https://www.wsj.com/articles/fliers-find-an-old-friend-on-more-planes-empty-seats-11548079200
Fliers Find an Old Friend on More Planes: Empty Seats
Jets are flying less full after airlines added capacity, delighting travelers and concerning investors
Airlines' average passenger loads first crossed 80% capacity in 2007, after climbing from 55% in 1978. Photo: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Zuma Press
Doug Cameron and
Doug Cameron
BiographyDoug Cameron
@dougcameron
Doug.Cameron@dowjones.com
Alison Sider
BiographyAlison Sider
@alyrose
alison.sider@wsj.com
Updated Jan. 22, 2019 9:53 am ET
Air travelers' odds of sitting next to an empty seat are improving.
U.S. airlines are adding larger jets to their fleets and more rows to existing aircraft. The result is more open seats on many flights even as demand for air travel grows.
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U.S. airlines have packed more seats on new and larger jets, and the portion filled is up sharply over the past 40 years.
Average portion of seats filled, by year
Filled seat
Source: Department of Transportation
That is good news for fliers who have grown accustomed to vying for desirable seats and bag space. It is also a concern for airline investors who believe the industry might not trim capacity enough to protect a record run of profitability.
Shares in the sector have fallen over the past year while traffic has boomed. Delta Air Lines Inc. earlier this month reported tempered revenue expectations for the first quarter in part because of the partial government shutdown. American Airlines Group Inc. this month cut its earnings expectations for 2018. United Continental Holdings Group Inc., which recently passed Delta as the No. 2 U.S. carrier by traffic behind American, said recently that it plans to expand capacity by as much as 6% this year.
"Right now, there's a lot of capacity out there, and I think they're kind of struggling to fill it," William S. Swelbar, at Delta Airport Consultants Inc., said of carriers.
U.S. domestic flights were 83.5% full in November, according to the Transportation Department, down from a record 86.3% in July. That is equivalent to around four more empty spots on a typical Boeing Co. 737-800 that can carry 166 passengers. U.S. domestic flights had an average of 118 seats last year, five more than in 2016 and up 20% over the past decade, Mr. Swelbar said.
Some carriers have also pushed back delivery dates for jets ordered from Boeing and Airbus SE because they have enough capacity.
U.S. airlines represent about 15% of the order books at those aerospace giants, and the changes aren't expected to affect production increases that the plane makers have planned.
Some passengers go to great lengths to keep the seats next to them free.
"I've seen people who will take out a little box of tissues and put it in the middle seat, or scatter them around like a decoy," said Patrick Stewart, a lawyer from Maryland. He typically flies Southwest Airlines Co., which doesn't assign seats.
Airline executives debated for years how full planes could get before boarding processes became too snarled or customers defected to rival carriers. The industry average for passenger loads first crossed 80% in 2007, having climbed steadily from 55% in 1978, when domestic deregulation allowed airlines to set fares and fly wherever they wanted.
A 737-800 laid out to carry 166 passengers would have 27 empty seats on average last year, while the smaller 727 that was commonly used in 1978 was barely half full, with 45 vacant spots for travelers to spread out.
U.S. domestic flights were 83.5% full in November, according to the Transportation Department, down from a record of 86.3% in July. Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press
The bigger planes mean more revenue for airlines, even if not every seat is filled, said Mike Boyd, president of aviation consulting firm Boyd Group International Inc. "It's not necessarily a danger sign at all," he said.
Crowded flights and the race they trigger to snag overhead-bin space and avoid middle seats are among the most common passenger complaints, based on consumer surveys.
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Lori Bassani, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said she has noticed more empty seats on recent flights. "It does make life easier and gives everyone a little more breathing room," she said.
Ms. Bassani said crowded flights fray travelers' nerves and lead to more incidents, including fights between passengers that her members have had to break up. They also make it tougher for staff, who rely on standby tickets to commute to their home cities, to find open seats, she added.
Stefan Jones was pleased to find himself next to an empty seat on a flight from Newark, N.J., to Portland, Ore., on New Year's Eve. What felt commonplace when he traveled for work in the 1990s had started to feel like a rarity, he said.
"This is a great thing on a long flight," he said.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com and Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com
Lori Bassani is president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said she is president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. (Jan. 22, 2019)
Appeared in the January 22, 2019, print edition as 'Fliers Find Surprise in the Skies: Empty Seats.'
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Passenger jets are flying less full after airlines have added capacity, delighting plenty of travelers while concerning some airline investors