Airbus patent could make your flight even worse

If the latest airline seat design patented by Airbus is anything to go by, flying is set to get a whole lot more uncomfortable.

Looking more like a bicycle seat than an armchair, the France based Airbus Operations has submitted a patent in Europe for a new passenger seat that has been stripped bare of all luxuries.

With no tray table, no headrest and very little legroom the design is supposed to reduce the bulk of traditional airline seats allowing more passengers to be squeezed on-board. Fastened to a vertical bar, the bicycle seats are designed to fold up when not in use.

“In effect, to increase the number of cabin seats, the space allotted to each passenger must be reduced,” the patent application states.

The airline acknowledges that it would make flying uncomfortable however believe that for short-haul flights it would be an acceptable option.

“Reduced comfort remains tolerable for the passengers in as much as the flight lasts only one or a few hours,” the patent states.

But making these seats a reality is currently a sizable problem. Airbus states that it would be difficult to further reduce the distance between seats due to the increase in the average size of passengers.

However Airbus told the LA Times that just because they’ve applied for a patent doesn’t mean the design will ever come to fruition.

“Many, if not most, of these concepts will never be developed, but in case the future of commercial aviation makes one of our patents relevant, our work is protected,” said Airbus spokeswoman Mary Anne Greczyn. “Right now these patent filings are simply conceptual.”

Let’s hope so!