Secret of cattle-class sleep

Research shows seat comfort is now the most important thing for long-haul passengers. Photo / Getty Images

An extra 2.5cm of seat width is the answer to a restful economy cabin, says Airbus

Airbus says it has cracked the secret of a restful economy cabin - an extra 2.5cm of seat width.

The company says seats 45.7cm wide improved sleep quality by 53 per cent compared with the 1950s 43.2cm standard.

Research by Harley St medical practice the London Sleep Centre to record every standard physiological sleep measurement - including monitoring brainwaves, and eye, abdominal, chest, hip and leg movement - on a small selection of passengers revealed the improved rest.

The planemaker is pushing to make 45.7cm wide seats the industry standard.

"Airbus has always maintained a standard of 18 inches (45.7cm) minimum in its long-haul economy cabins. However, other manufacturers are eroding passenger comfort standards by going back to narrower seat widths from the 1950s in order to remain competitive," said Airbus head of passenger comfort Kevin Keniston.

Air NZ, which operates the most long-haul flights from this country, uses Boeing planes for those services and does not list width with its description of seats on its website although airline seat map site SeatGuru shows the narrowest are on its newest plane, the oeing 777-300.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the airline flew a mix of long-haul aircraft offering a range of economy-class seating available on the market at the time of purchase. Long-haul economy seat widths vary from 43.2cm to 45.2cm, depending on aircraft type.

The airline will next year get the first of its Boeing 787-9 series planes and she said it would announce the detailed configuration of its seating next month.

She said the study was extremely small and did not take into account the many other factors that contributed to passenger comfort during a long-haul flight, including the 787-9's higher cabin humidity and lower-altitude cabin environment.

Airbus says that in the past five years the number of flights globally over 6000 nautical miles (13-plus hours' flight time) has increased by 70 per cent from 24 to 41 daily flights.

The full polysomnography study used six adults who had been previously screened for medical and sleep disorders.

The cabin simulated the true flight environment from the start including lighting to replicate sunset and sunrise, aircraft take-off and background sounds, in-flight entertainment and catering.

Recent research on long-haul economy passengers among 1500 participants recruited at four international airports revealed that seat comfort is now the most important criterion when booking a long-distance flight in economy.