- Airbus gives obese passengers an extra two inches as complaints soar from fellow travellers
- Aisle seat will increase to 20in wide, but economy class seats will reduce by one inch
- Airlines could charge for premium seat, with an estimated £2m generated over 15 years for each aircraft
Squeezing into a 'cattle class'
airline seat is about to get a lot easier for the overweight traveller –
but at the expense of more slimline passengers.
The growing girth of flyers has prompted aircraft manufacturer Airbus to design extra-wide seats for its popular A320 jets.
But it will shrink the size of ordinary economy-class seats so that each flight can still carry the same number of people.
Rather than have rows of three seats,
each 18in wide, Airbus proposes making the aisle seat 20in wide and
reducing the width of the two others by an inch each.
The
new configuration would also allow airlines to impose an extra charge
for the premium seats, with Airbus estimating that a £6.50 fee could
generate an extra £2 million for each aircraft over 15 years.
That could help offset the extra fuel cost required to carry overweight passengers.
Airbus came up with the new
design in response to requests from airlines who say travellers'
expanding size has become a major headache.
Carriers
say the most frequent complaint is from passengers forced to sit next
to an overweight person who is encroaching into their space.
A recent survey found half of British flyers said overweight travellers should pay more for their ticket.
Budget airline Ryanair even mooted such a "fat tax", to cover the extra cost of transporting obese people.
Nicolas Tschechne, who conducts research at Airbus, said the rising weight of flyers was "quite dramatic".
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