This week American Airlines unveiled images of new seating for its forthcoming B777-300ER aircraft, and there is speculation the carrier may have opted for a ten-across layout in economy.
Renderings of the carrier's new fully-flat business class seat have been released (click here for more information), alongside those of the new economy seats, and the image appears to show a four across layout in the middle of the cabin.
This would suggest a 3-4-3 layout, which would mean AA joining the likes of Etihad, Air France and KLM in offering ten-across economy seating on selected B777 aircraft.
From the image a nine across 3-3-3 layout would appear to be ruled out, although 2-5-2 could still be a possibility, as discussed on aviation forum airliners.net.
AA plans to roster the new aircraft on its key London-New York route, and if it has opted for a ten-across economy layout it would be the first US carrier to do so on transatlantic flights.
It's important to note that the carrier has yet to confirm the move - when Business Traveller contacted AA this week, spokesperson Tim Smith said that "American will have additional details on configuration in each cabin at a later date".
If the speculation is correct, the new denser layout is likely to be unpopular with some readers, although whichever configuration AA has chosen, the carrier has revealed several enhancements of the new seat, including:
This would suggest a 3-4-3 layout, which would mean AA joining the likes of Etihad, Air France and KLM in offering ten-across economy seating on selected B777 aircraft.
From the image a nine across 3-3-3 layout would appear to be ruled out, although 2-5-2 could still be a possibility, as discussed on aviation forum airliners.net.
AA plans to roster the new aircraft on its key London-New York route, and if it has opted for a ten-across economy layout it would be the first US carrier to do so on transatlantic flights.
It's important to note that the carrier has yet to confirm the move - when Business Traveller contacted AA this week, spokesperson Tim Smith said that "American will have additional details on configuration in each cabin at a later date".
If the speculation is correct, the new denser layout is likely to be unpopular with some readers, although whichever configuration AA has chosen, the carrier has revealed several enhancements of the new seat, including:
- A higher recline pivot which the carrier says provides increased knee room
- An articulated seat bottom, which AA says produces "an innovative cradling motion to better distribute weight while increasing the recline angle of the seatback"
- Nine-inch touchscreen Panasonic Eco TV monitors
