American Airlines is planning to add 12 more seats to the Boeing 737MAX aircraft compared with their 737-800s which have 160. In order to accommodate the additional seating, they are going to be reducing the legroom, or pitch, from 31 inches to 29 inches on three rows of the aircraft and from 31 inches to 30 inches in all of the other rows.
Two of the three rows with 29 inches of pitch are said to be in the back of the aircraft while one will be further forward.
The AA Boeing 737MAX will have 36 Main Cabin Extra seats with additional legroom as well as 16 first class seats.
In additional effort to make room for the increase number of seats, American Airlines is reportedly going to have smaller lavatories on their 737MAX aircraft.
The 737MAX will go into service later in 2017 and American Airlines has 100 on order with Boeing with 40 being expected to added to their fleet by the end of 2019.
This could be really bad news for US fliers as American, Delta, and United have followed each others’ moves in the past. American Airlines’ decision to reduce seat pitch could lead both Delta and United to do the same thing.
HT: CNN
