A couple of things, Easyjet asked for the 2nd overwing in order to utilise some of the floorspace for more seats rather than more passenger space and I believe they have some part of the rear galley or a cupboard removed to add more space, in which they raised the capacity to 156 from 150. The economics behind this would be interesting to hear as of course the addition of the extra overwing doors (which are relatively heavy) and the seats add weight, as well as this there must be at least 1 flight attendant per 50 people/seats (can't quite rememeber which, however due to the way crew rostering works it means that easyjet operates all its flights with at least 4 cabin crew), hence adding those extra 6 seats does add a lot of cost, but obviously they must pay for themselves otherwise easyjet would have gone back to 150.John wrote:Not without a change in regulations - you can only have a maximum of two seats between a seat and an aisle. That means for 2 aisles the maximum you can have is 11 seats (3-5-3).EXTspotter wrote:however as air travel demand increases these will definately increase and I am certain that within 15 years A380s with a 12 abreast economy would not be out of the ordinary.
Also, the amount you can squeeze in is dependant on the number of emergency exits the plane has and is certified to. The A380 is currently only certified to 853 passengers (but that isn't necessarily one class). The double deck also reduces the flexibility somewhat. You can't plan to have upstairs use the downstairs exits. So you'd have to cram your economy people in on both decks to spread them over all doors which isn't the most desirable option.
Interestingly, the easyjet A319s have an additional over wing exit (same number as the A320) as they cram so many people in.
[edit] Thirdly airbus could always recertify the A380 for more passengers (obviously they only would if there was a demand for it), by redoing the emergency escape test with a larger number of people. In order to pass the test all of the people aboard have to escape the aircraft on escape slides of which some of the slides cannot be used within 90 seconds. In the original test (which they filmed and was part of a documentary on national geographic or discovery) I believe it took just over a minute for everyone to escape.
[edit]Bizarrely, during my 3rd design project (designing a 250 seat commercial jet), we were told not to have the so called "double-excuse me seats" - i.e more then one seat between a person and the aisle. That gives a maximum of 8 across for 2 aisles (2-4-2). If they were included, we would get picked up on it as "it is not what the customers or the airlines want". This coming from an Airbus employee. Which we found odd, given just how many airlines use them...
Secondly you could get 12 accross without having to get past more than 2 people with 2 aisles (3-6-3), even though I do agree it wouldn't be too nice.
edit - Airbus could recetify the aircraft for more seats by redoing an emergency escape test whereby all the passengers have to get out in 90 seconds, on the first one with 853 everyone got off in 71 I believe so there is a possibility they could add another hundred or more and still be comfortably within 90 seconds.
