Swiss International Air Lines' all-new A330-300 aircraft arrived in Dubai from Zurich fitted with the latest innovations in seats marking another milestone for Swiss operations in the emirate.

The A330-300 fleet boasts of the all-new technology air cushion Business Class seats.  In the new aircraft, premium passengers get to enjoy the new Business Class Seat which offers optimum travel comfort with a state-of-the-art air cushion for adjustable comfort in all positions, said a top official.

Passengers will have more personal space and enjoy sleeping with the two-meter 'fully horizontal lie-flat' seat which is also equipped with a massage function. Inflight entertainment has been improved to carry larger screens in 16:9 format and plugs for USB and iPod.

'As the second market to receive the all-new A330-300, we are marking another milestone for Swiss operations here in Dubai and this reiterates the importance of servicing passengers from the region,' said Martin Massüger, director, head of sales Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Iran for Swiss.

It is the first airline to offer the revolutionary air comfort system to passengers enabling individual settings of whether to have a firmness of a futon or softness of a waterbed, he noted.

The air cushion is placed in all body-contact areas such as back-rest, seat-cushion and leg-rest.  The air cushion enables seat weight reduction, leading to lower fuel consumption for the A330-300, Massüger explained.

Passengers from Dubai made history as they boarded the inaugural Dubai-Zurich flight which took off at 12:50am on Saturday. Special treats greeted the passengers as they boarded the new aircraft.

'With our new offering, our passengers are assured of more comfort and convenience that uniquely speaks of Swiss hospitality,' he added.

The new aircraft is part of the fleet renewal programme of Swiss with investments reaching well over $878 million which involves the replacement of smaller aircrafts to the nine new Airbus A330-300s.

With the complete delivery of the fleet by 2011, the investment is expected to raise earning capacity of the airline. Also, the new aircrafts will reduce Swiss' CO2 emissions by around 13 per cent, Massüger said.

This summer, Swiss operates non-stop daily flights from Dubai to Zurich, daily flights from Muscat, Oman, five weekly flights from Cairo and four weekly flights from Riyadh and Jeddah.-TradeArabia News Service