British Airways seats to shrink as airline squeezes an extra passenger per row in Boeing 777s

British Airways has announced that it will squeeze an extra passenger per row in Economy Class for their long haul fleet based at London Gatwick.

 

British Airways revealed new upgrades in their World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins on the airline’s Boeing 777s based at London Gatwick.

 

The most eye-catching change is the airline will squeeze an extra passenger per row in Economy Class making each seat nearly 10% smaller.

 

The World Traveller cabin will now consist of 10 seats per row, instead of nine, moving from a 3-3-3 formation to a 3-4-3 design.

 

When Oneworld partner, Qatar Airways, made a similar change on its own Boeing 777 economy seats, their seat width shrank from 18.5 inches to 17.

 

But it’s not all bad news. The airline says that entertainment screens will be 50% larger.

 

BA claims the new layout will help reduce the average cost per seat and enable the airline to keep fares down.

 

Sean Doyle, British Airways’ director of network and alliances, said: “We are one of the very few global airlines that offers a choice of four cabins for customers to travel in and World Traveller Plus appeals to a broad mix of both leisure and business travellers.

 

“In response to demand we’re increasing the size of the cabin so we can offer more of these popular seats to our customers, while keeping the cabin intimate and retaining the expert, attentive service that our travellers love.”

 

The revamped aircraft will first be used on routes to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, before rolling out on all British Airways long haul flights from Gatwick next year.