Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
Goodness! FT is very Amero-centric, but this post really takes the biscuit. There are important air routes other than TPAC or TATL - indeed most of the world's biggest air routes don't touch North America.
You are wrong.
Let's check out some facts:
- LINK1
- LINK2
- the airline with the most pax carried is based in the US... as are the #2, #3 and #4 airlines
So you see, the US carriers simply carry more pax. The US is also, right now, the largest economy in the world, which explains why it is #1 in business air travel.
Assuming that most J pax are business travelers, and as I've shown above that US has the most business travelers, it makes sense for US-based airlines to set
some trends related to J seats.
Other trends, such as personal IFE in Y, have been set by others (IIRC Swiss was one of the first airlines to feature that, and unfortunately that ended up causing a fire and crashing a plane in 1998 or 1999).
The question in the thread is not about who has the coolest J cabins or seats, but rather where this is headed. Gulf carriers may have lavish F cabins, but I really don't think that US carriers have any intention to follow suit, because they can't sell those seats. In fact, all US major carriers have cut back on int'l F cabins (and some have forgone them altogether). This trend is true for EU carriers as well.