Ryanair plans 'standing seats'

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary

When the story broke last week about China's Spring Airlines looking into 'standing-only' flights, I figured that it was only a matter of time before European budget carrier Ryanair would announce plans for a similar concept. And sure enough, Ryanair, not to be outdone, finally announced today that it was in discussions with Boeing and the Irish Aviation Authority to look at "vertical seating" in its 737s - the last four rows of regular seats would be removed in order to make room for the new seats. Passengers wouldn't actually be standing, but "they would have something like a stool to lean on or to sit on," said Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara; CEO Michael O'Leary has described them as "barstools," according to The Sun, which also reports that O'Leary got the idea from the Chinese carrier.

The passengers who use the "vertical seating" would fly for less than those with a regular seat, and would apparently be used only on flights under 90 minutes. "We might take out the last five or six rows and say to passengers, 'Do you want to stand up? If you do, you can travel for free'," said O'Leary, to Sky News. "Why is this any different to what happens on trains, where you see thousands of people who cannot get a seat standing in the aisles, and it happens regularly on the Underground?"

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Standing only flights on Spring Airlines?

That's right - CCTV is reporting that Chinese carrier Spring Airlines is looking at standing-room only flights on some of its Airbus A320s. The airline, billed as the first low-cost carrier in China, will try to get regulatory approval for the idea by the end of the year. Apparently, the new passenger layout means that the A320s can fit up to 40% more passengers (that's quite a bit) as well as cut costs by 20%. "It's just like bar stools," the airline said. "The safety belt is the the most important thing. It will still be fastened around the waist."

Spring Airlines wants the standing-only flights as a way to cope with capacity issues - it can't get a hold of new planes quickly enough to keep up with passenger demand. According to Spring Airlines President Wang Zhengua, the idea for the flights was proposed by Chinese vice premier Zhang Dejiang: "He suggested that, for a lower price, passengers should be able to get on a plane like catching a bus, with no seat, no luggage consignment, no food, no water, but very convenient." Wang also says that airline has been told by Airbus that the idea was safe, so "once the government approves it formally, we'll try it."

Apparently the tickets that require you to stand in the aisle would be 20% cheaper. I'm not sure whether the entire aircraft would be standing-only, or if it's just additional standing in the aisle. But this might be a novel, if somewhat uncomfortable, way of dealing with the problem of undercapacity - that is, if it gets regulatory approval, as the Chinese aviation authorities still require that passengers are seated for takeoff and landing. Maybe Vice Premier Zhang can do something about it, but in the meantime, let's not give Ryanair's Michael O'Leary any ideas...

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