A380 Economy seating

[Xeque]

The shouting and the tumult dies ... the A380 is officially unveiled.

Now, forget the pretty pictures of bars and gyms and cafeterias and duty free shops. The privileged few in First and Business may get a bit more room but it will be the 'meat and veg' of the industry's customers that will, as usual, suffer.

You can already find the seating plans for the aircraft on the net. It's the same as the 747, 3-4-3 at 32 inch pitch.

Unbelievable. All that extra space and the airlines will gleefully "pack 'em in like cattle" as always.

Personally I think that all aircraft should be 'one class'. First and Business people, if they must be different from the rest of us, can fly in smaller (one class/premium class) aircraft specially equipped for them.

The A380 in Economy class (Main deck) will be in 3-4-3 configuration - it has to be. Its a twin aisle aircraft and that's the only way they can utilise the space. The good thing is that with a 21'7" wide cabin, the seats can be wider and the aisles too, unless they go back to 3-5-3 but I don't think any airline executive could be quite as stupid as that.

If you just increase the seat pitch to at least 36" (40" would be better) and redesign the reclining mechanism of the seats so they don't take away any space from the person sitting in the seat behind, then you might end up with an acceptable economy seating arrangement for long haul flights.

Also, if you make all the seats on the sides (ABC and HJK) facing seats (like a train) there is then plenty of room for people to move about and stretch their legs and the people in seats A and K can get in and out easily, not to mention the cabin crew.

Do the drawing yourselves. I used a 19" wide by 18" deep seat at 36" pitch. A 36 foot section of cabin can hold 120 pax.

But they won't will they? Pack 'em in like sardines. They are only the poor slobs who make the company profits but who cares?

Got to look after First and Business Class first.