We've always wondered when the airline industry would try to transform airplanes into sardines for the sake of getting more passengers on a flight. Well, it might not happen anytime soon, but Airbus Operations has an idea of how it could happen, and we are very skeptical.
Airbus submitted a patent for a new passenger seat design that resembles a bicycle seat. The backrest in incredibly small and it doesn't have a headrest or enough legroom. Basically, the whole thing is squeezed together and looks extremely uncomfortable.
The new passenger design is meant to reduce the space of traditional airline seats, along with making it easier to pack more passengers onto a plane. Going this route would no doubt increase profits, but for how long? Surely, passengers would not find such seats as comfortable, which could see some folks flying less.
The moment we looked at this patented design, we began to wonder how it would feel during a long flight. With no headrest, limited legroom and a small backrest, it is clear that such a design would not work for long flights at all, as it would cause serious harm to the physical health of passengers.
Did Airbus even think about this, or was the company too far up the profit tree to care about passenger satisfaction?
After trying for quite some time to see if this design could work, we came to the conclusion that for short flights, there is probably a slight chance. However, it would mean that Airbus would have to create passenger planes designed specifically for short flights, and we don't see the financial value in such a plan.
Heck, if this could work for short flights, we presume only flights that take up to two hours to reach the designated destination. Still not a good idea in every sense of the word.
The good news, however, we may never see this design come to fruition, but to think that someone from Airbus actually came up with this design is quite perplexing.
"Many, if not most, of these concepts will never be developed, but in case the future of commercial aviation makes one of our patents relevant, our work is protected," said Airbus spokeswoman Mary Anne Greczyn. "Right now, these patent filings are simply conceptual."
Whatever the outcome, it is clear now that companies only care about boosting profit margins, instead of customer satisfaction.
