As others have mentioned, the current business class model was adopted in Europe because of the relatively short flight times in Europe, with most major routes under 2:30. (London-Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Nice, Milan, Warsaw, Oslo) all falling into this category. Also, because it allowed the flexibility. Think of the train companies in the UK, and how often people complain that there are three coaches of first class with no more than a dozen passengers – all because at peak times that capacity is needed. The US airlines have a strong upgrade culture, meaning that if the first/business class seats aren’t full, they upgrade passengers until they are. If European airlines, with their ‘you get what you pay for’ attitude, adopted a fixed J model, with say 12 business class seats on each flight, you would have flights in the morning business routes that were completely oversold in J, and Saturday flights to more leisure destinations that would probably be empty. Much as I would love to see proper business class seats in Europe, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. It just doesn’t allow for flexibility.
