Randy's Journal: Archives

13 September 2005

Leg room

Recently I was talking about how airplane seat designers have come up with ways to give passengers more personal space without affecting an airline's bottom line. You'll be seeing this new generation of seats on the 787 Dreamliner.

But if you don't want to wait until then, you might want to check out what ANA has done in its new domestic economy class. Last week ANA unveiled some new seating that will go into their 767-300s. The new seats will actually allow for five centimeters (or about two inches) more leg room, without changing the seat pitch!

The new seats are going into ANA's 767s next month, and from what I understand, they'll be introduced later on the airline's entire fleet.

So how did they do it? For one thing, they moved the magazine pocket from knee level to an area behind the tray table. A pretty simple solution, really. They also trimmed down the seat back and cushion. It's a new ergonomic design that ANA says is going to ease pressure on a passenger's knees and lower back.

Another interesting thing about the seats: their carbon fiber-reinforced frame is lighter than aluminum frame seats. That's less weight for an airline to have to carry per flight. Less weight, of course, means burning less fuel. And that's a bottom line airlines can really appreciate, too.