Eurowings is bringing genuine recliner seats to short-haul Europe. The German leisure carrier will install a fixed premium cabin at the front of its Airbus A320neo fleet and begin selling it on inter-European routes from December 1, 2026, according to a report by Paddle Your Own Kanoo published on August 19, 2026.
The product, which Eurowings calls the Premium BIZ Seat, consists of eight recliners arranged 2-2 at the very front of the aircraft. The airline currently operates eight A320neos and, per the report, has no plans to fit the seats to other aircraft types. Installation across the A320neo fleet begins in November.
What the seat actually is
Eurowings has selected the Comoda recliner built by the Italian seat manufacturer Geven. The Comoda was designed primarily as a long-haul premium economy seat and offers eight inches of recline, amenity pockets, a cocktail table and bottle and cup holders.
That matters because it is a real seat rather than a marketing exercise. Behind the two fixed Premium BIZ rows, Eurowings will continue to offer its existing Euro Business cabin, which uses standard economy seats with the middle seat blocked β the arrangement that has been the European short-haul norm for decades.
Where it will fly
From December 1, the Premium BIZ product goes on sale on three short-haul routes: DΓΌsseldorf to London Heathrow, with up to 28 services per week; DΓΌsseldorf to Mallorca, once daily; and Berlin to Mallorca, with up to four flights per week. MΓ‘laga also features in the airline's plans for the product.
Pricing, according to the report, starts at a β¬60 add-on on the London route, with fares bundling the seat in from β¬199.99 to Mallorca and MΓ‘laga.
From a Dubai experiment to everyday Europe
The recliners did not begin life as a short-haul product. Eurowings first introduced them as an experiment on medium-haul services of more than six hours, specifically its Berlin β Dubai route, and the results of that market test late last year impressed the airline's management enough to extend the concept to much shorter sectors.
βWe are boldly changing an industry standard because our guestsβ expectations are changing as well,β Eurowings chief executive Max Kownatzki said.
A gap its own parent has not filled
The move is notable partly because of who is not doing it. Eurowings sits within the Lufthansa Group, and the report points out that Lufthansa itself still does not offer anything comparable on its own premium short-haul routes, continuing with the blocked-middle-seat formula.
European short-haul business class has long been criticised for offering a different service rather than a different seat. Airlines have generally argued that flight lengths do not justify the lost density. Eurowings is now testing whether passengers on flights of two to three hours will pay a modest premium for a physically better seat β and doing it with a leisure-oriented network rather than a corporate one, which makes the outcome genuinely uncertain.
With installations starting in November and sales opening in December, the first data on whether the bet works should arrive quickly.
Sources: Paddle Your Own Kanoo. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By James Holloway.
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