In 2025, SWISS introduced new cabins for its long haul aircraft (including an all-new first class and business class), in a project that’s known as SWISS Senses. SWISS is part of Lufthansa Group, so these cabins are essentially identical to the new Lufthansa Allegris concept, but with different branding.
These new SWISS Senses cabins were first rolled out on newly delivered Airbus A350-900s, though we know that SWISS also plans to reconfigure its existing jets with these new seats. There’s an exciting update, as the first Airbus A330-300 is currently being reconfigured with SWISS Senses cabins.
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SWISS Senses coming to Airbus A330-300 fleet
SWISS has confirmed that it has started the project of reconfiguring Airbus A330-300s with new cabins. This work is taking place in Hong Kong (HKG) — the first plane with the registration code HB-JHC arrived in Asia on July 20, and is expected to be there for some time.
So far, the existing cabins have reportedly been removed from the aircraft, and it’s also undergoing heavy maintenance (a C-check), so there’s a lot of work to be done.
It always takes longer for the first aircraft to be reconfigured, given that new seats have to be certified on the aircraft. We know that Lufthansa Group has had quite some challenges with certification of new cabins, so we’ll see how this all plays out, since the airline group doesn’t have a great track record.
However, assuming things go relatively smoothly, the plan is for the retrofit project to be put into full motion once the prototype is certified and back in service, so hopefully that’s before the end of the year. At that point, the expectation is that one plane will be reconfigured every six weeks.
SWISS’ fleet consists of 14 A330s, so you’d expect the entire project to take right around 84 weeks, or a little over 19 months. Realistically, I expect it’ll be around the spring of 2028 when the A330 project is complete, best case scenario. More realistically, I’d guess it’ll wrap up in the summer or fall.
The plan is then to reconfigure the fleet of 12 Boeing 777-300ERs. We’ll see with exactly what timeline this starts. The project could start once the A330 retrofit is complete, or who knows, it could also start before then.
How the layout of SWISS Airbus A330-300s will change
As SWISS reconfigures its Airbus A330-300s, what should we expect, exactly?
Currently, SWISS’ A330s have 236 seats, including eight first class seats, 45 business class seats, and 183 economy class seats.
Once reconfigured, SWISS’ A330s will have 225 seats, including three first class suites (one double suite), 43 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 151 economy class seats.
So we’re no doubt seeing a significantly better product across the board. However, with the introduction of SWISS Senses, we’re seeing a five seat reduction in first class, a two seat reduction in business class, a new premium economy cabin with 28 seats, and a 32 seat reduction in economy class.
One wild aspect of the SWISS Senses cabin on the A330 is that the first class is apparently too heavy for the plane, and could cause a weight and balance issue. As a result, the airline is installing a 1.5-ton weight in the back of the aircraft, to prevent that from being an issue. That’s not exactly ideal, eh?
Anyway, I’m going to be very curious to see how these A330s look once reconfigured. The cabins of these planes are tired, and in particular, SWISS’ A330 business class leaves a lot to be desired.
It remains to be seen how tight the premium cabins on these planes feel, though. In economy, the A330 is a joy, given its 2-4-2 layout (meaning each row has two sets of seat pairs). The overall cabin is 17 inches narrower than on the A350 (where the SWISS Senses cabins debuted), so I’m sure this will be felt in business class, though the first class cabin feeling is what interests me most.
Keep in mind that there’s a double suite in center of first class, and that feels tight on the A350, assuming you’re two people (it’s the same as in Lufthansa Allegris). I have to imagine it’ll feel significantly more constrained on the A330.
Bottom line
SWISS has started the project of retrofitting its Airbus A330 fleet with new cabins. The plane will be getting the new SWISS Senses concept with four classes of service. While SWISS Senses debuted on the A350, it’s great to see the carrier’s tired A330s get some love as well.
The first plane is currently in the “shop,” and it’ll likely be a few months before it’s ready to go, given that it’s the prototype. Once this plane is back in service, expect planes to be reconfigured one after the other, with each taking around six weeks. Here’s to hoping the certification process goes smoothly, given Lufthansa Group’s track record.
What do you make of SWISS’ A330 retrofit plans?
I get the feeling that allegris/swiss senses is going to be a step back in comfort on the a330. Those center seats I think are going to be awfully tight. You would think they would adapt it like UA did with Polaris on the 767s. But then again, that probably would have added 5 more years to the installation timeline.
I can't believe they'll voluntarily put a 1.5 ton extra weight to compensate first class there. They should have either been unconventional and switched the positioning of first and business, or find a more sustainable first class product.
Just an estimate here. A flight from Zurich to New York is about 6500km. And we can assume that an A330 generates about 0.8 ton-kilometer CO2. Just the additional 1.5 ton in counterweight would thus generate...
I can't believe they'll voluntarily put a 1.5 ton extra weight to compensate first class there. They should have either been unconventional and switched the positioning of first and business, or find a more sustainable first class product.
Just an estimate here. A flight from Zurich to New York is about 6500km. And we can assume that an A330 generates about 0.8 ton-kilometer CO2. Just the additional 1.5 ton in counterweight would thus generate 5400kg of Co2, or nearly 11.000kg CO2 (11 metric tons) for the return trip... And that will be done daily. With these fuel prices. Just for a counterweight for 8 seats.
Can someone tell them that it's best to just remove all the content about green and sustainable initiatives from their website immediately?
I totally agree, @ImportViking. I certainly no environmental activist, but adding this amount of CO2 emission just due to poor design is insane.
I do hope that the paying public muck in and pay that bit extra for the Swiss Green Fares so that Swiss can meet their......" ambitious objectives for making air travel more sustainable"
https://newsroom.swiss.com/en/swiss-extends-its-green-fares-to-all-its-long-haul-flights/#
unbelieveable stuff, worst is that nobody at LH Group seems to have been fired over this debacle
So a 1.5 ton weight is added to the back presumably to balance an additional 1.5 tone weight for the new first class. I'Economy passengers have been limited 23k. checked baggage and all carry on to 8K. Will these limits be changed or is Swiss just going to eat the additional weight?
Yeah, 3 tons of extra weight to fly 3 to 4 first class passengers around on long haul flights. Why also do I have this sinking feeling that all the people pining over the chance to fly the new first class seats are also very vocal global warming true believers (and hypocrites of the highest order)
At this point just plow through and get this over with. J should be a massive upgrade. It’s just going to be much harder to get F upgrades.
@Lucky, based on the new seat map, it looks like PY has 21 seats instead of 28. There's a bulkhead row of 2-3-2 Y.
In any case, Senses/Allegris has been a complete crapshow. IMHO, they should just abandon it and shift to off-the-shelf products...
P.S. Still can't upvote/use the Helpful button... :-\
"P.S. Still can't upvote/use the Helpful button... :-\"
Try logging out via the icon on the upper right of the screen, and then logging back in. You may need to do it for each new session.
@TravelinWilly, awesome, thanks! Had the same issue on different devices/browsers, so it was frustrating. I guess for every session, you have to log in twice. Not ideal, but glad there's a workaround.
thanks a lot, working well now
Are the business suites actually larger than FC? Look at least equivalent on the LOPA but hard to tell.
Too bad the new product looks to be atrocious to fly with a family - the ridiculous German rules about where children can sit relative to adults are absurd. The old layout was not wonderful for solo travelers, but it was great for traveling with the family. If with the family and connecting would actively rather...
Are the business suites actually larger than FC? Look at least equivalent on the LOPA but hard to tell.
Too bad the new product looks to be atrocious to fly with a family - the ridiculous German rules about where children can sit relative to adults are absurd. The old layout was not wonderful for solo travelers, but it was great for traveling with the family. If with the family and connecting would actively rather take AF/KLM or BA across the pond versus deal with this rigmarole, although the price can sometimes be right via Aeroplan...
You’re right that Aeroplan on Swiss is one of the few remaining sweet-spots for partner J redemption (like, for me, I’ve found JFK-GVA, oddly, 60-80Kpp each way.) Man, I miss the good ole days when there was more to go around.
Also, huge fan of your focus on LOPAs!
It's insane just how badly this new premium class introduction (between Lufthansa and Swiss) was screwed up.
Berlin-Airport-level screwup.
Off topic Lucky, but have you seen this?
“South Korean airport becomes busiest in world for global traffic amid Iran war”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/13/south-korea-incheon-airport-iran-war-middle-east