Originally Posted by
sethb
If the cost of removing, storing, and replacing seats is less than the cost of the fuel saved flying them around, then airlines will remove them. Given current fuel prices, that's unlikely.
In general, seats don't come out as singles. They're manufactured and fitted in pairs, triples, quadruples etc. To remove middle seats airlines would require manufacturers to start from scratch and design and qualify new individual seats which is not a short term project and unlikely to happen given what we currently know about Covid.