In a touch of irony, the first Lufthansa Group carrier to introduce true premium seating on its narrowbody aircraft will be budget carrier Eurowings. As it prepares to launch service to the Middle East, Eurowings is introducing a “real”business class seat on its A320neo.

A True Business Class Seat Is Finally Coming To Eurowings On A320neo

After years of offering a premium product that was nothing more than an economy seat with an empty middle and a small meal, Eurowings is finally rolling out something that can legitimately be called business class.

Eurowings Premium BIZ Debuts On A320neo

Starting in November 2025, Eurowings will introduce “Premium BIZ” seating on select Airbus A320neo aircraft. This will coincide with the launch of a new service between Berlin (BER) and Dubai (DXB), a five-and-a-half-hour flight that arguably deserves something more than a blocked middle seat and a cold sandwich.

The new configuration, built by Italian seatmaker Geven, features a proper 2-2 layout in the first two rows, marking a major shift from the typical 3-3 with a blocked middle seat that defines most European “business class” offerings. Seats will recline, include better padding, and offer increased space and privacy.

Eight Seats, Two Business Class Cabins

There will be just eight Premium BIZ seats per aircraft. That’s a small footprint, but it represents a big change in how Eurowings positions itself, not just as a budget airline, but as a “value carrier” with options that actually offer value.

It’s also a trial. Eurowings will still offer “regular” business class…economy with a blocked middle…and will evaluate how “Premium BIZ” performs before making any decisions on making it permanent or expanding it to more routes.

CEO Jens Bischof framed the move as part of a long-term transformation: “We’re setting a new standard in our market segment,” he said, calling the product “a completely new level of comfort” for medium-haul travelers. That may be a stretch, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

“With our new Premium BIZ seat, we offer business travellers and holidaymakers a completely new level of comfort on medium-haul flights. More privacy and a significantly enhanced feel-good atmosphere make longer flights noticeably more pleasant. We are thus setting a new standard in our market segment and clearly positioning Eurowings as Europe’s leading value airline.” -Eurowings CEO Jens Bischof

A Model For Others In Lufthansa Group

The most interesting part of the announcement is that this test “will also provide other airlines in the Lufthansa Group with important insights for the future configuration of new aircraft fleets.” While I’m not expecting the entire group to suddenly introduce “real” business class seats, we could very well see a sub-fleet of aircraft on Austrian, Brussels, Lufthansa, and SWISS that would have these seats.

Lufthansa, for example, flies as far as Jordan and Israel on narrow-body jets and could benefit greatly from being able to offer a more premium product to compete with El Al and Royal Jordanian.

Luxair, which is not part of the Lufthansa Group but is part of Miles & More, operates a Boeing 737-8 with “real” business class seats on its longer routes, including to Abu Dhabi (AUH).

Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot, and Belavia are the only (loosely) European carriers that operate with a real business class seat (and two are currently banned in the European Union). Air Serbia once had “real” business class seat, but deemed that experiment a failure and ripped out the seats.

CONCLUSION

In a world where “business class” often means “economy class without a neighbor,” Eurowings’ new Premium BIZ seats are a welcome upgrade, especially on longer intra-European or North African routes. Whether this catches on beyond the Dubai route remains to be seen, but for now, it’s nice to see an airline that finally understands there’s a middle ground between ultra-low-cost and fully flat.

You’ll be able to book Premium BIZ seats starting in August 2025. No word yet on pricing…

Would you pay extra for a real business class seat on a budget airline?

images: Eurowings // Hat Tip: One Mile At A Time