WestJet Airlines is considering cramming in an extra row of seats on some 737 aircraft to boost revenue after it installs a new in-flight entertainment system over the next two years.
Chief executive Gregg Saretsky said passengers will not notice any reduction in legroom space if it goes ahead with the plan as new slim line seats it plans to fit have an extra inch of legroom.
"We’ll get a chance to see how our guests like the new configuration, and we’ll decide over time whether there’s a trade-off we should be making that gives guests even lower fares in exchange for taking that inch back."
"The impact on our brand is going to be positive because we’re going to provide more features for our guests and the opportunity to densify the fleet gives us a chance to further reduce our fares," Saretsky said.
"So everything that we’re doing is with the mindset of how do we keep dropping fares in Canada. We haven’t given up on continuing to scratch away at other ideas to do that without compromising the brand."
Up to half of Westjet’s fleet will get new seats next year with the remainder fitted during 2016.
Saretsky said the carrier will continue to look at ways to reduce costs to bring down fares, raher than jus making the most of strong demand to keep fares high.
"Our whole ethos here is to provide Canadians with access to affordable travel so we are all motivated to continue to move fares down and that requires us to take costs out of our business," he said.
At the end of last month Westjet introduced baggage fees for economy passengers on domestic and US flights which it estimates will bring in an extra $100 million a year.
