Thread: AA to increase Seat Capacity..Watch those Knees.

AA Group president Scott Kirby said Tuesday the carrier will increase the number of seats in its Boeing 737-800, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Boeing 777-200 fleets. Here are the plans, with final numbers still be determined for the two Boeing fleets:

Aircraft	Before	After
MD-80	135	140
737-800	150	160 or 164
777-200	247	260 to 289

The MD-80 fleet has already been converted. The 737-800 conversion begins in the second half of 2014. AA Group is still working out the details of the 777-200 conversion.

The 777-200 conversion to 260 seats begins later in 2014. However, if the airline decides in favor of the 289-seat option, that conversion will happen into 2015.
For passengers back in coach, that brings visions of knees bumping against seat backs. In American’s defense, Kirby said that American’s seating will be in line with its major competitors.
“The seating configurations we’re going to are the same number of seats on the 737, for example, that Delta has. We haven’t finished the analysis on the 777 yet, but it will be consistent with what airlines like Delta have,” Kirby said. “American was just really low density on those airplanes.”

In fact, Delta puts 160 seats on its 737-800s. United Airlines has 152 to 160 seats on that aircraft type. For the Boeing 777-200, Delta had 269 seats, while United puts on 253 to 269 seats.

“We think it’s important to be competitive with UA and DL. You can have a premium product, but a premium product in markets where there is premium demand and customers who are willing to pay for it,” Kirby said.