seats

While Ryanair cuts 1.2 million seats in Spain, the gap it is leaving has a name: Wizz Air

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Ryanair continues in its thirteenth cutting seats at regional airports Spanish. The thing is that the rest of the low-cost airlines have not sat idly by and are taking advantage to have a greater presence. One of these airlines is Wizz Air, which is already thinking about grab a larger market share in Spain after the fight between Ryanair and Aena over airport taxes. Without its own bases, but with more routes and more seats. If some leave, others come. Ryanair has been in open war for months with the Government for Aena airport taxes. The Irish company considers that the rates at regional airports are unaffordable and has gone from threats to withdraw from several Spanish airports, closing its base in Santiago de Compostela, canceling flights in Vigo and Tenerife North, and will leave those in Valladolid and Jerez inactive. The total cut amounts to 1.2 million seats for the summer. In addition, next winter the airline also plans to reduce its capacity in Asturias, Santander, Zaragoza and several Canarian airports. Wizz Air has seen that gap. What Wizz Air is doing. The Budapest-based airline has decided to move in the opposite direction: it plans to increase its capacity in Spain by 39% throughout 2026. This is confirmed by Vera Jardan, the company’s corporate communications director, in statements collected by OkDiario. According to the media, the strategy does not involve opening its own bases, but rather expanding operations in the airports where it already has a presence and adding new routes. The company already operates in 16 Spanish airports, including Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Malaga, Alicante, Bilbao, Ibiza, Santander and Fuerteventura, and offers 144 routes to 15 different countries. Its latest novelty has been a direct connection between Menorca and Budapest. What they say from within. “Spain is definitely an increasingly important emerging market for us, on which we are increasingly focusing,” counted Jardan in the middle. “We see that they are more open to adventures and impromptu trips, and we would definitely like to satisfy that demand with more interesting flights and destinations to different countries,” the manager continued. Wizz Air has been betting for years on routes to central and eastern Europe, destinations that large airlines do not usually cover so frequently. He Ryanair withdrawal. Just like we counted For some time now, Ryanair has historically maintained some low-demand routes thanks to advertising contracts with local institutions. When those contracts are no longer profitable (or more attractive incentives have appeared in other markets, like morocco), the company has not hesitated to withdraw its flights. Added to this is the impact of AVE to Galiciawhich has reduced passengers from the plane in a region that has already accumulated a drop of 15.5% so far this year. What changes the travelers. In the short term, those traveling with Ryanair from affected regional airports will have fewer options or will have to travel to another departure point. Wizz Air can cover part of that demand, but its destination network and operating model are still not comparable to that of the Irish airline. What is clear is that the Hungarian company sees at this moment a real window of opportunity to gain share in a market that, until now, Ryanair had dominated with almost no direct competition in the low-cost segment. Cover image | Paréj Richárd In Xataka | If you thought that Ryanair was living outside the Hormuz crisis, its CEO has a message. And it doesn’t look good for Spain

Ryanair will cut 1.2 million seats in Spain but there is one region that will suffer more than the rest: Galicia

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Ryanair will reduce seats, cancel routes and raise ticket prices. That is the strategy that the company envisions for Spain during next summer. And Eddie Wilson has confirmed a strategy that has been talked about since last October when the CEO of Ryanair already threatened to take more flights from Spain if the situation did not change with Aena’s rates. And one autonomous community is feeling it more than the rest. 1.2 million seats. That will be the cut that Ryanair has prepared for our country next summer. It is something that was already reported in October and was confirmed last Monday. Counterscheduling the distribution of Aena dividends among its partners, Eddie Wilson has taken the opportunity to point out that its activity will be reduced in Spain in just a few months. They do so because the Government takes advantage of “(Aena’s) monopoly position in Spain’s main airports, obtaining excessive margins of 60% at the expense of local economies, which depend on affordable air travel for tourism and employment.” Without a change in airport taxesRyanair confirms that it is withdrawing flights in our country and that it will replace seats in larger airports. The reason is the repeated one in the last months of this Government-Ryanair battle: They consider that Aena’s rates at regional airports are too high. Once again, regional airports. According to the company, Aena’s airport taxes in regional spaces are uncompetitive and a burden on tourism and the economy of these cities. This has caused, according to the company, its departure from the airports of Asturias, Valladolid, Jerez, Tenerife North and Vigo and its activity to be reduced by 79% in Santiago compared to the summer 2024 figures. Not only that, in addition to this cut in seats, Wilson has not hesitated to warn that if the price of jet fuel becomes scarce, the first victims will be the regional airports, prioritizing the large seats. What about Galicia? Although Ryanair claims that its departure is fatally damaging the less frequented Spanish airports, the truth is that not all of them are suffering the same fate. A good example is Zaragoza. Compared to 2024, it will have 45% fewer seats, three routes canceled and two others cut. Despite this, Aena data They say that in 2025 the number of passengers grew by 1.9% (especially on domestic routes) and that in 2026 it is growing by 2.6%. Photography is very different in Galicia. So far this year, A Coruña airport is the only one that has grown. Without Ryanair, Vigo is falling 3.4% this year but the most worrying thing is in Santiago. At this airport, Ryanair has cut its activity by almost 80% compared to the summer of two years ago. In 2025 it has already fallen by 14.3% and this year it is falling by 29.6%. The lower activity at this airport has caused flights in the region to fall by 6.9% last year and so far this year this has worsened to 15.5%. There is only one worse fact. From all regions, Galicia is the one with the worst figures. And so far this year, only Castilla y León has lost more travelers, with a drop of 18.6%. However, its volume of travelers is much lower than that of Galicia. In the first three months of 2025, 40,051 people moved by plane in the region, while this year 32,613 passengers did so. That’s a drop of less than 8,000 seats filled. In Galicia, however, so far this year 987,812 passengers have taken a plane, while in 2025 a total of 1,168,745 people had taken a plane. That is, in the first quarter of the year, 180,933 passengers have been lost in the first quarter of 2026. And more than 200,000 passengers compared to 2024 when more than 1,194,032 people moved by plane in the first three months of the year. Not only the rates. When Ryanair announces that it is leaving an airport, it usually points to airport taxes, but the reality is more complex. The truth is that the company has maintained some commercial routes with low demand because it had advertising contracts that supported its routes. Contracts that he has not hesitated to break, as in Vigowhen you have found more juicy economic incentives like those that have arrived from Morocco. It must be taken into account thatthe launch of the AVE to Galicia It has also been a hard blow for airline companies that have seen how part of their customers move to the train since it offers more affordable rates and travel times that, adding the waits at airports, are similar to those of the plane. In fact, companies like Iberia have also reduced their supply because demand did not compensate for the effort. Photo | Left Victorian and Simone Muzzi In Xataka | The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

Taxis have always had four seats. With robotaxis that no longer makes sense.

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When Tesla taught the Cybercabthere was a detail that was obvious even before talking about autonomy, sensors or commercial deployment: I only had two seats. It was not a minor decision. For decades we have associated the taxi with a car capable of carrying four passengers, with its driver in front and a back seat designed for almost everything. That’s why that model without a steering wheel or pedals seemed, at the very least, a rarity. Now, seeing what we have seen later, that image begins to have another reading. The interesting thing is not only that we are talking about driverless cars, but about vehicles that can be thought of differently from the first moment. The traditional taxi took advantage of a well-known architecture: four or five seats, a driving position and a body prepared for very varied uses. On the other hand, a robotaxi designed for a fleet can ask a more precise and specific question: what do most journeys require? The answer appears when we look at how these services are used. Some time ago, Lucid’s Marc Winterhoff and Uber’s Andrew Macdonald, they pointed out that more than 90% of the journeys Uber offers only one or two passengers. This proportion helps to understand why two-seater robotaxis are beginning to appear in more projects. It is not advisable to turn this information into a universal rule, because each city, service and use case has its nuances. In that context, Tesla’s proposal fits better. The Cybercab is not planned as a conventional car to which autonomous driving is simply added, but as a vehicle designed to operate, if Tesla manages to deploy it as promised, within a transportation network without a human driver. Hence it dispenses with a steering wheel and pedals, and reduces the cabin to two occupants. The firm led by Elon Musk presents it as a specific piece for safe point-to-point travel. Tesla is not the only one who has reached a similar conclusion. Lucid showed in March 2026 Lunara two-seater robotaxi concept without steering wheel or pedals, although it should be stressed that we are talking about a conceptual proposal and not a product ready to hit the streets. Verne, the Croatian company linked to Mate Rimac, also previously presented a two-seater electric autonomous vehicle. Lucid Lunar The logic behind these designs is not only spatial, it is also economic. A smaller vehicle may require fewer materials, move less weight and consume less energy per trip, something especially relevant when we talk about fleets that should circulate many hours a day. Lucid, for example, presents Lunar as a vehicle designed to be as efficient and cheap as possible for fleet operators. The company projects an efficiency of 8.9–9.7 km per kWh in typical use, although these are figures from a conceptual proposal and not from an already deployed fleet. Furthermore, the change is not limited to the size of each vehicle. It also affects the way we imagine fleets. A study by Boesch, Ciari and Axhausenlinked to ETH Zurich, modeled a specific scenario in Zurich and concluded that, if waiting times of up to 10 minutes were accepted and adoption was sufficiently wide, a fleet of shared autonomous vehicles could very significantly reduce the total number of cars needed, even up to 90% in certain conditions. It is not a universal recipe, but it is an important clue: the robotaxi not only rethinks the seat, but also the scale of the system. So we could say that the four-seater taxi will continue to make sense for many uses, and the fleets of the future will probably need to combine different vehicles. The novelty is that the robotaxi allows each need to be better separated. For individual or two-person trips, a smaller model may be sufficient, more efficient and easier to justify within an on-demand network. What a few years ago seemed like a strange decision begins to fit with another way of looking at mobility: not always designing for the maximum possible, but for what happens most of the time. Images | JavyGo | Maxim In Xataka | Xiaomi CEO has a message for the world: the “cheap electric car” may never arrive

giant trains with 1,900 seats that are already being tested

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Madrid is immersed in the renewal of its Cercanías. The Autonomous Community has been demanding greater investments for years to modernize infrastructure and expand its capacity, suffering from overcrowded trains and recurring breakdowns. Part of these renovations will come with 79 new trains that significantly expand the capacity of the lines. And some have already arrived for their tests. The Cercanías in Madrid. It has become a political battle between the central and regional governments. One more. But the truth is that Cercanías Madrid has been suffering continuous delays and overcrowded trains on many of its lines for years. For testing, In 2018, Fomento already had reports that the regional network was saturated and needed urgent modernization. That same year, it was announced Comprehensive Improvement Plan for the Madrid Cercanías Nucleus 2018-2025 with a planned investment of more than 5,000 million euros. It includes various improvement actions such as the actions in Atocha or Chamartín (which remain ongoing) but as far as is palpable for the average user, the improvement has barely stopped at the improvement of the Recoletos tunnel between Atocha and Chamartín. On the horizon there are various expansion actions, both in the north and south of the region. This lastIn fact, it is associated with the comprehensive renovation of line C-5the one that moves the most passengers in Spain and which will be improved to accommodate new 200-meter-long Stadler trains that, right now, do not have enough space for their journeys. New trains. Taking into account the saturation of the lines in large urban centers, In 2019 Renfe puts out to tender the purchase of 211 new trains. The text already states that there is the possibility of purchasing another 120 additional trains. The value of the contract is 2,270 million euros. This contract anticipates the arrival of 176 100-meter trains and 35 200-meter trains. Among the 100-meter-long trains, 79 of them correspond to high-capacity models. Stadler, who won the contract together with Alstomis responsible for supplying its T100 and T200 models. In both cases they are trains that have already arrived in Madrid but, at the moment, they are in the testing phase in Aranjuez. The objective is that “at the end of summer” they are already in operation the first units in Madrid. five trains. It is, for the moment, the forecast proposed for that first landing on Madrid’s roads. The fleet renewal project involves the incorporation of three Stadler T100 trains and two T200 units, which are currently in the testing phase for homologation. Once they join, The capacity will grow by 20% compared to the current Civia. In the case of the T100, the increase in passengers is limited because both models (the existing ones and the new ones) have around 900 seats but the T200 increases the capacity to 1,884 passengers. The T100 model has a mixed height since two of the four cars are double-deckers. In addition, a fifth car can be added and provide the same service as the T120. For their part, the T200 are larger volume trains with two floors in all their cars, but their size can be reduced to 160 meters, which facilitates their versatility and can be used on lines where larger trains do not enter the stations. The new trains will be able to move from eight to 16 bicycles inside What improvements will we see? Both train models have Greater interior space for travelers with a more open layout and specific spaces to transport bicycles (eight in the T100 and 16 in the T200) and strollers. Improvements in Wi-Fi and an increase in available sockets for charging your phone are also promised, as well as improvements in car air conditioning. In addition, of the 10 doors of the T100, six of them will not have steps (12 of 20 in the T200) so the Ministry of Transport promises safer and faster ascents and descents. A new passenger information system has been added, they will have a new interior surveillance system and can reach up to 140 km/h maximum speed. When and where? As we say, at the moment the project involves the incorporation of three T100 trains and two T200 units late summer 2026. Renfe assures that these trains can operate on all Madrid routes except for line C-9, which is the one destined for Cotos and due to its high mountain characteristics, they cannot accommodate trains of this size. What is not confirmed is which lines will be the first to receive the new Cercanías trains nor on what date the fleet of 79 trains that must arrive to the Madrid service will be fully available. For now, the Ministry of Transport promises that before the end of the year we will see 17 new trains on Madrid’s tracks (nine Stadler T100 and eight T200). The remaining deliveries should arrive gradually but there is no definitive date for their arrival. Photo | Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility In Xataka | Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo were wondering how much money we would pay for the AVE. They found out the hard way

economy class seats

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No, it’s not your thing. If you think that when you travel by plane you have less space than a few decades ago, it is because (effectively) the airlines they take time rethinking the internal configuration of its aircraft in the interest of greater profitability. That is something known. The curious thing is that the latest studies on the subject show that companies they keep working in that direction, giving more weight to the premium seats in their grids compared to the tourist class. This effort helps to understand some decisions of the sector. Question of ‘classes’. The models may change, but all airplanes share the same characteristic: they force the airlines that manage them to adapt to a reduced space. A passenger cabin measures what it measures. And that is the limited margin that companies have when seeking maximum profitability, distributing travelers by category and designing rates. Recently Visual Approach Analytics he wondered how the airlines are performing in this endeavor and came to a curious conclusion. Between 2020 and 2026 the number of nationally scheduled ‘economy’ class seats in the US grew by 10%. The ‘premium’ places did almost three times as much, 27%. The study focuses on a very specific niche (American national market) but is interesting both for the photo it shows and for the trend it draws. The first time Visual published an analysis on the topic, in 2024the ‘premium’ class believed at 14% and the ‘economic’ class at 4%. Why’s that? In an article On the subject Courtney Miller, founder of Visual Approach Analytics, acknowledges that “the shift towards premium seats in the US market since the pandemic has been constant.” It also confirms that this trend, far from moderating, has strengthened in recent years. Higher category seats (with more space, comforts or services) are sold at higher prices, so it is not difficult to imagine what leads companies to bet on them. The question is another: How are they making this change? For Miller, the key is not so much a “reconfiguration” of the aircraft that already exist as the transformation of the market itself. Expanding. “The increase in premium class seats versus economy class seats is largely due to the type of airlines that are increasing their capacity in the market,” reflects Millerwhich focuses its analysis on the US. “Growth has shifted away from the ultra-airline sector low cost (ULCC) towards the so-called network airlines, where class seats are also found business. In fact, when analyzing the growth at the beginning of the year we observed that it came mainly from traditional companies and very little from low-cost airlines (LCC) or ultra-type airlines. low cost“. Changes in the market. Miller is not the only one who has noticed the changes the sector is experiencing. On Sunday Dean Seal published another analysis in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in which it confirms that, in their continuous search for higher revenue per seat, companies are modernizing their aircraft or directly purchasing others with a higher proportion of premium seats. Seal points out an increase in these seats with extra comforts both in US airlines that have been exploiting them for some time (Delta Air Lines or United Airlines) and in rivals that have grown by focusing on other market niches, such as Southwest Airlines, Spirit either Frontierin profile more low cost. Not all economy class is the same. It is not always about offering preferential or class places businessbut seats with certain advantages, like a few extra centimeters to stretch your legs. The Global Tourism Forum difference for example between “Premium Economy” and plain economy class. In exchange for a little more space or (on longer journeys) better meals, the airline sells the former at double or triple the price of Economy. “Given that the cost increase is moderate but the price increase is significant, Premium Economy class can offer very high profit margins,” the agency notes. Recent data of Cirium published by WSJ show that, overall, the percentage of premium seats has increased in the last decade on Delta, United, American and Alaska airlines. Business decisions. The studies are not the only ones that reveal the change. It is also seen in the advertisements of the airlines. United Airlines poses for example, gain more first-class seats and more spacious seats, even on its smaller planes, and Delta has ordered about thirty of Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner models with larger premium cabins. “It is a financially excellent aircraft,” stood out the company’s commercial director during a conference at the beginning of the year. “It represents a very significant change and a substantial improvement in profit margins.” Is it something new? Not quite. not long ago we told you as the space that airlines dedicate to each seat has been reducing in recent decades: from the average 90 cm between seats in the 80s it has gone to an average of 80 cm in regular companies and 70 cm in low cost airlines. The result: a significant percentage of passengers who fly no longer fit comfortably in standard seats. That has not prevented new ideas from emerging in the sector, such as installing rows of double height seats. Image | Chris Brignola (Unsplash) In Xataka | We have been tying ribbons to suitcases for years to identify them at the airport. Your employees warn that it is a bad idea

Sleeping in tourist class has been an impossible mission. Some airlines are testing three seats that convert into beds

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Traveling in economy class on a long-haul flight usually means accepting a fairly clear toll: sleeping poorly or, at all, not sleeping at all. We have all experienced it, narrow seats, little space to stretch our legs and a posture that rarely invites rest. That discomfort is not a minor detail, it is part of the experience of flying in this segment. And yet, it is precisely there, in this very everyday problem, where some airlines are beginning to explore solutions within the economy cabin itself. If we go to the opposite extreme, we have seen the reference to what it would be like to fly in absolute comfort many times in airline campaigns. The Emirates ad with Jennifer Aniston illustrates this wellgoing from a cabin without notable services to a private suite with a completely flat bed, that is, to the premium end of the experience. The proposal is not limited to improving comfort, it completely redefines life on board. An attempt to make tourist class habitable And at that point is where we begin to see concrete movements. United just announced a proposal of this type with its call Relax Rowan option within its own economic class that seeks precisely to alleviate that problem. The company presents it as a specific row that, once in flight, can be adapted to stretch out or rest with a little more space. The airline plans to launch it in 2027, place it between United Economy and United Premium Plus and progressively deploy it on more than 200 Boeing 787s and Boeing 777 from now to 2030. But the truth is that this idea is not completely new. Air New Zealand has been exploring this concept for some time with his well-known Skycoucha proposal that also starts with a row of seats in economy class. In its case, the system allows the legrests to be raised until they form a continuous surface on which we can stretch. It is not equivalent to a premium cabin bed, but it does offer more versatile space than the conventional seat and the airline itself presents it as a way to gain comfort without paying for a superior cabin. If we go down to detail, the interesting thing is not so much the configuration itself, but what it allows once we are in flight. Both proposals seek to expand the available surface so that we can really stretch out, something that is not usually common for tourists. Air New Zealand specifies that area in about 1.55 meters long and 74 centimeters wideaccompanied by additional bedding, a seat cover and specific belts or restraint systems to use it safely. United, for its part, adds an adapted mattress, blankets, extra pillows and kits designed to make rest more bearable. With all this, the logical question is who is really compensated by this type of option. United’s promotional video gives us an idea. If we travel alone, having all that space gives us a much more usable surface to stretch out. In the case of couples, the idea is to share it in a more flexible way, alternating positions or using it to rest better during the flight. And if we think about families, especially with small children, Air New Zealand considers different configurations. Now, before imagining a perfect rest, it is worth taking into account some conditions. In the case of Air New Zealand, as we have seen, availability depends on the aircraftroute and operational or regulatory factors, and not all configurations are always accessible. In addition, the price is not fixed, since each passenger’s ticket is paid plus an additional cost for this option, while United has not yet detailed prices, although it has indicated that its deployment will be progressive. Taken together, these proposals don’t completely change what it means to fly economy class, but they do introduce an interesting nuance. The idea is not to replicate a first-class suite, but to offer a little more room to rest within the usual limitations. That balance between cost and convenience is what seems to be guiding these developments. Images | United Airlines In Xataka | Luxury superyachts have a new enemy in Monaco: a “low emissions zone” that will penalize those who pollute the most

A Canadian low-cost airline is already experimenting with ultra-narrow seats for its passengers

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“Basically, it’s inhumane to make someone travel like that.” The words are from Amanda Schmidt, an ordinary citizen living (or surviving) another day in the experience of flying. Their complaints could have gone unnoticed, they could have fallen on deaf ears. But he uploaded a video to TikTok. The video went viral and now an airline has had to back down. The video. A man, a woman and a daughter recording. “It should be illegal.” “What happens in case of an accident?” “I’m getting claustrophobic just watching this.” “Don’t worry, they haven’t made you pay to recline the seat yet.” These are comments that accompany the video uploaded by Schmidt to TikTok and one of them points in the right direction as we will see later. In the video you can see two elderly people with serious problems traveling comfortably in their seats. Although the feeling is that the video is recorded with the wide angle of the camera, the image itself already produces a certain amount of stress, with the man putting his legs under the front seat. Click on the image to go to the original video “It’s inhuman”. Once the video went viral, the company has had to give explanations. In statements by the author to C.B.S. He argued a truism that WestJet, the Canadian company on which the people in the video travel, seems to have forgotten: “if they are selling a seat for a human, a human should be able to enter.” The video records what WestJet called “densified seating” (something like “densified” seats in a literal translation into Spanish). The company has tried to increase the number of seats on its planes by reducing legroom and front seatback. Now they confirm that they will reverse what they have called “ultra slim line” seats. “It’s in our DNA”. That is the response from Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of the company, who assured that it is essential for them to test new products in a statement made public by the company. These products were, in this case, increasing the seats available in the cabin at the expense of greater passenger comfort. WestJet has assured that it had a program open to reconfigure its cabins and increase the number of passengers but that the final implementation was pending the rejection or support it received from passengers. They assure that in December the possibility of canceling the project was already studied and that with the feedback received, the final decision was going to be made in mid-February. Now they confirm that they will return to the initial configuration. Recliners. Among the comments on the video, one of the TikTok users pointed out that WestJet still “did not charge for reclining the seat.” The mention was not accidental and this possibility had been talked about for a few months. In October We learned the company had a plan: If you want a reclining seat, pay more. To announce this measure, the company noted that it had created a new class of ticket called “extended comfort”, a category immediately above the basic fare that would allow the seat to be reclined. Passengers who did not opt ​​for it or one of the premium services would travel the entire time with their backs completely straight. The decision raised eyebrows among users and experts such as John Gradek, professor of aeronautical management at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out CBC that “the imagination of airline marketing managers never ceases to amaze me,” making it clear that the measure was nothing more than a new attempt to raise more money. More and more passengers. For years, the only certainty is that low-cost airlines have been working to put more passengers on their planes. In his usual controversial tone, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, He claimed he could deploy planes to travel standing up in a week. And if it was profitable They would not hesitate to find a way to achieve it. Beyond O’Leary’s bravado, the truth is that there are companies that have been working on solutions that aim for this very thing for years, presenting at aeronautical fairs “seats” to travel completely vertical and barely supported on a kind of stools. An idea that fortunately has not finished curdling very good reviews they have received from the airlines low cost. Photo | Dillon Wolf and Kiya Golara In Xataka | Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost airlines have been charging for your carry-on suitcase for years. The European Union is tired of it

end reclining seats

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Canadian airline WestJet has announced that will eliminate the ability to recline standard economy seats on 43 aircraft in its fleet. In this way, passengers who want to put the backrest back they will have to pay an extra to access premium cabins or “extended comfort” seats. What exactly changes. The measure affects less than a third of WestJet’s narrowbody fleet, specifically the Boeing 737-8 MAX and 737-800 from the defunct airlines Swoop, Lynx and Sunwing. On these planes, basic economy seats will have a “fixed recline,” meaning they will not be able to move. The first reconfigured aircraft will enter service at the end of this month, and the remaining 42 will be ready in early 2026. The airline’s justification. WestJet defend the change arguing that half of the passengers who participated in its user tests prefer a fixed backrest to “avoid feeling invaded by other passengers,” according to declared to ABC News. The company maintains that this reconfiguration seeks to “create a cohesive look and feel” in its aircraft, with a renewed design that promises a “bright and spacious environment”, although with less space between seats. What if you want to recline the seat?. Travelers who prefer to maintain the ability to recline their seat will have two payment options. The first is the premium cabin, which will incorporate 12 new seats of the same model as those of the company’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The second is the “extended comfort” section, with 36 seats that offer additional legroom, ergonomically designed cushions and reclining capabilities. Criticisms of the model. The decision has generated some controversy among experts in the sector. John Gradek, professor of aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, qualified the measure of “strategy to raise more money”, according to statements collected by CBC. “The imagination of airline marketers never ceases to amaze me,” said Gradek, who believes WestJet is trying to “create another tier of service that allows them to charge more” for something that has traditionally been standard in the Canadian market. In Europe it is not surprising. On the continent, this practice is quite common among cheap airlines. The main European low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, Easyjet or Wizz Air They have been operating for years with seats that do not recline at all, while WestJet is removing a feature that its passengers took for granted and making it an exclusive feature of premium fares. low-cost Canadian. WestJet, a pioneer in offering affordable fares to Canadian travelers, operates flights to 19 US states, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Washington DC The airline justifies these changes as part of its strategy to keep costs down: “We need to be willing to try new products and see how they work for Canadians,” their spokespersons explained. Cover image | Suhyeon Choi In Xataka | “You can’t predict if there will be interference”: why airlines continue to force us to put airplane mode on in 2025

The LowCost airline business is in the accessory. That is why this idea of ​​vertical seats is one of his old dreams

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Would you be willing to travel on a practically standing plane? How long? It is, without a doubt, the first two questions that one assists when he attends, not without some stupefaction, to the invention of Aviointeriors, an Italian company that has been in a drawer for years a new seat concept for low -cost airlines. Skyrider. Perhaps because if you put an English name the precariousness and discomfort sounds a little better. Like when we describe the UPCyCling Or we call Coliving To share floor. Anyway, Skyrider It is the name with which Aviointeriors I tried to place their seats in low -cost companies years ago The company specializes in creating all kinds of environments inside a plane, with seats of all kinds and prices. From the most premium to the cheapest, typical of the tourist class. But years ago he tried to reinvent the tourist class with a seat … that perhaps we couldn’t call him a seat. 20%. Those are your accounts. 20% more occupation if travelers, instead of being completely sitting, simply rely on a completely straight back and yield their weight on an inclined lower surface. Something like traveling by bus with your back resting on the glass or body. The objective, of course, is to sell this format at some point in low -cost airlines. The short duration flights in which there are those who would be willing to go … One or two hours standing? Because it seems clear that we can say that these passengers travel “standing. An old dream. In recent days we have seen the proposition of using these seats be “new” in some media. The truth is that it is something we already knew and that Aviointeriors has maintained in its portfolio for more than a decade. In fact, they weren’t even the first to put it on the table. In 2003, Airbus first proposed a system of seats very similar to that of Aviointerior. Travelers barely sat on a cylinder that crossed the width of three seats and maintained a slight support. Something like a stool. In 2014 they gave him the patent. Three years later, the low -cost company Vivacolombia confirmed that he wanted to get on the dream of what we could call APERUUTOBÚS. It was, for his CEO, an attraction for “working class and vacationers with low budget”. Is it safe? The other big doubt that assails us when we see the image of these Skyrider or Airbus’s proposal. And it seems that. In 2019 the Italian company presented the third version of these vertical support with leg hole. The avant -garde He collected his appearance in Hamburg, at one of the most famous aviation fairs in the world. According to the medium, the minimum security measures required but not with the passenger regulations were complied with. According to this, they must have a space of 28 inches (71.12 centimeters) and the proposition of Aviointeriors was 23 inches (58.42 centimeters). Click on the image to go to the original post Better than not. Following the echo he has had in the media in recent days, the company itself He has published a post on Instagram in which they point to an obvious change of strategy. With a text in which it reads Provocative by Design (Designed to provoke, in English), the company talks about the seat in the following terms: “The Skyridider, often confused with a plane seat finished and ready to take be the air trip someday “ The truth is that Aviointeriors puts the focus in 2012 but throughout the decade the concept was evolving. Now, however, they point out in their communication that it is a company “very aware of the current demands of the market, gathering quality, comfort and the unmistakable touch of the Made in Italy in each product that creates. For now, the Skyrider is not part of the official line. “ A yearning. Although clearly Aviointerior is trying to separate itself from this concept that seems to be part of its past, low -cost airlines have shown their interest in several occasions for this type of solutions. We talk about the case of Vivacolombia but Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, has expressed himself in these terms on some occasions. Already in 2012 he pointed out that if this concept of traveling was approved could display them in a week. In one television interviewit pointed out that if the price of these seats were low enough they would fill out the space to travel erect than traditional seats. It’s not just the seat. Although the focus has been put in vertical seats, it is likely that the true intentions of low -cost companies do not point to how many more people can strain on a plane by journey. The real business is what revolves around that seat. The own O’Leary said to want to go to the bathroom Because that allowed him to put more seats but, not to mention it, allowed him to generate a new income route. It is what the Ryanair business model has based: put very cheap seats and charge each extra small at a high price. He has segmented the plane in small areas with different prices, charges for carry a suitcase in the cabin and has proposed a subscription. Photo | Wolfgang Weiser and Aviointeriors In Xataka | Ryanair has spent a year selling so cheap that now his passengers will suffer the consequences: expensive tickets in 2025

end reclining seats

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We have a love hate relationship with reclining airplane seats. They are great if you want to nap more comfortably, but if you don’t and the passenger in front of you does, that can be quite annoying. The airlines know this, and are considering their disappearance forever. These seats also impose other problems on airlines. They are more likely to break down, but they also add weight to the seats, something that does not help final fuel consumption. Some airlines don’t even offer that button on coach seats, while seats began to appear in the late 2000s.”pre-reclined“, lighter and that fixed the backrest at an intermediate angle: neither completely upright nor completely reclined. British low-cost airline Jet2 was one of the first to use them in 2009, and British Airways also began using them later for flights lasting less than four hours. Ryanair he charged them directly in 2004 as a measure to make better use of space. The airline then commented how this would allow it to save about two million euros a year. And when it doesn’t try to save for it, it tries to make its users pay more with debatable ideas. Like for example, travel standing. There are many other cases: in 2019 Delta reduced the degree of inclination of its seats from four inches to just two inches for economy class, and from 5.4 inches to 3.5 inches for first class. American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines They also limited reclining to two inches on domestic flights There are a couple of clear additional factors in the partial or complete disappearance of that option. The first, that airlines can eliminate the possibility of choosing reclining seats in economy class and charge those seats as an interesting extra to raise the price of tickets. After all, the future seems prone to the appearance of “premium” middle class seats. Reimagining the airplane seat The other, of course, is space savings. According to CNNif an airline can save 2.5 cm of space per row, that will be equivalent to about 76 cm on a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. Or what is the same: a whole extra row of seats. There are several attempts to revolutionize the seating arrangement. For example, with double height seats like those devised by the young Spanish entrepreneur Alejandro Núñez Vicente. There are also curious designs that they reposition the middle seatusually the worst rated when traveling by plane or unique ideas —or maybe terrible— like that of the inverted seats. For now, yes, airlines are betting on pre-reclined seats. This is indicated in the aforementioned CNN article, which gives the example of the manufacturer Recaro, one of the firms that is taking advantage of the trend to equip airline planes with their seats. To find out the degree of inclination – in Recaro it is light and ranges between 15 and 18 degrees – the concept “max pax” is used used by industry. That is, the maximum count of passengers that each plane is certified to be able to transport. In an Airbus 321neo, for example, it is up to 244 passengers if everyone traveled in economy class, but when the front part is used for the traditional first and business class seats, the seats are considerably reduced and drop below 150 passengers. . Even so, traditional seats are “slimming” in parallel with the rest of the techniques. It changes the structure and becomes thinner right in the part where travelers have their knees to allow them to be more comfortable. That extra space for the knees, of course, is usually another argument to raise the price of the ticket. The advantages of eliminating reclining seats are obvious on short-haul flightsbut things change with longer flights. Meanwhile, if you are going to travel by plane, it may not be a bad idea to let the passenger behind you know if we are going to recline the seat. Image | Aleksei Zaitzev In Xataka | Obesity is a growing problem, so airlines have opted for a drastic measure: weighing travelers In Xataka | First class seats are a thing of the past. Airlines now want absurdly luxurious business class *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024

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