Why International First Class May Be Making A Comeback

Over the past decade, many international airlines have phased out their first-class cabins as their business cabins, with lie-flat seats, have become more sophisticated. Some questioned whether there would still be a need for a separate ultra-premium cabin. And some airlines argue that their new business cabins exceed the comforts and amenities of other carriers’ first-class offerings.

Post-pandemic, however, there has been a noticeable increase in demand for business- and premium-economy class seats on long-haul routes—a trend that seems to have been pushed by leisure passengers trading up—and which is spilling into demand for first-class seats. Lufthansa’s Allegris, Swiss International Air Lines’ SWISS Senses, and Qantas’ planned ultra-long-haul Project Sunrise products are among those that appear to be reversing the first-class decline.

Lufthansa’s Allegris premium seating products include first-class cabins on more than 80 new aircraft, such as Airbus A350s, and Boeing 777-9s and 787-9s. SWISS Senses—a new cabin design concept designed to support well-being—will be offered from 2025 on Airbus A330-300 long-haul flights. Both designs are by PriestmanGoode.

The Qantas first-class seats for its Project Sunrise A350-1000s, designed by Safran Seats, will enter service in 2025 on 18-22-hour flights between the east coast of Australia, Europe and North America.

At the Red Cabin Aircraft Cabin Innovation Summit hosted by Airbus in Hamburg in March, Lufthansa director-cabin interior Steffen Voltz said the German flag carrier renewed its first-class cabin products because of customer demand.

“A new first class, which will now live for the next 10 to 15 years, is the requirement from passengers,” he said. “The passengers want to have first class; we talked to them.”

Safran Seats advanced concept manager Arthur Glain told ATW that the company was “indeed seeing an increase in first-class demand,” although he said it was not going back to the way it was a decade ago. “With the business-class gap narrowing, a large number of airlines have moved away from generic first class, leaving only a handful of carriers competing on a super first-class market. We are currently seeing new players wanting to get into this close circle,” he said.

PriestmanGoode director Daniel MacInnes said the company was “regularly” asked to work on first-class cabin interiors.

“The demand from clients has been fairly consistent over the years,” he said, adding that this demand reflects the introduction of new aircraft, retrofits of existing fleets, and the commercial drive to stay one step ahead of competitors.

“As a first-class product is so prominent, it also acts as a showcase for the entire airline brand and the design language used across all cabins. So, there’s an ongoing need to update and innovate in this aspect of aircraft interiors,” MacInnes said.

Airbus head of cabin market insights-cabin marketing Stefan List agrees there is a “high demand” for first-class travel.

“First class as a trend is a development that we say is here to stay,” he told ATW. “When premium economy entered the market, business class became heavily under pressure, so that’s why the angled flat seat became the full flatbed seat, which put first class under pressure because before only first class had a full flatbed.”

List named three key drivers for why and when airlines are offering more first-class products.

First is segmentation “because airlines—especially the high-brand value carriers—need segmentation to provide for the individual passenger experience,” he said. “That’s why there was a decrease in first class and total numbers when premium economy entered the market and business class became full flatbed. Now first class is slightly growing again.”

List also pointed to fleet renewals “because first class is mainly a topic for larger widebodies, especially the new aircraft, such as the A350, and some retrofits where airlines are currently looking to reintroduce first class.”

The second key driver is the route. “It’s not everywhere—it’s not on each and every route or on each and every region, but specifically on the highly competitive, high premium and high-value trunk routes,” List said.

The third element is the airline brand value, especially for the top-ranked airlines, which List said are still expected to offer first class on certain routes.

However, not all airlines are convinced. American Airlines CCO Vasu Raja confirmed that while the Dallas-Fort Worth-based carrier is seeing more demand for premium seats, when it comes to international first class, “Our customers aren’t buying it” because the “quality of business class has improved so much.” During an October financial call, he noted, “Frankly, by removing [international first class] we can provide more business-class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for.”

The pandemic may be at least partly behind the renewed demand for first class.

“For three years people couldn’t travel,” List said. “Now they say, ‘OK, now if I travel, I want to fly in the highest class.”

Voltz agrees: “If people want to have space, and they’re ready to pay for it, then we are getting back in first class.”

Green Premium

A delicate balance to maintain for those airlines that choose to maintain their first-class cabins is how to square that with sustainability. The less dense a cabin configuration, which is a defining characteristic of international first class, the easier it is for LCCs to look more fuel and emissions efficient on a per-passenger basis.

“Everybody’s talking about sustainability,” Lufthansa’s Voltz told the Red Cabin audience. “But the passengers are flying; they’re paying high prices. And they want to have first class, business class—everything that goes away from sustainability. So currently, we don’t know how sustainability will really make its way through the airline business.”

Nevertheless, Airbus’ List said sustainability needs to be in “each and every discussion of premium products, and it’s important to balance that with all the other drivers.”

In the long term, he believes high-class comfort needs to cope with the sustainability trend. “But as we know, the cabin plays a minor role in the overall CO2 impact of aircraft. It’s really at the aircraft level with newest engine generations having 25%-30% less fuel burn,” he said, adding the industry still needs to consider “Rethink, Reuse, Recycle” initiatives and also look at minimizing the weight of cabin interiors products.

“We are observing both [sustainability and comfort] trends evolve in parallel,” Safran Seats’ Glain said. “On one hand, some airlines with a more climate change-conscious customer base are pushing for more sustainable cabins with space-efficient and lightweight seats. On the other hand, there is also a strong push for enhanced comfort with increased living space and advanced onboard technologies.”

PriestmanGoode’s MacInnes told ATW that “first-class customers are incredibly loyal to individual airlines. In return they are looking for one-of-a-kind experiences or they want to shape their own experience in terms of seating, adjustability and privacy—and they’re prepared to pay for it.”

He said that sustainability was “integral to all our design stages and in the recommendations we make to our clients. It’s a broad subject that includes everything from lightweight construction, modular components that facilitate maintenance, and design that eliminates problematic bonded material buildups. That said, the choice of materials that are part of a circular system, suitable for re-use, and that meet certification requirements, is still very limited today. But we always recommend sustainable options.”

Glain said Qantas’ Project Sunrise first-class seats have been designed with a strong emphasis on weight efficiency using advanced composites, “making these products some of the most lightweight on their respective market segment.”

MacInnes said passengers booking a first-class suite are “highly informed about sustainability—this may be due to their responsibilities in the business world or as part of their values as an individual. These customers actively ask about the materials and sustainable details of the services and products they purchase; the same applies to their travel choices, so we are helping our clients build this information into their brand stories.”

At the end of the day, List said what’s important for the high-end passengers is something that provides comfort.

“We really call it ‘well-being’ and comfort is one aspect of that. Well-being goes far beyond the comfortable seat. It’s really how you feel once you board until you leave the aircraft, and that well-being needs to come hand in hand with new sustainable measures.”