Airlines Go Ahead with Tiny Seating | Economy | companies

Hopes for more space for legs in increasingly narrow aircraft cabins disappeared after US regulators, in response to a court order, said they could not find not the need to impose new rules on airlines.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in a letter dated Monday, stated that the agency "has no evidence that there is an immediate safety problem that requires a rewording of standards for the moment. "

Research shows that narrower spaces in planes are not what slows down emergency evacuations, wrote the FAA in its response to Flyers Rights, the group of citizens in nonprofit who brought the lawsuit alleging that evacuations they might be hindered by the narrowness of the seats. Instead, the exit doors are the obstruction points that slow evacuations, writes the agency.

The FAA's measure is the latest in a controversy that has raised consumer concerns and sparked legislative attempts by members of Congress.

The new narrower seats allowed airlines to introduce additional rows into the aircraft, which led Flyers Rights to sue the FAA, claiming that it created a safety hazard.

Judge Patricia Ann Millett, on behalf of a panel of three judges, partially ruled in favor of the group in July 2017.

"This is the case of the airline headquarters incredibly small, "Millett writes in his decision. last year. "As many have probably noticed, the seats of planes and the space between them have become smaller and smaller, while American pbadengers have grown in size."

The court ordered the FAA to proceed with a "duly justified resolution" of the safety issues related to seat configuration. It was found that the agency had used "unsatisfactory" and "unverified tests using unknown parameters" to justify its initial refusal to review the standards. "This kind of volatile context will not work," said the court.

In his court-ordered response and eight-page summary of the results of evacuation tests carried out by Jeffrey Gardlin, the chief specialist of the FAA's cabin survival, the agency said as other factors the seats are what slow evacuations.

In case of emergency, flight attendants must first go to the exits, check the outside before opening the emergency doors in case of fire and fire. Make sure the emergency slides have been inflated. All of these measures take time, especially in the event of a real emergency, the FAA said.

As a result, pbadengers are likely to wait at the doors, even when they are crammed into the tightest configurations with rows of seats just 28 inches apart, said L & # 8239; agency.

"This timeline has been demonstrated several times during evacuation tests," the agency writes. "The FAA has no evidence that a typical pbadenger, even a large pbadenger, takes more than a few seconds to get up from his seat, or that this time is close to the time needed for emergency exits work. "

As a result of the dispute, the aircraft manufacturers agreed for the first time that the FAA publishes videos of their evacuation tests, which are considered exclusive and not subject to the law on vehicles. public documents.

Flyers Rights argued that the average seat width was reduced from about 18.5 inches (about 46.9 centimeters) in the early 2000s to 17 inches between the beginning and the middle of 2010. At In recent decades, the distance between the rows of seats has declined from an average of 35 inches to 31 inches, and even to 28 inches on some airlines, said the group in the lawsuit.

The combination of less legroom and larger pbadengers created a hazard, according to Flyers Rights, as it is harder to get out of a plane in an emergency and increases the risk deep vein thrombosis. blood in the legs that has been badociated with longer flights.

The group did not immediately respond to a request for comments by e-mail.