Airlines consider facing seats for more elbow room

First the battle in air travel has been for more leg space – now airlines are looking at making more shoulder and elbow room available in the cabin of the (not too distant) future.

In fact a new design will do this but it could mean passengers are forced to face one another – as in train travel – during a flight.

Zodiac Seats France, an industry supplier for carriers have come up with a blueprint which has alternate forwards and backwards seats side by side. And the claim for this new set-up is that it will add extra arm and shoulder space for travellers.

And what will please airlines even more is that the unorthodox design will allow more seats on such a plane – music to the ears of the industry.

And at a time when it was reported by MailOnline that cycling legend Sir Chris Hoy admitted he had an ‘elbows war’ with a passenger recently on a plane, the new concept would get rid or greatly reduce such confrontations as people battle for armrest control.

However, it would also mean that there is someone looking at you all the time in a flight, even when you are eating or trying to nod off.

Last year Airbus introduced the idea of a doughnut-shape cabin with curved aisle features with economy passengers on the outer layer and business class arranged in the middle ring. They also came up with the idea of a saddle-like plane seat but were accused of sacrificing comfort to get more fares on board.

Six-times Olympic gold medallist Hoy tweeted that he had a 30,000ft elbows battle and his training stood him in good stead in winning that particular joust.