Think your airline seat is tight now? Wait for the next generation of planes being bought by
Ryanair and other budget/short-haul carriers. They're adding seats, and the space for them has to come from somewhere...
And, for the Airbus 320neo (arriving late 2016) and the Boeing 737 MAX 200 (early 2017), that space is mostly coming from other passengers' seats. For example, the 737 MAX 200 is a Ryanair special. They ordered 100 of the planes, with an option for 100 more...and told Boeing to change the seating capacity from 189 to 200. Rayanair expects to make around $800,000 a year more per plane from those seats.
Although Ryanair has said it doesn't want to go below 30" seat pitch, it might have to if smaller galleys and lavatories (part of the plan) don't yield enough space. Ryanair's seat width, at 16", is one of the narrowest in the industry. Ryanair, of course, is only an example; its competitors are also doing their best to cram 'em in. MORE
Airbus A320neo's first flight Photo: Wikimedia / don-vip
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