Business class on narrow body jets within Europe is known for being lackluster, generally just consisting of economy seats with blocked middles and improved service. A few months ago, a Lufthansa Group carrier announced it would install more comfortable seats in business class on narrow body aircraft. Ironically, it’s not a full service airline like Lufthansa or SWISS that’s doing this, but instead, the group’s low cost carrier, Eurowings.
I provided an update a few days ago, when tickets for this product went on sale. However, I want to take another look at this, as pricing has dropped a bit since I wrote about this, so it’s now a bit more reasonable. Eurowings has also revealed more about what to expect from the soft product.
In this post:
Eurowings trials Premium BIZ seat concept
Eurowings operates a fleet of roughly 80 Airbus A320-family aircraft. While most of the carrier’s routes are short haul and within Europe, the airline also operates some longer flights.
For example, the airline operates several seasonal routes to Dubai. At nearly 3,000 miles, these are among the more uncomfortable business class flights out there, given that it’s the same disappointing product you’ll find on short haul routes. Fortunately, the airline will soon be running a trial to change that.
In the coming months, Eurowings will be installing “real” business class seats on select Airbus A320neo aircraft. The airline has chosen a reclining business class product from Italian manufacturer Geven, with an adjustable backrest, ergonomic design, and a lot more pitch than you’ll currently find.
For now this is a trial, designed specifically for medium haul routes. What’s interesting is that Eurowings will actually offer two tiers of business class. This new product isn’t in lieu of the existing business class, but rather, is in addition to it. Eurowings BIZclass will continue to be offered, featuring economy seats with blocked middles. Then there will be eight Eurowings Premium BIZ seats at the front of the cabin.
In addition to more space (nearly one meter of legroom) and recline, the seats will feature a cocktail table and a USB charging port. Furthermore, those seated in these special seats will receive a special menu with an aperitif and a hot meal, as well as extras like a blanket, pillow, and amenity kit.
Here’s how Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof describes this move:
“With our new Premium BIZ seat, we offer business travellers and holidaymakers a completely new level of comfort on medium-haul flights. More privacy and a significantly enhanced feel-good atmosphere make longer flights noticeably more pleasant. We are thus setting a new standard in our market segment and clearly positioning Eurowings as Europe’s leading value airline.”
Eurowings Premium BIZ seat pricing & how to book
Eurowings has now put its Premium BIZ seat concept on sale, for travel on the Berlin (BER) to Dubai (DXB) route as of November 22, 2025. So, what is pricing for this product like? Interestingly, the airline is simply approaching this as a seat assignment fee for those who otherwise booked a BIZclass fare. This means you can select these seats either at the time of booking, or after booking and before travel.
For example, I see a flight that has a €309.99 BIZclass fare for the 6hr30min journey.
Eurowings claims that pricing for the Premium BIZ seats starts at €399.99 per leg, on top of the standard business class fare. However, on most of the dates that I looked up, the seat fee is €419.99 per leg.
When I first wrote about this several day ago, Eurowings was trying to charge €600 for the upgrade, so what it has been updated to is definitely more reasonable. I’m curious to see how this sells. In theory, the upgrade price isn’t unreasonable. However, the airline faces several challenges:
- There’s the general issue of unfamiliarity with the product, since this is a completely new concept for Eurowings, and for narrow body planes in Europe
- I think more people might book these tickets if this were just a “bundled” business class fare, rather than the additional cost being a seat assignment fee, which might be harder for some business travelers to expense
- It’s one thing if this were the upgrade cost on a full service airline, but generally willingness to pay for upgrades is lower on an ultra low cost carrier than on a full service carrier, since you’re often targeting those who already have tickets booked
For those curious about the footprint of these seats, the airline has essentially eliminated one row of the standard business class to make this cabin possible, meaning the per-seat footprint is around 50% bigger than in standard business class. Yet the upgrade cost is typically well over 100% more than the regular business class fare.
What this new product could mean in the long run
For now, the introduction of proper business class seats is just being described as a trial. However, I think the long term implications could be interesting.
First of all, keep in mind that Eurowings is overhauling its fleet as of 2027, as the airline has 40 Boeing 737 MAXs on order. So it’s possible that whatever is learned from this experiment could be integrated into the cabins of those jets.
Second of all, Eurowings notes that this will “also provide other airlines in the Lufthansa Group with important insights for the future configuration of new aircraft fleets.”
Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll see a “proper” business class introduced on short flights within Europe any time in the foreseeable future (I don’t want to say “never,” but… close enough). However, there are many medium haul markets that might not consistently have demand for wide body aircraft, but where something better than the typical intra-Europe business class is expected.
In the case of Lufthansa or SWISS, we’re talking about destinations like Amman (AMM), Cairo (CAI), Tel Aviv (TLV), etc. These are all destinations where some airlines offer a “proper” business class, while others don’t. Offering a more competitive business class product on narrow body aircraft would allow airlines to better right size capacity while managing expectations.
Bottom line
Eurowings is trialing a new Premium Biz seat concept, whereby the airline will introduce proper recliners in business class on select Airbus A320neos, operating the carrier’s longest routes. Initially, this is intended to address the horrible feedback the airline has been getting about business class on its Dubai route.
However, the airline states that the results of this trial could be used to shape the product offerings on Lufthansa Group carriers in the future. Could we finally see a proper business class product on more narrow body aircraft belonging to European airlines? It would be nice!
What’s your take on Eurowings’ Premium BIZ seat concept?
The seats I think is the Geven Comoda
Flew EuroBusiness from Rome to Paris on AF and got a decent wider seat on an E175
A proper business class seat within Europe could get popular, just someone needs to offer it. In Asia and Australia it works just fine.
I like to fly business because of the seat comfort, not because I can get access to kartoffelsalad and wine in the overcrowded lounge.
I remember when the “business” seats were actually wider by virtue of movable armrests and a dropdown center table. AF and LH had them back in the mid-2000s, and if you knew where the button was (under the armrest) you had a poor-man’s business class (seat but no service). Some carriers used seats with a crank (EI comes to mind, and I think BA back in the late 90s) and you couldn’t get creative with that…
AZ and BA had those too. AZ still does!
I really do think if BA and other flag carriers around Europe trialed a proper J seat on short hall routes they would be surprised how many would sell. Club Europe is just not worth the money if you hold status but if there was a more spacious seat that you could actually work from that would be something many would buy into.
"Business class on narrow body jets within Europe is known for being lackluster" ...goes on to review the peanut meal in Delta "first" class :)
It's getting a bit silly. One may not like the product and it's fine but why play dumb and ignore that the value proposition is completely different? J in Europe was never meant to be about the hard product and no one really advertises it as such, but I think...
"Business class on narrow body jets within Europe is known for being lackluster" ...goes on to review the peanut meal in Delta "first" class :)
It's getting a bit silly. One may not like the product and it's fine but why play dumb and ignore that the value proposition is completely different? J in Europe was never meant to be about the hard product and no one really advertises it as such, but I think most airlines actually do a pretty good job delivering what the product is about way above the lackluster level - the ground and on board services are pretty decent most of the time.
Way too expensive... Just like US airlines should be banned from calling their current product "First Class".
One airlines business class seat is another airlines premium economy …. it’s all in the name, nothing more and nothing less …. :-)
With the caveat of corporate booking policies. "Economy" can much more easily include "premium economy" than "business" class.
If the company allows for "business" there may be better options...
Herman, apologies, I may not have made myself clear in my flippant statement.
I was actually thinking about how some airlines try to sell their premium economy seats by the business class name or even in some cases actually calling them First Class!…. Very confusing.
I guess you made a mistake. It’s 309,.. PLUS the extra few for the new Business Class seats. I‘ve tried it Last Week, booking a DXB flight in December. Called the helpline as well. The final few was around 1.560 eur.
The normal biz Class with Eurowings is a joke. Narrow seat, just with an empty middle seat.