First flight: SWISS becomes the first Lufthansa Group airline to introduce the new ZIM seat

Immenstaad, February 15, 2022 – SWISS is the first Lufthansa Group airline to operate the newly developed ZP610 from ZIM Aircraft Seating GmbH in scheduled service. The basis is the 2020 order, which covered both the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A340-300 of SWISS. The first SWISS aircraft fitted with the ZP610 was an Airbus A340.

From development contract to visible cabin
The contract was awarded in December 2020, in the midst of the most severe crisis in commercial aviation. A good 14 months of development, certification and integration work lay between then and the first deployment on board. For ZIM, this moment marks the point at which a development contract becomes a flying product.

The seat on board
On the Boeing 777-300ER, the seat is installed in the Premium Economy cabin. The seat covers are supplied by Swiss manufacturer Lantal. The central design feature is the fixed hard shell: passengers adjust their seat within their own space without encroaching on the row behind. This significantly increases perceived privacy – without additional seat pitch and therefore without any loss of cabin capacity for the airline.

Roll-out takes place in the first half of 2022 across all twelve SWISS Boeing 777-300ERs. The fleet's four Airbus A340s will be retrofitted afterwards.

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