
When it comes to air travel, the seat can make or break a journey. There’s endless debate about size, leg room and window versus aisle advantage. Experts compete with apps and 3D seat maps like newly launched Mainly Miles, Singapore Airlines adding online 3D seat maps – Mainly Miles to help us get ahead of the curve. Who wouldn’t pay more to avoid their knees being shunted up against the one in front?
For carriers meanwhile, it’s the toughest point of differentiation. Last week, I did some research for a client’s PR campaign, Why London still dominates aviation design, for now – Design Week which revealed some truly mind-boggling industry stats. So, for those travel geeks to mull over on here’s the spill:
The vital stats.
Major carriers operating fleets of 1,000 aircraft like Delta Air Lines carry around 200 million passengers every year. That means each seat is being used on average 1,500 times a year, – which is a lot of bums to host.
Over a ten-year lifespan of a seat, that adds up to 15,000 passenger bums per seat – and an additional number for crew. In terms of bumload to bear, each seat may carry a total of 1,050,000 kg in human body weight.
While in use, it needs some serious maintenance and sanitation. Cleaners use around 9,735 litres of fluid on every airline seat annually, amounting to 98,000 litres over a decade.
There’s more. Some seats could easily be made up of hundreds of individual parts. A real feat of engineering. Before it even meets a passenger, each seat typically consists of frame and structure. On top of that is cushioning, padding, fabric coverings, seatbelt, life jacket, headrests, armrests, tray table, pouches, sockets, and recline mechanism.
If you tally up all these elements, they quickly add up to a substantial number before being installed.
Lifespan
Next, assembly takes nine weeks in a hanger before aircraft installation, and a further 21 days to carry out a flight-testing period – meaning a further 30 weeks.
Finally, when a seat does get to retire after five or even ten years, it could be transferred to a crew training centre, where it could live out its final days for another two years.
Beyond that, seats become collector items and are in big demand on retro websites or industry forums. More seat history can be explored in aviation museums which showcase vintage air cabin interiors – here are two of my favourites:
The British Airways Heritage Collection is located inside British Airways Waterside corporate HQ . The collection spans from the 1920s to the present day and includes a variety of cabin memorabilia – such as including posters, photographs, uniforms, and aircraft models.
While working for Singapore Airlines I had to tear myself off the flight; its First Class and Business seats are unbeatable. Singapore Changi is remarkable, but my best memory is at the airiness HQ musum, ‘Inside Singapore Airlines’. This behind-the-scenes tour offers a curated glimpse into aircraft mock-ups, a crew training centre and an archive of the stunning cabin crew uniforms designed by Pierre Balmain.
About to book? Try Compare Airline Seats or Long-haul Economy Class Comparison Charti – SeatGuru