ZIM Aircraft Seating details comeback as it sees sales boost

ZIM Aircraft Seating, which is best known for developing and manufacturing premium economy seats for airlines, is forecasting sales of €120 million for 2025 and expects to “double” that annual figure by the end of 2030.

Sharing its earnings outlook on LinkedIn, the German firm reckons it’s seeing “one of the most spectacular comebacks” in the commercial aviation industry.

Owned by private equity group AURELIUS since the end of February 2020, ZIM faced massive obstacles during the COVID pandemic, as production ceased and the German firm saw an exodus of workers. That year, it filed legal insolvency proceedings and achieved sales of just €17 million.

Emerging from the restructuring vehicle in January 2021, ZIM has worked its way back to a place of prominence. In 2022, it won a key Premium Economy seating contract with Lufthansa Group — the so-called ZP610 seats recently broke cover on SWISS International Air Lines’ first A350-900 — and in 2023, it acquired Greensboro, North Carolina-based HAECO Cabin Solutions from HAECO Group.

“With the acquisition — supported by the AURELIUS Investment Advisory Team and a further equity injection of €14 million by AURELIUS — ZIM gained additional production capacity, access to a state-of-the-art economy seat family and a stronger presence in North America, as well as to new airline customers,” ZIM says. “Catalogue listings at Airbus and Boeing were also crucial.”

In addition to “major” customer Lufthansa Group, ZIM also counts a raft of premium airlines as clients including Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines.

ZIM competes with Collins Aerospace, RECARO Aircraft Seating and Safran Seats. “While these companies defend their pre-eminence primarily through size and global networks, ZIM relies on agility, German engineering and the growing need by airlines for flexible, quickly scalable solutions,” says ZIM, which is headquartered in Immenstaad on Lake Constance.

“Today, as long-haul flights are booming again and airlines are investing, ZIM is positioning itself as a challenger and clear alternative to the established providers,” it continues.

Under the helm of CEO Raffael Rogg, ZIM is back in growth mode, recently announcing plans to expand its production site in Markdorf, Germany.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team in Markdorf: with the expansion of our production site, we’re investing not only in growth but also in the future of innovation and quality Made in Germany,” says Rogg.

“This expansion will double our production capacity and strengthen our ability to operate more efficiently and sustainably — always with our customers’ needs in focus.”

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Featured image of SWISS A350 premium economy credited to SWISS