More passengers on the plane Narrow seats: It's getting more and more cramped on planes
Compression is the order of the day: the number of seats on airplanes is increasing all the time. Passengers will have to adjust to thinner seats in the future.
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- According to a forecast, the average number of seats on airplanes will continue to increase.
- Thinner seats and modifications to the WCs and galleys are expected to increase the density.
- For travelers, this means increasingly cramped conditions.
It's getting cramped on the plane. Boing has published its "Commercial Market Outlook", showing how many aircraft of which type will be needed over the next 20 years.
As "Aerotelegraph" writes, a graphic shows how the number of seats per aircraft will increase from 138 in 2003 to 169 in 2023 and approx. 190 seats in 2043. In other words, more and more seats per aircraft. The responsible Boeing manager Darren Hulst explains in the Aerotelegraph: "We have looked at this historically and the increase in the number of seats was evenly distributed between the switch to larger narrow-body models and densification by building more seats into the aircraft."
Airlines achieve the aforementioned densification through thinner seats and adjustments to WCs and galleys. For passengers, this ultimately means that the aircraft becomes more cramped.
"If you have flights of two hours or less in Europe, that's perfect," the manager continues. "I think we will see more of that in this market, whether with Boeing or Airbus jets." The trend towards densification thus seems to be gaining ground everywhere.