Malaysia Airlines will not fit premium economy seats to its incoming fleet of Airbus A350-900s, but maintain a small first class cabin.

The carrier's chief executive Peter Bellew tells FlightGlobal that the decision to scrap the premium economy seats was made as they "would erode our business product and revenues."

The 286-seat widebodies will hence have four first class, 35 business and 247 economy seats. The latter includes 25 extra legroom seats that Bellew says will be bookable as an ancillary add-on.

"Our focus is on making a super five-star business product over the next 18 months," he adds.

Malaysia Airlines is scheduled to take delivery of its first of six A350-900 at the end of the year. The aircraft, which are being leased from Air Lease, will replace its six A380s which are used on Kuala Lumpur-London services.

Source: Cirium Dashboard