JetBlue wants you to be happy with less space

Bloomberg

JetBlue Airways Corp. has been talking about the first full revamp of its workhorse jetliner for a long time. This fall, almost 18 years since the popular low-cost carrier arrived at airports, it’s finally going to happen, and while there are plenty of bells and whistles to get you oohing and ahhing, there’s a little surprise that may leave
you groaning.
Along with a larger, 10-inch touch screen, more than 100 live television channels, and a new link to the aircraft’s Wi-Fi system that lets you watch your own content on the plane’s screen, the new versions of the A320 will also include a dozen more seats squeezed in among the 150 already there.
That’s the picture of a cabin-refresh happening over the next three years. Longer-term, JetBlue wants to get even more stylish with a redesign aimed at creating the perception of larger, more spacious cabins. That effort mirrors some of the design work seen on newer aircraft, such as Bombardier Inc.’s C Series jet and the modern look of bigger, long-haul aircraft from Airbus SE and Boeing Co. The design on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner also trickled down to new cabin styling for its smaller 737 family. Called the Boeing Sky Interior, it was introduced in late 2010. That cabin is now standard on Boeing’s newest single-aisle, the 737 Max.
Airbus meanwhile launched its “Airspace” cabin on A350 and A330neo aircraft before migrating the design to its single-aisle planes, a new product it introduced at the APEX Expo conference in Long Beach, Calif.
Over time, the Airspace cabin JetBlue is helping to debut will become the default for the A320 line. It’s the result of almost 18 months of research at airports worldwide “to see what people are really carrying on board,” said Ingo Wuggetzer, vice president of cabin marketing at Airbus.
That work, plus discussions with airlines and passenger feedback, discovered three primary areas that needed improvement.
The biggest? Overhead bins, where turf battles often erupt due to travellers’ desire to avoid checking bags (and paying fees). Airbus designers concluded that another approach was needed, so the new bin has 40 percent more volume and no rotating parts, he said. “The overhead storage is not big enough today,” Wuggetzer said.
“I think we spent most of the effort in our work to get the size right.”The cabin entryway will be updated with “more wow” and customisation depending on the airline, Wuggetzer said.
The airline has 37 Airbus jets scheduled for delivery through 2020, with all but six of those the larger A321 model in the single-aisle Airbus family. Longer term, JetBlue has ordered an additional 65 Airbus planes.