A fully booked Airbus A350 touched down in Seoul Monday morning, making Korea the first country in Asia to welcome Swiss International Air Lines’ (SWISS) newest aircraft and its new premium cabin service.
On board was the airline’s chief commercial officer, Heike Birlenbach, who later addressed a media roundtable about why Korea matters for the airline and what the new premium service means for the Seoul-Zurich route.
“The Korean market is very interesting for our customers in Switzerland and all over Europe,” Birlenbach said. “We also see a lot of Korean interest in traveling to Switzerland.”
According to the airline, Korean outbound tourism to Switzerland has grown steadily, and SWISS is eager to cater to that demand. Korea’s selection as the first Asian market for the A350 was also driven by the aircraft’s optimal performance on long-haul routes.
The airline is part of the Lufthansa Group, which already connects Seoul to Frankfurt and Munich, with Zurich now completing the triangle.
The new cabin introduces SWISS Senses, a holistic approach to hospitality that engages all five senses to deliver a distinctly Swiss onboard experience. Touches include lighting that helps ease jet lag, an alpine fragrance, locally inspired dishes, and premium amenity kits.
“It’s not only the hardware,” Birlenbach said. “It’s the connection to hospitality, to training, to the way our flight attendants connect with customers.”
The concept is carried throughout a fully redesigned interior across all four cabin classes — first class offering two suite configurations, business class five seat types catering to individual needs and premium economy a shell design for added personal space.
“We spent about $1 billion per year for the renovation and modernization of our fleet, the new aircraft, the interior, the hospitality training and everything connected to it,” Birlenbach explained.
SWISS added that while the airline sees limited room for additional Seoul-Zurich frequencies this year due to full capacity across its existing fleet, more A350 deliveries, once they come, are expected to be directed eastward.
“Once we are able to grow more and get more aircraft, there will be more A350s coming in, and we would like to complement the services and have higher frequencies, for example, also to Korea,” she said, adding that the airline sees its future growth opportunities lying in Asian markets.
“We are already quite strong to the US and also to Canada, so the focus would rather be the east.”
Credits: Swiss Air
