Boeing and Airbus spar over seat width (what's gonna be next), page 1

Airbus has begun pushing for a standarized long haul requirement for 18 inch seats, similar to what they use in the A350, as opposed to the 17 inch seat Boeing plans to use in the 777X. By using the smaller seat Boeing can fit a 10 abreast seat configuration, allowing for more revenue, and better per seat metrics.

Airbus is using a sleep study done in conjunction with the London Sleep Center that showed an 18 inch seat let people fall asleep 6 minutes faster, with less disturbance during sleep as part of their push for the bigger seats. The only problem is that the study was done in a simulated cabin, with 6 people.

Boeing allows the customer to choose the seat, and includes 17.2 inch seats, as well as 17.5 inch, and 18.5 inch seats.

Airbus is promoting comfort benefits from a broader seat width in a campaign which appears to be a pre-emptive strike on the impending launch of Boeing’s 777X.

Competing against the A350-1000, the 777X will be a stretch of the strong-selling 777-300ER, which a number of customers opt to fit with 10-abreast seats in the economy cabin.

But the 10-abreast configuration requires 17in (43cm) seats, and Airbus has unveiled research which, it claims, supports its view that a wider seat offers better-quality rest.