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Staring in January 2016 SWISS will take delivery of the first of nine Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with a “state-of-the-art cabin product in all seating classes”. That’s a big claim to make although, if SWISS’ present cabin products are anything to go by, they may well be telling the truth.
The Boeing 777-300ER was a big leap ahead in terms of premium cabin product for American Airlines so it will be interesting to see what SWISS is doing with their version of the aircraft. In fairness to SWISS they already have a pretty decent First and Business Class offering while American Airlines could hardly have got much worse…so comparing the two airlines isn’t necessarily very fair.
So what does SWISS have in store for their new toy?
The SWISS configuration for the Boeing 777-300 will allow for 340 seats with 8 First Class seats, 62 Business Class seats and 270 seats in Economy Class.
Click to enlarge
SWISS 777-300ER Seat Map
SWISS 777-300ER First Class
The SWISS First Class product on their new 777-300ERs is a suite in the style of something we’ve come to expect from the premium Middle Eastern and Asian carriers and not something we normally associate with a European airline.
It looks fantastic!
SWISS 777-300ER – New First Class Cabin
The cabin is laid out in a 1-2-1 formation similar to what is seen on American Airlines’ 777-300s….but that’s where the similarities end!
Clearly the centre seats will be preferable for couples traveling together but it would seem churlish to complain regardless of which seat you’re in.
SWISS 777-300ER – New First Class Cabin
The SWISS First Class suites come with 32″ screens (the largest in the industry), electrically adjustable window blinds and their own wardrobe.
SWISS 777-300ER – New First Class Suite
From the looks of the photos supplied by SWISS there is an ottoman at each seat that will allow for two people to enjoy a meal together.
SWISS 777-300ER – New First Class Suite
It will be interesting to see how spacious these suites feel when the seat is in bed mode and when the suite doors are closed. I haven’t been able to find any dimensions for these suites online so I’m hoping it’s just the photo that’s making the suite look a bit on the small side.
SWISS 777-300ER Business Class
The new SWISS 777-300ER Business Class cabin will have an impressive 62 seats but, the first thing I noticed from the seat map (above), is that they’ve opted for a 1-2-1 and a 2-2-2 layout for their seats. Straight away that makes some seats in the Business Class cabin a lot more desirable than others….especially if you’re traveling alone.
SWISS 777-300ER – New Business Class Cabin
SWISS 777-300ER – New Business Class Seats
As you can see from the picture above, if you find yourself in a 2-2-2 row and in a window seat, you don’t have access to the aisle without stepping over the person next to you. That’s poor for a brand new Business Class product.
If, on the other hand, you can snag one of the window seats in a 1-2-1 row you’ll end up with one of the best seats in the air – it’s like a huge throne!
SWISS 777-300ER – New Business Class Seats
The seats themselves have been upgraded from the previous SWISS Business Class seats and include features like adjustable cushion firmness, headphone hangers and extra storage for all your devices.
The seats convert into a 2m+ (6.5ft+) flat-bed which should keep all but the tallest of passengers happy:
SWISS 777-300ER – New Business Class seat in bed mode
The picture above further illustrates why the single seats by the windows will be in such demand – there’s just so much room!
The existing SWISS Business Class product is already one of the more highly rated products on the market but this one, despite the 2-2-2 rows, looks to be another step up the ladder.
SWISS 777-300ER Economy Class
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first – SWISS has followed the herd and gone for 10-across seating in their Economy Class cabin on their new 777-300ER. That’s never good.
There are no official seat dimensions available just yet (at least not that I could find) but there’s no defying the laws of physics…..if you squeeze 10 seats into a row on a 777-300 you’re not going to give your passengers much seat width. At best 17.5″…more likely just 17″.
SWISS 777-300ER Economy Class Cabin
SWISS have said that their Economy Class cabin will have a self-serve kiosk offering “a wide range of drinks and snacks” and that the seats come with “new seat cushion technology” and a large personal touchscreen monitor:
SWISS 777-300ER Economy Class Seats
SWISS 777-300ER Economy Class Cabin
If you take a look at he seats themselves you can’t help but hope that whatever the “new cushion technology” is…it had better be good because the seats aren’t exactly thickly padded:
SWISS 777-300ER Economy Class Seats
That leg room doesn’t look particularly impressive either but I guess we’ll have to wait for the aircraft to be delivered before we’ll know for sure how good or bad the seat dimensions are. For the record I’m going to guess 17″ seat width and 31″ seat pitch…let’s see how close I am 🙂
Update: I was pretty close! The Economy Class cabin has seats that are 17″ wide and with a seat pitch of 32″
SWISS 777-300ER Planned Routes
SWISS issued a press release on 2 October that indicated that the 777-300ER would commence revenue service on their Zurich – New York route from February 2016….but I haven’t seen or heard any official mention of this since.
ExpertFlyer is showing a 777-300ER appearing on this route 4x/week as of 21 February 2016, replacing an Airbus A330-300 (LX14), but, as you can see from the asterisks, this isn’t confirmed:
The last confirmed routes and dates that were issued by SWISS for their new 777-300ER are as follows:
Zurich – Montreal – From 27 March 2016 – 1 flight daily until 30 August 2016
Zurich – Hong Kong – From 10 April 2016 – 3x/week increasing to 5x/week from 3 May 2016
Zurich – Los Angeles – From 9 June 2016 1 flight daily
Zurich – Bangkok – From 8 July 2016 1 flight daily
Zurich – Sao Paulo – From 1 August 2016 3x/week increasing to 4x/week from 4 September 2016
Zurich – Tel Aviv – From 28 August 2016 3x/week
Zurich – San Francisco – From 1 September 2016 3x/week UPDATE: Delayed to 16 February 2017
UPDATE 27 May 2016: Zurich – Miami Added from 30 October 2016 – More Information here.
While you will find these flight loaded into systems such as ExpertFlyer please don’t assume that these are fixed in stone – they definitely aren’t. Some, if not most of these routes will have changes made to them before they go live so don’t use these dates to plan a trip on the new SWISS 777-300ER.
All images of the SWISS 77-300ER that appear in this blog post are courtesy of SWISS.
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