KLM To Add Seats to Planes Without Reducing Passenger Comfort

Dutch national airline KLM has announced some changes to its long-haul flights, including those to and from the U.S.

The unusually structured (and slightly confusing) announcement cites a variety of seemingly unlinked topics, including “more personal contact,” an “increase in the number of seats,” and new tableware in business class.

Among these tidbits, the airline has an interesting plan to put more seats into its planes without reducing the space available at each seat. Let’s unpack this to see how it will actually impact you, the traveler.

Service Changes for World Business Class and Economy Passengers

Under KLM‘s new service concept umbrella of updates, the airline combines “more room for personal contact” and “an increase in the number of seats” in the same sentence. There will be an additional 2 seats in business class on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and an unspecified increase in seats in economy.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that increasing the number of seats will likely negatively impact personal space, rather than provide more room. However, KLM is hinting that there may be some carts and galley space being taken away to make this happen.

We’ll have to wait until 2027 to learn how KLM has managed to redesign its cabins with more space and more seats simultaneously.

On the other hand, we can look forward to KLM bringing back its welcome drink service to economy. I don’t think I’ve ever been offered a welcome drink in economy before, so this is a nice touch.

It remains to be seen whether that will be before or after take off — and exactly when KLM plans to reinstate the welcome drink service.

Up front in business class, KLM will introduce new tableware by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.

“It is a contemporary design, made of beautiful crystal, bone china, stainless steel, and other noble materials,” said Wanders.

Up to 40 Seats Coming to Premium Economy Cabins

The curious case of creating more space by adding more seats continues in KLM’s premium economy cabin.

In the airline’s reimagined layout of long-haul cabins, KLM has found space to increase the number of seats in the premium economy cabin to a maximum of 40! Apparently, that’s achievable while also increasing space for personal contact with passengers by adding more seats in economy.

KLM confirms that this increase in the number of seats will have no impact on the legroom for passengers.

The explanation is that they’ve found a way to reduce the number of catering trolleys needed on board. In other words, galleys are likely to get smaller, which will, in turn, make the job more difficult for cabin crew. Reducing galley space is a move that many airlines are making with newer aircraft. An example of this is on British Airways Airbus A350s, where cabin crew are known to block toilets in business class during service, due to space constraints.

Increasing the number of seats in premium economy is a strategic financial decision by KLM, as it’s widely known that the cabin is often the most lucrative for airlines.

“Our Premium Comfort Class is very well appreciated by passengers and is often fully booked,” said Paul Terstegge, executive vice president of inflight services for KLM.

Final Thoughts

KLM plans to cram more seats into its long-haul planes’ cabins without impacting passengers’ comfort. To do that without physically stretching its aircraft, the airline plans to remove carts and likely other parts of the galley that cabin crew rely on to provide streamlined meal services.

KLM hopes the highlight of the whole experience for passengers will be more “personal contact”, which, if more seats are being crammed in, is an obvious outcome — but not necessarily in a positive way.