New ‘stand up’ plane seats have been unveiled - would you pay for one?

Would you be happy with these seats on your next flight? (Photo: Aviointeriors)Would you be happy with these seats on your next flight? (Photo: Aviointeriors)
Would you be happy with these seats on your next flight? (Photo: Aviointeriors)

An example of a ‘stand up’ plane seat has made its way to the Paris Air Show.

Named the Skyrider 3.0, the new design would see passengers essentially standing for the duration of their flight.

Why the new design?

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The Skyrider 3.0 comes from Aviointeriors, an aircraft cabin interiors manufacturer. The new style of seat is similar to a bike seat, with the passengers legs intended to hang over the sides, and it sits higher than a traditional plane seat.

The seating would only take up 23 inches compared to the 31 inches traditional seats take up on other aircraft. The idea is to allow airlines to truly utilise all of the space on the plane, which also allows more passengers per flight.

Speaking to CNN Travel, Gaetano Perugini, engineering adviser at Aviointeriors, said, “The message is, we do not want to put thousands of people in the cabin, we want to offer a multi-class configuration, which is nowadays impossible if you want to reach the maximum load of passengers.

“So that means that in the same cabin, you will have standard economy, premium economy or business class and ultra-basic economy - which is an innovation for the airline and the passenger.”

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The controversial seating originally debuted in 2010, but due to structural issues, it prevented the design from ever being used.

Short haul flights

Perugini acknowledged how travellers might find this style of seating uncomfortable.

He said, “I will be honest, I don't think that somebody is happy to stay eight or 10 hours in this configuration.”

But he did argue that if fliers were committed to saving money, then it would not be impossible to deal with the unusual set up for a few hours.

Online reception

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Twitter users who have seen pictures of the new seats are less than impressed with the pitch.

“Good luck with that! You won’t see me on any airline that uses these seats,” one user wrote.

Another tweeted, “Why have seats at all?”

“What fresh hell is this?” Wrote someone else on the social media platform.

This article originally appeared on our sister site Edinburgh Evening News