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Southwest Airways is exhibiting off the latest seats deliberate for its fleet — and doubling down on dispelling earlier outcry that they’re too skinny.
Showing alongside seat producer Recaro, the Dallas-based service unveiled the brand new seats Tuesday on the Plane Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.
Seat options
The service says the brand new seats, adorned in navy blue and sporting a signature Southwest coronary heart emblem on every headrest, are a definite enchancment over what clients at the moment discover on its Boeing 737s.
Deliberate for brand new plane deliveries beginning in 2025, the seats sport some distinct upgrades over Southwest’s current ones, to make certain.
Recaro custom-made each the headrest and armrest particularly for Southwest, providing an extended armrest and a headrest that the passenger can fold out for neck help — or slide up or down for consolation.
The place to sit down: Every part you have to learn about the very best seats on Southwest Airways
On the again of the seats, you’ll discover each USB-A and USB-C charging ports, together with a large private machine holder and a tray desk that includes two cupholders.
“Ten % of the world is left-handed,” supplied Invoice Tierney, Southwest’s vice chairman of buyer expertise and digital expertise, at Tuesday’s unveiling.
“Each a part of the design is supposed so that you don’t need to put an excessive amount of effort into transferring round, hold your neck comfy, and you’ll be productive along with your units,” Tierney continued, noting the seats sit on the intersection of consolation and performance.
Bigger cabin refresh
In reality, this seat reveal is only one step in a bigger cabin refresh Southwest is planning for its new plane, which can see jets come off the road with a wide range of aesthetic upgrades over its present plane, TPG reported in February when the service first introduced the adjustments.
However seat design renderings Southwest shared on the time weren’t with out backlash — particularly, issues about how skinny they seemed within the mock-ups; it helped reignite the decadeslong dialog about legroom, seat pitch and width on business plane.
Finally, these design renderings weren’t precisely an correct depiction of the seat itself, mentioned Christopher Parker, Southwest’s managing director for inflight expertise and voice of buyer, chatting with TPG on Tuesday.
“There have been a variety of issues within the information when it was launched about it being a ‘slimline seat.’ This isn’t a slimline seat,” Parker mentioned, noting the corporate went by exhaustive testing with workers members and clients — who concluded, he mentioned, that the seats have been the most comfy amongst these the service thought of.
“Once we went by the method of including the precise seat cushion, we truly added extra cushion,” he mentioned. “None of this was meant to make a thinner seat for cabin densification functions.”
The service additionally went to nice lengths, Tierney added, to check ergonomic options to make the seat as comfy as attainable. I definitely seen these components, and the improved again consolation, after I briefly tried the seat out on the unveiling.
After all, the final word check for these seats shall be how they carry out over time — and over the period of a multihour flight.
However Recaro CEO Mark Hiller, the person accountable for making the seat, was assured Tuesday.
“We’re positive that our product … is a superb addition to the Southwest fleet,” he mentioned.
Plans to combine into fleet
It’s price noting that Southwest gained’t retrofit its current plane with the brand new seats or design. The brand new plane it receives in 2024 gained’t have the refreshes, both.
They’re deliberate for brand new deliveries beginning subsequent 12 months — although the service’s supply schedule has remained very a lot in flux amid troubles at Boeing.
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