Hawaiian Airlines said Monday it is taking 44 seats out of economy class on each of its Airbus A330 aircraft used on longer flights so it can upgrade first-class seats to lie flat and add 28 midlevel seats, known as Extra Comfort seats.

The reconfiguration could make flying more expensive for some customers but provide those who can afford it more  comfortable seating. Overall, the redesign will reduce the number of seats on the aircraft by 5 percent, or 16 seats, to 278 seats. The plane currently seats 294 passengers.

Hawaiian’s first newly outfitted aircraft is expected to enter the airline’s long-haul market in the second quarter of next year. The remaining 22 A330 aircraft will be outfitted with the lie-flat seats from September 2016 through 2017. The lie-flat seats recline 180 degrees to create a 76-inch-long bed.

“We are always conscious what our customers are looking for, and as our network has developed and as we’ve started to fly to further-away destinations than just the relatively close West Coast ones, it’s been clear that for our premium customers they’d appreciate a lie-flat seat,” Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said in an interview.

Hawaiian’s longest flight is more than 12 hours between Honolulu and Beijing, with Seoul, New York and Sydney all approximately 11 hours in length.

As part of its redesign, Hawaiian will continue to have 18 seats in business/first class but will increase the number of seats in Extra Comfort to 68, from 40, and reduce the number of seats in economy class to 192, from 236.

The Extra Comfort seats will offer 36 inches of seat pitch (the distance between two seats from one point on a seat to the same point on the seat behind it). The main cabin’s seat pitch will remain at 31 inches.

Dunkerley said the reconfiguration will boost revenue despite a smaller number of seats.

“Clearly, we think it’s accretive,  or else we wouldn’t have done it,” he said.