There’s always fuss about cost cutting measures and any bid to offer cheaper flights to passengers. Honesty, we don’t really understand the fuss. For instancen, the new Skyrider saddle seats don’t exactly look comfortable but then, if we didn’t want to sit on them, then you’d imagine our best bet would be not to book an economy flight on a plane where those seats are used. We do still have freedom of choice and if smaller seats with less leg room means saving a few quid on a short haul flight then where’s the harm?
In contrast, Ryanair’s suggestion that they could do away with the co-pilot and replace them with a member of the cabin crew seems slightly more ludicrous and dangerous not to mention insulting to those that regularly work as co-pilots.
The Skyrider seats, also being billed as saddle seats, are the design of an Italian company called Aviointeriors Group who are a specialist aviation design company. The seats will be shown officially at the itnerior design exp in Long beach, California this week and according to the company’s director general, they have already had interest from a number of major airlines that are interested in further increasing passenger numbers and reducing flight costs for economy class passengers. However, the seats are not recommended for anybody flying more than 3 hours.
As well as offering around 7 inches less leg room than the average economy class seat currently on board planes, they will also offer some storage functionality with a peg for your jacket and room to hold a book. You can virtually bet your bottom dollar that Ryanair was one of the companies that have shown early interest in the designs.
