Every airline needs to manage capacity constraints (Supp.7) and there are a variety of ways to do so. Southwest, for example, squeezes seven flight segments out of its average plane schedule per day–one more than most competitors. Quick ground turnaround has long been its strength. Delta, with excess seats since its recent merger, has cut flights to keep existing planes full. And now The Wall Street Journal (Oct.6,2011) describes how the German carrier Lufthansa has come up with a financially attractive option of adding 5-10 more seats –and fare paying passengers– per flight. How did it squeeze 8% more seats into planes without creating a rebellion among already sardined passengers?
It did so by squashing rows of new seats 2 inches closer together. But with a new generation of ultra-thin seats, passengers find even more leg room available. Using a strong mesh, similar to that in fancy office chairs (instead of inches of foam padding), and moving magazine pockets to the top of seat backs, there is actually more space for knees than with the old chairs. The new seats look ultra-skimpy–worse than almost anything flying in the US or Europe–with a seat pitch of 30 inches. The thinner seats, though, mean the pitch is better than the traditional 32 inches. (AirTran has 30 inches, while Delta, Continental, US Air, and American have a 31 inch pitch. Jet Blue has a 34 inch pitch.)
The new configuration saves Lufthansa hundreds of millions of dollars in new-jet purchases. On the A320, for example, the carrier added two rows of seats, giving the plane 174 seats, instead of 162. For its European fleet, this is the equivalent of having 12 more Airbus A320 jets.
The Journal article also has a 5 minute video clip on the strategy embedded in it.
Discussion questions:
1. Why don’t US and other carriers follow suit immediately?
2. What was the role of operations management in this change?