When airlines introduce innovative new seating products, the focus is almost always on premium cabins. Over the years, we’ve seen countless airline executives tout how they’re working on developing a revolutionary new economy product, but almost nothing ever comes of it.
Sure, maybe economy gets bigger entertainment screens and better tech, but that’s about it, since airlines don’t want to allocate more real estate to each seat. Along those lines, Executive Traveller reports on how Emirates President Tim Clark is working on a new economy product, which is supposedly so revolutionary that he’s not sure it can actually be done. Hmmm…
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Emirates working on revolutionary economy product
Emirates President Tim Clark is one of the industry’s brightest guys. He’s also a realist when it comes to product, since Emirates isn’t exactly focused on having an industry leading hard product. However, it seems that Clark is aiming for some major upgrades to the economy experience.
Emirates has reportedly already developed a prototype of its new economy seat, and is now working with seat manufacturers in hopes of making it a reality. As Clark describes it, “the trick is to take modern technology, our learnings in geometry and load, to be able to come up with a seat that will hopefully meet expectations.”
While Clark is confident he can “get it through the hangar doors,” regulatory approval is more of a concern, and he “can’t say whether that’s going to be successful or not,” as “it’s not an easy process.”
What could Emirates do that would truly be revolutionary? Emirates’ innovation here doesn’t seem to involve making seats wider or adding more legroom, but instead, involves making seats taller.
Clark explains, “it’s very difficult, we’ve got the usual financial economic metrics to work with, but I still think we can do a lot better in the way we present the comfort of the seat, the way it moulds to the body, the way the feet are treated, the legs.”
While he didn’t reveal specifics, he did state that “if you put four or five inches on the height of the seats, what could you play with if you did that?”
I’m intrigued by what Emirates could come up with
As I said above, I’m generally skeptical when airline executives tout plans to introduce a revolutionary economy product, since it rarely becomes a reality. That being said, what Clark describes sounds intriguing, and is a concept I haven’t heard before.
Vertical “real estate” doesn’t cost anything extra on a plane, assuming the seat isn’t materially heavier, so innovating in that direction seems logical enough. I think the question is, how do you make a seat better by making it taller, since the height of the seat isn’t typically the limiting factor in terms of seat comfort?
One also wonders just how revolutionary this product is, if there are concerns about how realistic it is for this to be certified. Is this simply about the crew needing to have a line of sight above seats, or is something else about this seat concept so wild that it could cause concern with safety regulators?
I’m not counting on this product becoming a reality anytime in the near future, though I’d sure to love to see a genuinely innovative economy concept that elevates the base level of comfort for passengers (unlike some of the economy add-on experiences we’ve seen, like Air New Zealand’s Skycouch).
Bottom line
Emirates is looking to introduce an innovative new economy product. The airline has already developed a prototype, and is now looking to partner with a seat manufacturer to make it a reality. Emirates’ President thinks the product is possible to design, but regulatory approval is more of a concern.
While the airline isn’t yet revealing exact details of what it’s hoping to design, the concept seems to be a focus on the height of the seat, rather than the width or legroom. The question is, how can seat height be used to radically improve comfort? So we’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but it sure could get interesting…
What do you make of Emirates’ concept of revolutionizing economy seat comfort?
I'd like clarification on what he means to make the seat taller. When I read it, I thought of taller seat backs, but comments here seem to think a bottom seat cushion higher from the floor. Which is it? Or, is it a combination of the two?
Just like the Business Plus row concept we've seen at the front of the Business cabin, this extra tall economy seat will be the last row in each Economy cabin where the extra height doesn't matter. Give it extra legroom and sell it for a premium to tall people, who will happily pay extra for ergonomics designed for them. And then watch some obnoxious 5'3" person take it instead, just like the front row + exit rows do now :eyeroll:
Maybe he’s talking about the “standing” seat that Ryanair or some other LCA tried to patent. Pack the peasants in like sardines.
In most economy seats, my shins hit the bottom of the seat in front when I try to recline and stretch my legs (and I am not a super tall person). Worst case is when there is a foot rest that, in the raised position, decreases the vertical space even more and creates a hard metal edge that hits your legs.
So the vertical enhancement that I would want the most is the ability...
In most economy seats, my shins hit the bottom of the seat in front when I try to recline and stretch my legs (and I am not a super tall person). Worst case is when there is a foot rest that, in the raised position, decreases the vertical space even more and creates a hard metal edge that hits your legs.
So the vertical enhancement that I would want the most is the ability to lower the floor section under the seat in front of me - the opposite of a footrest. Or have a permanent foot well there in combination with existing foot rests, so people of different height can be more comfortable (or at least less miserable). Basically, improving legroom without increasing seat pitch.
But it is still just lipstick on a pig - nothing you can do with a 10-abreast 777 that would make it even close to JAL 8-abreast economy on 789 (that also has longer pitch than most).
Free WiFi is already a game changer and a mutual win, no need to install IFE and pay insane fees on them, just a simple webpage for login + flight info display.
I guess if you raise the seats (height of the cushion you sit on) high enough and add a fixed shell behind it, you could have them recline and slide under the space of the seat in front of them into an angle flat seat like the first gen business class seats!
My view is that, assuming it is possible to add say 3" of effective leg room by raising the height of the seat(or something similar in a vertical direction) the airlines would just use this as justification to add even more economy seats to the airplane, and nothing would change at all.
This is just what they did with the slimline seats that are everywhere now. Instead of keeping the same number of seats and...
My view is that, assuming it is possible to add say 3" of effective leg room by raising the height of the seat(or something similar in a vertical direction) the airlines would just use this as justification to add even more economy seats to the airplane, and nothing would change at all.
This is just what they did with the slimline seats that are everywhere now. Instead of keeping the same number of seats and allowing the passenger to enjoy a couple inches of more legroom, they decreased the pitch of the seats to keep the effective legroom the same, while allowing them to add additional rows of seats.
I don't see any tech innovation that will increase the actual comfort of economy class in the future.
Why reinventing the wheel? Just match JAL & ANA international Y-cabin density on long-distance flights... Oh, wait... The hell will freeze first...
As a tall person I disagree with the "the height of the seat isn’t typically the limiting factor in terms of seat comfort" statement.
I have noticed that European airlines are usually better at it with slightly higher seats or vertically moveable headrests. The impact on comfort is most notable when the seat is not high enough. The head leaning back over the seat is very uncomfortable. Notably some older Delta First class seats...
As a tall person I disagree with the "the height of the seat isn’t typically the limiting factor in terms of seat comfort" statement.
I have noticed that European airlines are usually better at it with slightly higher seats or vertically moveable headrests. The impact on comfort is most notable when the seat is not high enough. The head leaning back over the seat is very uncomfortable. Notably some older Delta First class seats are not as high as the economy seats and the width does not make up for the fact that you cannot lean back your head.
As a fellow tall person, I am surprised I had to scroll this far to find an actually relevant comment. Economy seats are made for 5'7"-5'9" people, and are supposed to be designed with those ergonomics in mind. This means anyone who is even vaguely tall will have to sit in a way that ignores most of the back rest and gives us back pains the entire time.
Premium economy is exactly what better economy is...while lots of people are willing to pay for premium economy...many folks just look at the price.
At least in the US and probably Europe I just don't see airlines spending money to make the coach product much better beyond the US3 and their Economy Plus schemes that give a bit more legroom and a free drink(s). AA tried MRTC and that failed. Jetblue tried to create a better coach product and you see how that played out. Americans and Europeans love to fly the ULCCs/Basic Economu then go on social media and complain about the horrible experience.
Whaddaya mean by making seats taller? So does that mean, my feet will no longer be able to reach the floor when sitting? And heavens forbid if you have to assume the brace position...
Footrests for low seats, legrests for the taller row?
The vertical comment may not be necessarily referring to the seat itself but rather how seats are positioned. There have been designs like this floated around for the past two years that straddle the height of the seat itself from one row to another to create more space and comfort.
excited for him to install this on 8 planes only!!!!
Emirates already added the 10th seat across on the 777. What are they looking to revolutionize next ?
There have been several attempts at trying to come up with a better longhaul economy product but they all involve some sort of geometric contortions in getting in or out of the seat - which is why they get shot down by regulators.
As airlines fly further and further distances, and that is the heart of what the Middle East airlines do, it becomes more and more necessary to somehow figure out how to...
There have been several attempts at trying to come up with a better longhaul economy product but they all involve some sort of geometric contortions in getting in or out of the seat - which is why they get shot down by regulators.
As airlines fly further and further distances, and that is the heart of what the Middle East airlines do, it becomes more and more necessary to somehow figure out how to improve the economy seat.
Maybe a single airline can do it and patent it but I would imagine that a seat manufacturer will not give long-term airline exclusivity to a product that they could make billions on.
Actually, I think ME airlines have largely maxed out their stage lengths, at about 15hrs. There's pretty much no 2 places on earth that can't be connected through the ME with 2 flights of 15hrs or less.
Longer stage lengths are coming from hub bypass strategies like Singapore's JFK/EWR flights and Qantas's direct London flights.
I bring this up because I don't think it's the ME that needs to innovate on seats. People...
Actually, I think ME airlines have largely maxed out their stage lengths, at about 15hrs. There's pretty much no 2 places on earth that can't be connected through the ME with 2 flights of 15hrs or less.
Longer stage lengths are coming from hub bypass strategies like Singapore's JFK/EWR flights and Qantas's direct London flights.
I bring this up because I don't think it's the ME that needs to innovate on seats. People have largely accepted their seats on those flights and they won't get longer.
It will have to be other airlines pursing ULH hub bypass nonstops that will need to think about how to keep a passenger happy for 18hrs or more.
I'm not saying that the ME airlines are adding longer and longer routes - they are already operating, on average, some of the longest routes in the world.
It is the needs of the ME airlines that have pushed the capabilities and range of a number of recent aircraft models.
I am saying that the ME airlines have perhaps a higher motivation to find a new solution and deploy it quickly - and exclusively if they can - because of the long flights they operate.
If they dont increase the seat pitch and seat width, it doesnt matter what they do with economy.
However, that awful advert with the actress in it was enough to put me off emirates economy lol.
The brass neck on that chap, who led the charge making economy class so much denser and arguably responsible for the the class's downward spiral (Emirates was the first to bring in the 10-abreast Economy Class layout on the B777).
The EK economy product is already quite good, there's not much room for them to get better.
In soft product maybe. Their economy seat itself is fundamentally identical to everybody else’s.
Not one airline installed existing solutions like staggered economy seats, hopefully something comes from this idea.
Emirates needs to chill with the “game changer” label. Their new first class, while a great product, is hardly a game changer as only one other airline is offering something similar. Qatar’s suites on the other hand are a legitimate game changer since business class seats with doors is now the industry standard.
Gamer class would be a game changer, but that's won't happen either.
I don't understand why more airlines don't offer Air New Zealand's sky couch concept.
How intrigued are you? Intrigued enough to test it out from LAX-DXB? Would love to see that review.
"Emirates President Tim Clark is one of the industry’s brightest guys."
He is. Just ask him!
It is interesting but I wonder, what happens to that vertical height when the seat is reclined? I'm trying to picture myself behind a seat like that which is reclined.
Lots of Y concepts out there, one that might appeal is the non recline shell seat that slides under the seat in front to form a flat bed, how a stranger as your seat pal feels about stepping over someone in that position would be a challenge for sure.
This is going to be interesting to see, as they certainly have the money to do something radical. I wonder if there might be alternating high/low seats, with the lower ones able to have some kind of angled lie-flat like the previous generation of J seats, perhaps in a hard shell? That might not look pretty overall in the cabin though, and where would that leave the premium economy product
I suppose if you raise the height of the seat, and if you make the seat itself flexible and movable, the seat could allow for more legroom in the sense that people can stretch by pushing up on their feets and against their seats. it could also be a more alternative way to sleep if one could extend their legs vertically to some body-conforming ergonomics/materials.