British Airways to Add More Seats in Economy

Plan calls for 10-wide seating in Economy, adding 52 more seats to aircraft.

Flyers aboard British Airways’ Boeing 777 aircraft departing London Gatwick Airport (LGW) could find themselves a little more cramped in economy, starting in 2018. During the International Airlines Group (IAG) Capital Day 2016 presentations on Friday, November 4, executives for the parent company of the British flag carrier announced plans to add additional seats to select flights.

Under the plan, the airline would retrofit the Boeing 777 aircraft to add an additional seat in the center row, for a 3-4-3, 10-across configuration. In comparison, current 777 aircraft are setup in a 3-3-3, nine-across configuration. The airline estimates they could add 52 more seats to economy class through the reconfiguration, going from a capacity of 280 seats up to 332 seats. In their presentation, executives claim the addition of the extra seat would give them a lower cost per seat than low-cost carrier Norwegian Air. In total, 25 aircraft are scheduled for the 10-across refitting.

The 777 is not the only aircraft facing changes by 2018. The airline also announced they will reduce the number of First Class seats available on new deliveries of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. According to Boeing, British Airways have not yet received 19 Dreamliners on order. The British Airways report did not specify if all 19 aircraft will receive a smaller First Class cabin.

Passengers aboard short-haul aircraft will also be feeling the squeeze, as new seats are planned to be added to those aircraft as well. With the airline reducing their fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft by nearly half, more seats will be added to the A320 and A321 flying from London Heathrow Airport (LHR). The plans call for 12 more seats to be added to the A320 by the fourth quarter of 2017 and 13 seats to be added to the A321 by the second quarter of 2018.

The changes were announced to shareholders on the same day IAG announced performance reports were issued for the month of October 2016. As a whole, the corporation announced an 10.8 percent increase on passenger revenue per kilometer, year-to-date, as well as a 15.8 percent increase in passengers carried.

[Photo: British Airways]