Passengers on premium seat are responsible for over 80% of sales related to airline operations

ByIwan Gabovitch

Seats for passenger aircraft are divided into several ranks, including economy class, business class and first class. Although the number of seats themselves decreases as equipment goes upwards, the number of seats themselves decreases, but more than 80% of sales are due to passengers other than this economy class.

The Economics of Airline Class - YouTube


Wendover Productions, which created the movie, uses concrete figures to show how the airline's sales occur in the example of British Airways. First used as a sample was British Airways operated by London Heathrow - Haneda until March 2016Boeing 777-200ER. The number of seats is 224, and it is still used in Heathrow - New York line.

The round-trip fare for Economy Class is set at 876 dollars (about 100,000 yen) from March 15 to 22, 2017. There are 122 seats in the economy class, so if it is full, it is $ 106,872 (about 12.25 million yen). Likewise, looking at other classes, the premium economy class on the economy travels back and forth 2,633 dollars (about 300,000 yen) and 40 seats because it has 40 seats so if it is full, it is $ 105,320 (about 120,000,000 yen). Business class is $ 6723 (about 770,000 yen), 48 seats $ 322,704 (about 37 million yen). When it comes to first class, it is 8715 dollars (about 1 million yen). Because it is 14 seats, it is 120 thousand dollars (about 14 million yen).

From the left in the following figure (rear part of the aircraft), light blue indicates economy class, yellow is premium economy class, red is business class, and green is first class.


In terms of the number of seats, the economy is 122 seats and the other premium seats are 102 seats, but the total fare for this 102 seats is 553 34 dollars (about 63 million yen), which is equivalent to 84% of the total .


The route that came out is set by this demand due to the high demand of connecting London and New York, and it is set to make another $ 500,000 (about 60 million yen) by premium seat alone No airline exists. There are routes connecting Stockholm · Arlanda Airport ~ London · Heathrow Airport ~ Washington · Dulles International Airport with a similar route ... ...


Even if you are operating with the same Boeing 777 aircraft as before, the economy class is set to $ 392 (about 45,000 yen), even in the first class it is set to $ 5564 (about 638,000 yen). However, the composition that most of the income comes from some passengers is in common.


It seems that the mechanism of "This is the same route but the price depends on the class" was introduced by the ticket for travelers. For example, the ticket between New York and London in 1952 was usually $ 395, but for travelers it was $ 270.


Since travelers should make a plan in advance and travel, they discount under the condition of "advance purchase" and "no flexibility of contents", while on the other hand, regular tickets can be purchased at any time "flexibility" So there is no discount. This is not a difference of class as it is now but "close discount of early purchase" is near.


Originally, this difference in fee was not particularly reflected in the seat, but the airline company began to be conscious of having to deal with business customers who buy tickets at the regular rate, firstly passengers of regular rates I got to sit on the front seat.


And the seat itself will be improved, such as three rows removed the central seat and become a two row seat.


Operated by Etihad AirwaysAirbus A380The figure below shows the area occupied by the seat. Economy class (blue) is 0.34 square meters per seat, business class (red) is 0.94 square meters per seat, first class (yellow) is 3.25 square meters per seat.


Looking at the ticket price, the economy is $ 1253 (about 144,000 yen), the business is $ 6140 (about 700,000 yen), and the first is $ 14,128 (about 1.62 million yen).


For a price per area, the economy is $ 3580 per square meter (about 410,000 yen), similarly the business is $ 6532 (about 750,000 yen), the first is 4347 dollars (about 500,000 yen). By the way, there is a big difference between "economy class" and "business class" as "narrow seat" vs "bed", but the difference between business class and first class is that there is only a little size and cooking difference.


In addition, maintaining the first class is costly as an airline, so it is said that there are many companies now turning to policy to increase the number of business classes.