At Aircraft Interiors Expo, Airbus today revealed how it could put 80 extra seats in space that currently isn’t being utilised well in the cabin.
A380 model before the changes – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
So where are the extra seats?
- New forward staircase – Airbus would move the current existing staircase – increasing more room at the nose on the lower deck of the plane, moving the staircase from Door 1 to Door 2 – There’s 20 seats there.
- Updated Crew rest area – Combined with the existing rest, releasing 3 extra seats
- 11 Abreast seating – Airbus continue to push the 11 across seating concept (as show in 2015) in a 3-5-3 configuration. Allegedly, there is updated seating by Gevan seating to support this, however – no physical mock-up is on show. Adds 23 extra seats
- Migrating to an 9 across Premium Economy product. 11 more seats
- Updated Rear Aft stair model – As shown last year a redesign of the aft staircase. Adds 14 more economy seats
- Removal of side-wall storage – Airbus say they can add 10 more seats in a herringbone/reverse herringbone configuration.
It’s ways of using the space more effectively…. however, I’m not sure the 11 across seating will ever go down well, and the move to 9 across Premium Economy can be questionable.
How many of these improvements we’ll see could be an interesting take – I can see some airlines implementing the new staircases and releasing that dead space.
Whilst the A380 production rates are slowing down, it’s important to show that Airbus are innovating the cabin to make it more attractive operators who haven’t thought about it yet.
Considering the average A380 holds 497 in a four-class configuration, 575 seats is enough to make maybe the most hesitant airline accountant think twice.
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