Airline's new seat ends days of knee-crunching

Airline's new seat ends days of knee-crunching

09/24/2006, 21:03     [The Australian]    


THE knee-crunching experience of economy-class travel will become a thing of the past with the first redesign of economy seats in decades.  

Cathay Pacific has gazumped airlines poised to introduce new seats for the double-decker A380 by unveiling economy seats that guarantee extra space.  

Cathay's hard-shell concept of business-class sleeper seats will allow economy passengers to recline without encroaching on the space of those behind. The seat slides down within the shell, which is fixed in place.  

Other changes will maximise knee and shin clearance.  

Although Cathay is not increasing its 81cm seat pitch -- the distance from one point in a seat to the same point in the next seat -- it has moved the annoying seat-back pocket and sculpted the rear of the seat to provide more stretching room.  

The slightly wider seat, to be introduced next year, has adapted technology from an award-winning office chair to provide more back support. It offers an adjustable headrest and bigger TV screens.  

The Cathay move will be particularly galling to A380 customers -- such as Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines -- which have endured delays of more than a year because of production problems at European manufacturer Airbus.  

The A380 airlines have also redesigned their products but have been prevented from unveiling the changes because of the Airbus delays.