To give up the function that causes conflicts in the plane, as well as to save significantly on the equipment and operation of the planes – this is the goal pursued by airlines, which have increasingly begun to abandon reclining seats on their planes. Passengers indeed have less and less opportunity to feel comfortable during the flight, but this is already an expense.
As told on CNN, the most popular seats in new airplanes are bucket-shaped seats, with a basic slightly reclined back. In theory, they provide more legroom for tall passengers and also allow more people to fit in the plane. But conflicts due to folded backrests with passengers sitting behind are eliminated.
As Mark Hiller, CEO of Recaro, a German seat manufacturer well-known in the industry for supplying airlines with both reclining and fixed positions, commented, more and more airlines are choosing to fill their planes with seats without reclining backs.
“The airline can select a pre-defined backrest angle position during the seat configuration process. This helps to provide greater comfort by increasing the angle of the backrest or to perform special schemes with a specific number of passengers. “What also makes non-reclining seats more attractive to airlines is that they are cheaper because they require much less maintenance,” he said. The reason for the cheapness is a significantly smaller number of moving parts, increased reliability and simplified maintenance, as well as low weight and cost due to the absence of any mechanisms.