Qatar Airways appears to have finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined its Gulf rivals Emirates and Etihad in introducing a 10-across seating layout.
As reported by our sister publication Business Traveller (see here), Qatar Airways’ newest B777-300ER began operating flight QR11 from Doha–London on Monday with a 3-4-3 configuration in economy class.
This is a stark difference to the 3-3-3 seating arrangement that Qatar passengers in coach are used to. Indeed, the roomier nine-across layout was a significant differentiator for QR compared to the other two major Gulf carriers.
With a seat pitch of 33-inches and an expanded width of 18.9-inches, the economy class seat used to compare favourably to that of Emirates (32-inch seat pitch and 17-inch seat width) and Etihad (31-inch seat pitch and 17.5-inch seat width).
Qatar Airways hasn’t revealed the seat specifications of its 10-across configuration, but logic would dictate that a couple of inches have been shaved off each seat in order to accommodate the new economy class layout.
So why have they done it?
The most obvious reason is to reduce the cost advantage to its Gulf competitors. By adding an additional seat to each row, Qatar Airways is able to accommodate an additional 23 economy class passengers per flight, meaning they can squeeze extra revenue from customers.
However, this arguably puts the carrier at a disadvantage when compared to Asian heavyweights Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, as both currently still offer the more generous nine-across coach layout. With Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific maintaining strong codesharing partnerships on flights between Hong Kong and Doha, passengers may choose to fly with the Hong Kong-based carrier instead.
So far the 10-across seating configuration has only been introduced to Qatar Airways’ newest B777-300ER. At the moment, it is not known if future deliveries will sport the tighter configuration, or if the carrier intends to retrofit other Boeing aircraft.
For more information, visit qatarairways.com
Clement Huang
