Turkish Airlines has confirmed that it will resurrect Premium Economy on select long-haul aircraft, more than 10 years after the Istanbul-based airline abandoned the product, which was designed as a bridge between Economy Class and Business Class.
The history of Premium Economy can be traced back to the early 1990s, when Taiwan’s Eva Air and Virgin Atlantic both introduced wider and more comfortable seats that, at the time, more closely resembled Business Class.
Which airline actually introduced the concept first is the source of much debate, although it appears that EVA just beat Virgin Atlantic in 1992 when it installed its Economy Deluxe Class on a Boeing 747-400 jumbojet operating flights between Taipei and Los Angeles.
Virgin Atlantic then installed its Mid Class not long after, followed by British Airways with its World Traveller Plus cabin in 2000.
It would, however, take Turkish Airlines until 2010 to flirt with the idea of introducing its own Premium Economy cabin, which it dubbed Comfort Class. The cabin was installed on Boeing 777 aircraft, but while other airlines with Premium Economy immediately recognized what a winning product this was, the concept didn’t fully take off at Turkish Airlines.
In fact, in 2016, Turkish Airlines abandoned its Comfort Class concept, ripping out the Premium Economy seats on its Boeing 777s and returning the space to regular Economy seats.
Since then, Turkish Airlines has always stood by the decision, saying that it didn’t want to cannibalise the popularity of its Business Class cabin with travellers downgrading to Premium Economy rather than Economy passengers trading up.
Last year, however, the airline sent out a survey to frequent flyers on the subject, and now the airline’s chief executive, Murat Şeker, has told aviation publication Skift that Premium Economy will be making a return.
“We will introduce a premium economy,” Şeker told, adding: “According to our plan, we will be able to offer a Premium Economy Class in our Airbus A350 as early as 2028 – to be more precise, in early 2028.”
Turkish Airlines has 60 Airbus A350 on order, and it’s understood that Premium Economy will be first installed on brand new planes that are yet to be delivered. Depending on its success, the cabin could then be retrofitted on existing widebody aircraft.
The airline is no doubt hoping that this time around it will see the same success as Emirates experienced when it very belatedly introduced Premium Economy in 2022. Just like Turkish Airlines, Emirates’ long-serving President, Sir Tim Clark, had publicly voiced his concerns that Premium Economy would result in Business Class passengers downgrading rather than Economy passengers upgrading.
His concerns turned out to be very wrong. Emirates’ Premium Economy cabins are predominantly filled with Economy Class passengers splashing out extra cash for a better experience, rather than Business Class passengers accepting less for a cheaper fare.
The airline quickly amended its plans to equip just a handful of planes with Premium Economy and launched a massive retrofit program to install the seats across hundreds of aircraft.
As for what Premium Economy seat Turkish Airlines might choose, local aviation publication Hava Haber reports that the airline might opt for the Royalux seat, which is made by its wholly owned interior products company TCI.
Royalux is primarily designed as a short-haul recliner-style Business Class seat, but it can be fitted on widebody aircraft, making it an ideal candidate for a Premium Economy cabin. The seat offers up to 10 inches of recline, a 6-way adjustable headrest, and a 15.6 entertainment screen, with the whole product wrapped in a wing-style shell design.
