News

New short-and medium-haul economy class seat for Austrian Airlines

25 Nov 2010 by BusinessTraveller

Austrian Airlines has begun the fitting of a new short and medium-haul economy seat across its fleet. The new seat, which will have been installed on all 32 short and medium-haul A320 family and the B737 type aircraft in the Austrian fleet by September 2011, offers up to 10cm more space for legs and knees (depending on aircraft type).

The seat is also three to five kilograms lighter than its predecessor, is covered in “high-value leather”, and takes up less space, allowing Austrian to install an average of five more seats on each aircraft.

The new seat has been developed by the German seat manufacturer Recaro which tested it with over 300 frequent flyers, who judged it according to criteria including space in the foot area, legroom and ability to extend legs. Recaro will be supplying a total of 4,650 seats to Austrian.

In addition Austrian is improving its meal service in business class, serving a hot meal on all flights other than domestic flights and routes to the cities of Zagreb, Prague and Budapest.

The range of meals for passengers in economy is also being improved and will “feature a more typically Austrian feel”. In practice this means that on flights lasting more than two hours, the carrier will offer an Austrian Brettljause or a “paper bag filled with warm delicacies”. The afternoon snack will feature a range of very Austrian options in future, including a miniature Gugelhupf cake. 

For more information visit austrian.com.

Report by Tom Otley

  • For more information on Lufthansa's forthcoming long-haul business and short-haul economy seats, click here.
  • For more information on Bmi's "refreshed" mid-haul product, click here.
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