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CAPA - Centre for Aviation

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Aircraft Interiors industry development summary: Sep/Oct-2025 - premium economy on the rise

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This regular CAPA - Centre for Aviation report provides a summary of major developments in the aircraft interiors sector, supported by data from the CAPA Aircraft, Interiors Database and CAPA News.

This edition covers Sep-2025 and Oct-2025 and features:

New entrants to the premium economy market;

Availability of premium economy by region;

Airlines' continued focus on premium economy;

+ Latest global interior updates.

Summary

  • This regular CAPA - Centre for Aviation report provides a summary of major developments in the aircraft interiors sector, supported by data from the CAPA Aircraft, Interiors Database and CAPA News.
  • This edition covers Sep-2025 and Oct-2025.
  • Premium economy cabins have more than doubled in the global widebody fleet over the past decade, now installed on approximately 45% of aircraft.
  • Major airlines, such as Korean Air, Thai Airways, LATAM, and Alaska Airlines, are recent or upcoming entrants to the premium economy market.
  • North America and Europe lead in premium economy adoption, with North America achieving about 90% coverage on widebodies.
  • Airlines are expanding premium economy offerings, with KLM, SWISS, and United Airlines increasing seat counts and upgrading products.
  • Premium economy is now seen as a key revenue driver, attracting both economy and business class passengers without significant trade-down concerns.
  • Recent global aircraft interior updates include new seat installations, in-flight connectivity enhancements, and cabin retrofits across multiple regions.

Premium economy cabins on the rise across the world's widebody fleet

Given how prominent premium economy class appears to be nowadays, it is hard to imagine there are still major global players that have yet to, or are about to, venture into the cabin type.

Over the past ten years of all passenger widebodies in service, the share of aircraft with premium economy installed has more than doubled, from less than 20% to approximately 45%.

Share of passenger widebodies in service with Premium Economy over the past 10 years

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation Aircraft Interiors Database.

The cabin type was initially met with concerns that business class passengers would trade down.

However, as airlines continued to upgrade business cabins while segmenting economy, premium economy proved to be a driver of incremental upsell revenue.

The additional revenue from would-be economy class passengers has justified the cabin type now becoming a fixture on new deliveries, with over a 60% share on passenger widebody deliveries over the past five years.

So, who are the airlines that are only now jumping on the bandwagon?

New entrants to the premium economy market

In the Asia Pacific region, two heavyweights recently announced plans to introduce premium economy.

In Mar-2025 Korean Air confirmed that it would retrofit 11 of its Boeing 777-300ERs. The plan included not only new products across the entire cabin, but also the addition of 2-4-2 premium economy class. The Safran Z535i model was selected as the basis of the Korean Air product.

The rollout has been anything but smooth.

With the airline's ongoing merger with Asiana Airlines, every action taken by Korean Air has come under intense scrutiny. As part of the 777 retrofit project, Korean Air decided to remove its nine-abreast economy class, increasingly a rarity globally, and instead go for narrower ten-abreast product.

This move was viewed as anti-competitive by South Korean authorities, forcing Korean Air to go as far as halting the retrofit programme.

As of this article's publishing, it is unclear how Korean Air plans to proceed.

Thai Airways, meanwhile, is undergoing a two phase introduction process.

When three ex-Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330s joined Thai Airways' fleet in late 2024 the airline kept the original tri-class hard product, including 31 Upper Class Suites and 48 premium seats. The premium seats on these second-hand aircraft allowed Thai Airways to reintroduce premium economy, a class type that has not been offered since the retirement of its Airbus A340 fleet.

What was eye-catching was Thai Airways' recent announcement not to categorise the Virgin Atlantic-era Upper Class Suites as business class; the airline instead opted for Premium Economy Plus. It is unclear if Thai Airways selected this branding as it doesn't view the Virgin Atlantic product as on-par with its own standard business class offering.

While decisions made for these second-hand aircraft may be interim, they did broadly coincide with Thai Airways' official announcement on a standard premium economy product.

In Oct 2024 the airline unveiled a major widebody retrofit plan for 14 Boeing 777-300ER and 30 Boeing 787s. The project, expected to begin in 2027, will include - suites in business class, a Business Plus product, next generation SES connectivity, and premium economy.

Over in the Americas, we have LATAM Airlines and Alaska Air Group about to enter the premium economy space.

LATAM announced in Aug 2025 its plans to add premium economy from 2027. The airline has historically offered only an 'Economy Plus' product. The new cabin type will feature the PL3530 platform from RECARO Aircraft Seating.

This new addition is part of LATAM's nose-to-tail upgrade plans. The airline has already started rolling out new business class suites featuring RECARO's R7 platform, in addition to new economy class seats based on RECARO's CL3710 model.

Alaska Airlines, as part of its merger with Hawaiian Airlines, is working through a holistic group-wide widebody strategy, part of which is the introduction of a premium economy cabin.

During its earnings calls in Jul-2025 the group disclosed plans to add premium economy seats to its A330s as part of the fleet's mid-life retrofit programme. It is expected that this will also indicate that the airline plans on adding premium economy to its Boeing 787 fleet.

Availability of premium economy by region dominated by North America and Europe

Looking at data by region, it is evident that premium economy has reached critical mass in North America and Europe.

Share of passenger widebodies in service with premium economy, by region, as of Oct-2025 vs Oct-2015

Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation Aircraft Interiors Database.

North America is especially impressive - as a relative latecomer to the premium economy space, the region has achieved ~90% coverage within a decade.

The Middle East and Latin America are expected to see sizeable pick-up as the regional giants Emirates and LATAM Group start, or continue to, roll out their premium economy products.

Airlines continue focus on premium economy

For airlines that already offer premium economy, it is noteworthy that the number of recent announcements show airlines doubling down in this space.

While KLM had only just completed its premium economy installation less than a year ago, the success has led to the airline following up in Sep 2025 with plans to add even more of the seat type.

The airline stated that the cabin, despite being a new offering, is already "often fully booked".

KLM added demand for "unique and more luxury travel is increasing". With the latest announcements, KLM will increase the number of its 'Premium Comfort' seats to a maximum of 40, depending on aircraft type.

SWISS and United Airlines are also showing confidence in the offering.

In Oct-2025 SWISS introduced its latest fleet type, the Airbus A350, featuring the airline's latest 'Senses' cabin. This includes up to 38 passengers in premium economy. This number is far higher than the 24 seen on the Boeing 777-300ER or 21 on the Airbus A340-300.

United's 'Elevated' interiors, revealed in May-2025, included plans to increase the number of premium economy seats on the Boeing 787-9 from 21 to 35.

Meanwhile, British Airways is busy upgrading its premium economy offering.

While its first 787-9 retrofit, complete but still pending certification, did not add to the count of premium economy, British Airways did use the opportunity to replace the seat. The cabin now features RECARO PL3530 seats with privacy wings.

This is reminiscent of the new premium economy product recently introduced on Cathay Pacific's retrofitted 777-300ERs.

Other latest global interior news

OEM

  • Display Interactive to be acquired by Neo Space Group;
  • Safran may divest more of business interiors, but not the seats;
  • Viasat HEO payloads soon to support airlines with legacy GX hardware.

Asia Pacific

Europe, Middle East and Africa

North and South America

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