Premium economy is at a pivot point in its development, with new seats offering more space and privacy unveiled and in the airline seat maker pipeline this year.
It’s not beyond time: this cabin hasn’t really changed beyond the 37-38” pitch and 19-20” width in which it was created almost simultaneously in the early 1990s by Virgin Atlantic and EVA Air.
And that’s odd. Premium economy is the most valuable real estate on the plane, as numerous airlines have confirmed.
it’s just a little bit more space than in economy class, but most airlines will be charging between 1.5-2.5 the cost of economy class travel for the slightly better seats.
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It’s a lot less space than business class, for sure, but definitely not the 4-5x multiplier between economy and the pointy end of the plane.
So why haven’t we seen more developments?
To my mind, it’s about cannibalization. With even premium airlines still selling angled lie-flat seats as business class, there hasn’t been enough clear blue water between these and a big comfortable premium economy recliner.
Indeed, when Air Canada picked up some used A330s with angled lie-flats, it decided to sell them as premium economy rather than business, given that its modern standard is a fully flat bed with direct aisle access in business class.
HAECO’s new Eclipse seat, with its angles, staggers, and Z-bed-style recliner, is one of the new exceptions starting to power forward from the premium economy peloton. This sort of idea is a big step in the mid-cabin space.
Eclipse's stagger takes passengers' shoulders out of alignment, improving seat width. Photo: HAECO
But airlines could also innovate in new ways that don’t have anything to do with designing new seats: it could be about new services.
Some of that might be soft product: British Airways recently upgraded its offerings with new amenity kits including a Scaramouche and Fandango lip balm, a new set of cocktails, new quilt and cushion, and a slightly fancier feel to the cabin drawing on the design language used in the pointier end of BA’s planes.
Many airlines have a lot of room for maneuver here: Lufthansa’s premium economy is basic on the seat and very light indeed on the pizzazz, with the only visible difference being that the very same oven-splattered economy class doggy-dish dinners are served in reusable china bowls rather than in plastic or metal trays.
But there should also be ways to upgrade the experience of connecting passengers. It’s a very rare airline where short-haul connections to and from long-haul premium economy get anything more than bog-standard economy class seats.
This is a big opportunity, especially here in Europe: can airlines do something interesting in creating a short-haul premium economy product — perhaps just regular economy with the middle seat free and a complimentary beverage — either as part of the deal, as a perk for frequent flyers, or indeed as an ancillary revenue product?
Similarly, can they sell access to their lounges?
Obviously, they won’t want to cannibalize their business class revenue, but increasingly we’re seeing “ticketed only” sections or subsections of premium lounges that aren’t available to guests who are there thanks to their frequent flyer status — or even entirely separate lounges.
Whether it’s a relaxing stay before or after a short-haul connection or the chance to shower and change clothes around a long-haul flight, this isn’t some kind of revolutionary idea.
But it takes imagination, it takes courage, it takes a proper dose of realism and it takes the willingness to stand out from the crowd.
It’s almost ten years since the last time an airline experimented with something new in premium economy, in the shape of Air New Zealand. Is it time to try again?
