged. The aircraft’s total seat number has been reduced to 215 from 223. In 2022, Swiss introduced premium economy seats on 12 Boeing 777-300ERs, as the last Lufthansa group carrier to adopt the fare category. Data shows Swiss’s A340s are aged between 19 and 20 years. In December, the airline disclosed a plan to introduce five A350-900s from 2025 as A340 replacement “in the longer term”. Just before the pandemic in 2020, Swiss had completed a cabin upgrade of its then-five A340s to bring their interior in line with the carrier's much younger 777s. One of Swiss's A340s has since been allocated to leisure affiliate Edelweiss Air. Swiss deploys its A340s a on routes to Chicago, Hong Kong and Johannesburg, it notes. The airline says it will install premium-economy on its 14-strong A330-300 fleet too. Details for that effort will be disclosed “over the next few weeks”, it adds. “Our new premium-economy class has rapidly established itself as a hugely popular way of travel,” chief commercial officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour states. “The highly positive feedback that we’ve received from our customers… has only strengthened our resolve to offer this top-quality product on more of our routes.” Lufthansa and its group siblings Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss opted for premium-economy seats by German supplier ZIM Aircraft Seating. Swiss describes its fixed-shell seat version as a “best-in-class premium-economy seat which sets new comfort benchmarks”. It says it is the “first airline in the Lufthansa Group” to introduce the seat.