Plane cabins are about to get even more cramped

Many passengers already feel that they are denied space - but new aircraft currently in development look set to further narrow the margins.

Air passengers in the 21st century are now accustomed to a relative lack of space when it comes to their journeys in the skies – especially if, like the vast majority, they are travelling in economy class.

But with developments in the aviation industry set to deliver a new raft of “updated” aircraft in the next two years – and carriers keen to fit in even more paying customers – we may soon find that room to manoeuvre at 36,000ft is an ever more outmoded concept.

The two main aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, are currently labouring away at fresh models which will reconfigure the traditional cabin, mainly by featuring more seats.
Both the Boeing 737 MAX (due to enter service in 2017), and the Airbus A320neo (set to make its debut in the later stages of 2016) will look to slot as much humanity as possible into the available space – putting an added squeeze onto short-haul travellers in particular.

The Boeing 737 MAX will have 189 seats – while, last month, Airbus received permission from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to cram an extra 15 seats into its A320neo, raising its capacity from the planned 180 seats to an even tighter 195.

Most intimate of all, though, will be the Boeing 737 MAX 200 – the catalyst for which has been Europe’s biggest low-cost airline. Ryanair placed a £7.5billion order for 100 of Boeing’s new toy last December – with an option for a further 100 planes at a later date.

However, the Irish carrier’s custom came with a specific request – that the 189 seats on the blueprint be increased to the round figure of 200. Boeing responded by custom-creating a special model – the 737 MAX 200 (the “200” obviously being a reference to that boosted number of seats) – with the initial delivery pencilled in for 2019.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary was on typically forthright form when he announced the order last September, describing 200 seats as “the sweet spot” for budget airlines.

“It means that we are going to expand and grow very strongly in Europe, both in new markets and in going in and taking traffic away from incumbent carriers,” he said.

“I hope it will hasten in an era of a new price war in Europe over the next 10 years.”

Of course, space can be squeezed in different ways – and the extra capacity on the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320neo will come as much from shortening the gaps between the rows as from downgrading the size of the seats themselves.

 “Seat pitch” – the space between your seat and the same point on the seat in front – on the Boeing 737 MAX looks set to be between 29 and 30 inches, while the A320neo may go as low as 27 inches.

That latter statistic will help Airbus overcome the fact that, while the A320neo will feature five fewer seats than the Boeing 737 MAX 200, it is a marginally shorter aircraft.

The expanded capacity on the standard Boeing 737 MAX means that the design includes an extra exit door to assist passenger movement – and an extra two on the Ryanair model.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk