Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has trailed the competition for years in terms of longhaul business class product. I reviewed business class from Copenhagen to Washington Dulles in 2010 and four years later the seats still have not changed–SAS still does not offer lie-flat or even 180º “angled lie-flat” seats on its longhaul routes. With a refurbishment coming to existing aircraft and new aircraft on the way, SAS has finally introduced a new business class seat–and it looks great!
SAS is working with a relatively small fleet:
- Cabin upgrade on seven Airbus A330/A340s
- Four new Airbus A330-300s to be delivered in 2015 and 2016
- Eight Airbus A350-900s to be delivered from 2018 with an option on an additional six
Here’s a bit from the SAS press release—
Seven SAS Airbus A330/A340s are having cabin upgrades. The interior design is ultra modern with greater cabin comfort in the shape of new seats in all classes. To make flights even more comfortable, a new on-demand entertainment system with HD large screens is being installed along with WiFi access.
The materials and color scheme in the new cabins have been chosen to create a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere. The seating in SAS Go and SAS Plus is designed with good storage to create extra space. All seats in SAS Business have direct access to aisles and can be folded flat for maximum comfort. The bedding comes from Hästens, the oldest bed manufacturer in Sweden, to ensure that passengers enjoy a high class sleeping experience.
“SAS customers will enjoy a totally new travel experience in our upgraded cabins. The new interior is designed to meet the needs of frequent flyers and substantially enhances our customer offer,” says Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS.
The first plane with the new cabin is expected to go into service in early 2015 and the majority of the SAS long haul fleet will have the new interior within 12 months. SAS currently flies long haul to New York, Chicago, Washington, San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Houston (from August 2014).
I love the color scheme of the cabins and seats and the Hästens bedding looks very classy–
As noted in the press release, the cabin will be configured in a 1-2-1 layout, meaning direct aisle access at every seat. A potential downside (though we have not seen the seat map): the loss of the current 2-2-2 cabin layout and the larger size of these seats (in fully lie-flat mode, they are 6’5″) presumably means fewer business class seats. Premium longhaul award space is already extremely rare on SAS, though not impossible to find. It may be even worse after the refurbishment.
SAS has struggled financially for years and I trust these seats are a sign of a turnaround–SAS provides critical air links within Scandinavia and is a valuable Star Alliance member. I cannot wait to try this new seat!
It’s about time!
Just flew SK in business between IAD-CPH and was shocked at how poor the hard and soft products were. Awful tasteless food, no menu/wine list, poor wine selection, indifferent service, ignorant FA (who insisted I would have to go through security for my onward flight to AMS), distance of lounge from most European gates. The only thing worse than that experience was my flight from CPH-AMS in what now passes as business class. Regular tight economy seating with no centre seat left open, no catering other than a bread role and some strange meat-like substance, indifferent crew. (I remember a real business class on this airline back in the 80s, comfortable 2×2 seats, great service, good food and wine, courteous FAs. My how low this airline has sunk, particularly compared to my experiences with Finnair, both intra-Europe and transAtlantic…night and day! The only positive I have to say is that I could buy a bottle of Scotch from the onboard Duty Free with the FF miles in the SK program I got from the MD80 mini-Do last fall…a far better inflight experience but rather misleading to what I’d get on a regular SK flight.
Matthew,
Is there any chance these new seats will be available before my Nov 5th Bus class flt from Copenhagen to ORD?
Secondly, if so, with the new seating, how will this effect seats already booked with the old 2-2-2 configuration?
@Michael E: Did you wind up with the new business class seats?
hello, is this new business class now active (business flight from vienna – over CPH – to San Francisco) – Airbus 330-340? Kr, maria
@Maria: Yes, new business class has now been installed across fleet.