Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific to introduce 10-abreast seating in its Boeing planes
Flight attendants union leader says move will be bad for customers and airline will need more staff working on planes
Cathay Pacific will move to the much disliked 10-abreast economy seating from the standard, spacious nine-abreast in plans revealed to the South China Morning Post by the airline’s chief executive.
The changes will be “bad” for passengers, says the airline’s cabin crew union under plans that will see an extra row of economy seats installed on its Boeing aircraft and the width of each seat reduced by up to 1.5 inches (3.8cm).
Chief executive Ivan Chu Kwok-leung said in an exclusive interview: “If you look at the Boeing 777s, which everybody uses from the Gulf to the US to European carriers and ourselves, the standard is 3-4-3. I think we are moving towards that stage, it’s very clear.”
A shortage of take-off and landing slots at Hong Kong International Airport means Cathay and local rivals like HK Express, are unable to expand the number of flights with the two runways operating at almost 100 per cent capacity every day.
“Slots are very scarce,” Chu said. “We want to generate more seats per slot, that’s the key thing. That’s why we are doing it. It’s very important we do it.”