Behind the scenes of the world's best economy aircraft seat

Japan Airlines won the Best Economic Seat Award at this year's Skytrax World Airline Awards, the equivalent of the Academy Awards aerospace industry, which took place on July 17th.

This is the second time that this humble seat is winning the coveted award, having achieved first place in 2015.

What makes this seat so special?

As in many areas of life, size matters and the JAL Sky Wider headquarters wins first prize. This rule.

Passengers traveling in economy class on Japan Airlines can enjoy greater legroom thanks to increased seat spacing. Seat spacing is an industry term for the distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat forward. In addition to the available space for your legs, the measurement includes the structure and the back cushions, plus the table top. On Japan Airlines, the pitch JAL Sky Wider Seat is 84cm.

For comparison, easyJet carriers have a seat pitch of 74 cm, while Ryanair seats measure 76 cm. These extra centimeters can make the difference between comfort and the cramped conditions in the air.

The space between the armrests is up to 48cm, depending on the plane. The width of the easyJet seats is 44 cm, while that of Ryanair is 43 cm

In addition to offering more space to the passengers, the Japanese airlines offer free spaces and open spaces under the seats. , a power outlet and a 27 cm touch screen for watching movies, games and audio programs.

Rather than organizing blocks of seats in groups of three, as is often the case on many Boeing 777 aircraft, Japan Airlines arranges its seats in three-four-two, offering not only more options for different sizes of passenger groups, What makes the success of Japan Airlines even more important, it is that less than 10 years ago, the company said bankruptcy after accumulating debts of 2,000 trillion yen (£ 13.6 billion). The bankrupt company benefited from a taxpayer-funded bailout and was released from the restrictions imposed by the government on the expansion of roads in April 2017.

The other winners of the 2018 air seats are:

Premium Economy: Air New Zealand

Business Class: Qatar Airways

First Class: Singapore Airlines