Meneer Guggenheimer

KLM will introduce a real premium economy in the near future. Pieter Elbers just confirmed that on the annual financial presentation.

No details except it will come.

Thoughts?

source:

Giantlonglegs

Interesting. Will they strip back the number of business class seats, or will they convert "X" amount of eco seats into premium eco seats?

Air France Premium Eco seats are not too bad, the half and half of business and eco in one.

Gajan

The KLM business class cabin is already relatively small compared to competitors, so I’d hope introducing a PE product would lead to a reduction of economy seats.

I hope Economy Comfort stays!

Brendan88

They might want to change the 787 order for 777’s. Don’t see them reducing the business cabin any further. But the Y cabin is also quite packed. So I wonder how the business model looks if they reduce the number of pax.

I also hope EC will stay, that brings in quite a bit of revenue doesn't it?

Gajan

EC to stay, possible new wbc product on B777

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieu...remium-economy

Lawrious

It comes up telling me I have to purchase to gain access to the article.

bennos

W cabins supposedly have the highest income per floor area for airlines, so presumably no matter which cabin gets downsized the impact on revenue should be positive. I agree the W cabin will likely come at the expense of Y and not J, due to the small size of the existing J cabins.

It will be interesting to see what model KLM takes for the W cabin. AF uses a smaller cabin of around 3 rows that is really just an extension of the main Y cabin. (Service is provided by the Y FAs, and is basically the Y service.) VS and DL have larger cabins (typically 6-7 rows) with dedicated FAs and dedicated W catering. Given the increased competition in the W market over the past few years, I would argue an AF style cabin will result in an uncompetitive product, even in comparison to the JV partners.

johan rebel

They indeed had stacks of 'm.

Very little of substance in that article, it was mostly about other matters (fleet renewal/expansion, lounges, Flying Blue, etc).

Key points (actually the only points):

- main reason for introduction of PE is product alignment within the TATL JV.
- increasing pax satisfaction is a subsidiary reason
- one year from get go till first aircraft is equipped

Nothing whatsoever on cabin configuration, number of seats, catering etc.

Johan

Gajan

Initially I was able to read the article without having a subscription, now I am not. IIRC, the highlights were:

- Economy comfort to stay;
- they have not yet decided on the configuration per aircraft. It is unlikely that the B744 will be equipped with the PE product;
- they may be looking to change the WBC seat on the B777 to a direct aisle access seat (a la B789/781).

pafnyc

Any news on this (particularly in light of COVID)? Also, will the WBC be aligned across the fleet to match 787-10?

irishguy28

No.

See the post directly before yours.

deltatrav

Has anyone heard anything on PE?

caliform

I would imagine there's not going to be any investment in cabin experience changes made anytime soon.

fly747first

KL desperately needs a better J product on the 777 to match the 1x2x1 configuration of the 787s

AHC96

I see them introducing the 1x2x1 J cabin before PE. I would definitely fly KLM more often if they offered PE.