Standing airplane ‘seats’: the new ultra-economy class?

Last year, a new concept for standing airplane seats, known as the Skyrider 2.0 was put on display at the 2018 Aircraft Interiors Expo by Italian manufacturer Aviointeriors, which produces aircraft cabin interiors and passenger seats.

Now, the company has updated its design and the Skyride 3.0 is on display at this year’s Expo which is currently on in Hamburg.

Here’s what it might be like to travel on a stand-up #airplane seat

First things first: Gaetano Perugini, engineering adviser at Aviointeriors, is keen to stress that the concept’s not about creating “cattle class” and cramming in as many passengers in as possible. pic.twitter.com/XiKJUd04WN

— NowScience (@NowScienceNews) April 3, 2019

CNN Travel’s Francesca Street tested out one of these seats at the 2019 Aircraft Interiors Expo and had this to say: ‘Sitting on the mock-ups at AIX feels a bit like sitting on a bike saddle: fine for a bit, but I’m only there for a few minutes and I can’t imagine much longer.’ She added, ‘Plus, it’s one thing testing it out on your own, it’d be another being in elbow-jostling distance of a couple of strangers.’

From the response on social media it appears that the idea is not very popular with potential flyers. We can’t imagine that anyone would want to try it other than for the intended cost saving on a short trip, for instance, from Joburg to Durban or from Cape Town to George, or Port Elizabeth, but even standing on a flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town could be a bit much.

If you adopt standing seats I literally will never fly again for any reason. #standingseats @delta @jetblue @AmericanAir @VirginAtlantic @SouthwestAir @CNN

— 01010011 00101110 01001111 00101110 01010011 (@bostonmacosx) April 2, 2019

According to Gaetano Perugini, engineering adviser at Aviointeriors, the concept is not about creating ‘cattle class’ and packing in as many passengers as possible. The idea is rather to be able to offer a multi-class configuration, which would include a new economy class (ultra-basic). Of course, this would free up some more space in the aircraft to enlarge the business class or first-class areas.

The idea of standing airplane seats is not new; in 2010, Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Irelands’s low-cost airline Ryanair, announced that he was contemplating introducing special standing-room-only areas in his airplanes. However, there have been no orders for the product so far.

Image: Skyrider 2.0, supplied by Aviointeriors

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