April 15--Wider airplane seats.
You read that right. In an era of shrinking aircraft legroom and personal space, at least in economy class, Southwest Airlines plans to add the widest seats in the industry to its new Boeing 737s.
The coach-class seats, designed by Rockford-based B/E Aerospace, will be 17.8 inches wide, compared with the current 17.1 inches.
"The new aircraft seats are the widest economy seats available in the single-aisle 737 market, and offer a unique design that gives our customers what they asked for: more space," said Bob Jordan, Southwest's chief commercial officer.
Beginning with deliveries in mid-2016, the seats will be installed on Southwest's new Boeing 737-800 and later on 737 MAX airplanes. The airline has no plans to install the seats on existing planes, just new ones.
Besides offering more elbow room, the new seats include an adjustable headrest and increased legroom, as well as more personal stowage, while decreasing the overall weight of the product -- important for fuel efficiency, Southwest said.
An aviation industry publication, Runway Girl Network, on Wednesday suggested Southwest gained the wider seat space by simply narrowing the armrests.
However, Southwest spokesman Thais Conway Hanson said there's more to it than that.
"Working with B/E Aerospace, we created more personal space with the combination of a wider seat frame and modifications to the armrests," he said.
As per Southwest's current design, the seats do not have video monitors in them.
Seat pitch, the distance between a seat and the same point on the seat in front or behind it, will remain the same at 32 inches.
The seats were unveiled at trade show Tuesday in Germany.
Dallas-based Southwest carries more passengers from Chicago than any other airline. Its hub at Midway airport is its largest.
gkarp@tribpub.com
