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Last month, Cebu Air Inc., the largest budget carrier in the Philippines, announced that the kitchens and bathrooms of some of its new A330neos should accommodate 460 seats, 20 more than the current maximum. According to aeronautical researcher Landrum & Brown, this is a broader initiative, particularly in Asia, to encourage more people to use jets on the most popular routes.
"It's about compelling as many pbadengers as possible," said Mathieu De Marchi, a Bangkok-based consultant. "The situation will only get worse over the next decade."
Even though paying customers are less satisfied, packing more booths has helped transform the US aviation industry in recent years. In Asia, where 100 million people travel for the first time each year, the strategy now is to offer low-cost carriers a service to the growing middle clbad, more concerned with price than comfort.
Demand from Asia has resulted in a shortage of almost everything in the industry, from pilots and mechanics to airports and runways (not to mention the legroom). Carriers are trying to avoid buying more aircraft and paying additional landing fees at airports that are about to burst.
Buying bigger planes is one way to solve the problem, as AirAsia Group Bhd does. In June, the Malaysian budget carrier announced the transformation of an order for hundreds of aircraft into a larger model, carrying an additional 50 pbadengers and serving approximately 1,000 kilometers (600 miles).
Another tactic is simply to fix more chairs. The low-cost European airline Ryanair Holdings Plc led the charge in 2014 when it ordered Boeing Co.'s high-density jets with eight more seats than normal. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., which was once a comfort brand, began in 2017 to occupy an additional seat in every economic rank of its Boeing 777-300, at a cost of about an inch of personal space per pbadenger.
Less space for the legs is now the norm of the industry. In the early 2000s, the ranks of the economy were spaced from 86 centimeters to 35 inches; Today, 30 to 31 inches are typical, although 28 inches can be found on short flights, according to the Washington DC rights group, Flyers Rights. Seats have also been reduced from about 18.5 inches to 17 inches on average.
The beginning and end of a person's personal space can be a source of litigation, especially when there is not much space to start. It is not surprising that air rage occurs most often in economy clbad. The planes were forced to make unplanned landings because pbadengers were bickering for reclining seats.
Janet Bednarek, an aviation historian at the University of Dayton, Ohio, said smaller seats were less controversial in Asia, partly because Asians tended to have lighter constructions than Americans or the Europeans.
"Where people are smaller on average, the problem is not as bad," she said. "Many people are willing to endure discomfort in exchange for cheap tickets."
And prices have gone down. According to the Australian company Qantas Airways Ltd., the Australian company Qantas Airways Ltd. cost less than half of what it had been ten years ago. Among the new extras, one can buy: space.
A one-way ticket to Shanghai from Manila, a four-hour flight, can cost less than $ 100 on Cebu Air. But there is another price to pay: the seats of the aircraft are only 16.5 inches wide, less than the width of the reach of both hands and less than the minimum of 18 inches that the manufacturer, Airbus SE, says comfortable.
Cebu doubled in June with a $ 6.8 billion order for Airbus aircraft with 16 A330neos of greater capacity. Airbus indicates that the aircraft is designed to accommodate between 260 and 300 pbadengers in a typical layout consisting of upscale, business and economy cabins. For "high-density configurations" – code for a raw economy – planes can hold up to 440 aircraft, says the builder.
Cebu provides 460, once the layout is certified.
Mike Szucs, senior advisor for Cebu, said in an email that "the comfort and experience of customers will be a primary consideration", but that air fares are "always an aspect that consumers are aware of".
The aviation website, Simple Flying, sums it up: "This will make it an interesting long-haul."
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