If you have ever been onboard a budget airline, you have likely noticed that there are only economy-class seats, with no business class or premium economy
cabins. Some budget airlines do have larger seats or recliners in a separate premium class on long-haul flights. For the most part, low-cost carriers on short routes typically have just an economy cabin, where as many passengers as possible are packed into seats that are some of the industry’s smallest.
In the United States and Europe, the two markets where low-cost airlines have historically been the most successful, the extensive growth of budget airlines has been categorized by radical expansion, with relatively few changes to onboard product offerings. Low-cost airlines have just one passenger cabin, and it is not comfortable or luxurious. However, it is designed to lower the airline’s costs as much as possible, to offer passengers as low prices as possible.
There are many, nonetheless, who will wonder why budget airlines do not operate first or business-class cabins, something which may even seem strange when one recalls that these two cabins account for the vast majority of the revenue generated by America’s largest airlines. At the end of the day, the answer to this question lies in the fact that budget airlines like Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines operate fundamentally differently from legacy airlines like Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
Related
Why Don’t Low-Cost Airlines Operate Cargo Subsidiaries?
The answer is more complex than you might expect.
Other passengers may wonder why budget airlines do not do with business class what they have already done with economy class, which is essentially creating a lower-quality inflight product that comes along with a steep discount. Some budget airlines attempt to do this, by offering lower-quality premium cabins with larger, more comfortable seats, but this kind of model has proven mostly unsuccessful.
Photo: fitzcrittle | Shutterstock
Ultimately, low-cost airlines maintain operational models that focus almost exclusively on economy cabin seats. In this article, we will take a deeper look at low-cost carriers and why they tend to avoid operating first or business-class cabins, especially on short-haul flights.
Low-cost airlines have fundamental differences from legacy airlines
To understand why low-cost airlines choose not to have premium cabins on their aircraft, it is important to understand the key differences between legacy carriers and budget airlines. While the differences are extensive, legacy airlines and low-cost airlines, at their core, have pretty straightforward operational models.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Legacy carriers like Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines maintain a network of hubs that they have operated for decades, and they funnel massive amounts of traffic through these facilities. These airlines cater to business travelers, making sure that they can get where they want to go as efficiently as possible, with carefully integrated hub-and-spoke business models optimized for those traveling for work.
Related
Revealed: The USA’s Fortress Hubs In December
Can you guess the order?
Budget airlines, on the other hand, attempt to convince passengers to forgo legacy airlines and their higher level of inflight service quality in favor of a large discount on the ticket price. The differences between these two models have been effectively analyzed by industry observers for years, with a report from Northwestern University noting as follows:
“Low-cost carriers with point-to-point networks have an advantage in terms of employees per ASM that allows them to lower cost. In contrast, legacy carriers with hub-and-spoke networks have an advantage in terms of revenue per RPM and load factors that allows them to grow revenue.”
One of the key things to gather from these strategic differences is that each airline has a fundamentally different kind of target customer. Traditionally, full-service network carriers have targeted high-volume business travelers, who consistently book premium seats and provide airlines with their most important source of revenue.
A completely different target customer
These passengers, who travel while working at the same time, demand the highest-quality facilities, including express check-in lanes, state-of-the-art lounges, and business-class cabins that offer the highest level of passenger comfort. Airlines like United would fill an entire aircraft with business class passengers if they could, but so few routes have this level of premium demand that, to fill their aircraft, these airlines have to offer economy seats.
Photo: United Airlines
Budget airlines, however, aim to target leisure travelers who are looking for deals. These passengers are mostly indifferent towards the inflight experience, as they are aware that they are flying a low-cost airline. Budget carriers do not attempt to convince passengers to fly with them because they offer a better flight experience, but rather lure them in with lower prices.
Get all the latest aviation news for North America
from Simple Flying!
As a result, the passengers budget airlines are looking to target, especially on shorter routes, have no interest in flying business class, and thus, carriers like Spirit and Ryanair do not operate these premium cabins. Furthermore, these airlines are optimized to reduce costs as much as possible, so the increased operational expenses that would come along with operating a premium cabin would likely prove counter to the operational strategies of low-cost carriers.
Spirit Airlines
- IATA/ICAO Code
-
NK/NKS
- Year Founded
-
1983
- CEO
-
Ted Christie
- Country
-
United States
What low-cost airlines have attempted to operate premium cabins?
As previously noted, few low-cost airlines operate any kind of premium cabin, and even fewer do it on short-haul services. In the United States, low-cost carriers, including Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, Allegiant Air, Sun Country Airlines, and Avelo Airlines have nothing resembling premium cabins.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Spirit Airlines, while it does not operate what it refers to as a premium cabin, does have a few “Big Front” seats in the front of its aircraft, which resemble the spacious recliners that most legacy airlines offer in their domestic first-class cabins. According to Tripadvisor, there are between 8 and 10 Big Front seats on most Spirit Airlines aircraft, with some A320 models not featuring the seats at all.
Related
How Will Spirit Airlines Move Forward Amid Bankruptcy?
An industry expert shared his opinions with us.
These larger recliners are set up in a 2-2 configuration, and they offer 36 inches of pitch and 20 inches of width, offering significantly more room and comfort than is available in the economy. It is unclear whether these seats perform well for the airline, but hopefully, its restructuring after bankruptcy will help shed some light on whether these premium seats contributed in any capacity to Spirit’s woes.
It is important to note that these seats do not constitute a separate cabin, as there is no difference in service or any separation between these seats and the rest of the economy class cabin. According to The Thrifty Traveler, Big Front seats offer comparable comfort to domestic first-class seats on legacy airlines, often at a significantly lower price.
Breeze Airways also has larger, more comfortable seats
There is another low-cost airline in the United States that does offer similarly large first-class style seats, but it, much like Spirit Airlines, does not operate a separate premium cabin. Utah-based Breeze Airways burst onto the scene in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to revolutionize leisure business models by offering nonstop flights between underserved markets with a higher level of inflight service.
The airline’s marketing tactics have centered around the fact that it offers a “nicer” experience than its competitors, something which demonstrates that the carrier might be targeting a broader range of customers than traditional low-cost airlines. Breeze’s Ascent seat, which it markets on its website as a “first-class seat,” offers a generous 39-inch seat pitch with generous recline and even a leg rest, while also offering features like power outlets and free inflight entertainment.
The airline’s higher quality of service, especially for those sitting in these Ascent seats, which are available exclusively on the airline’s Airbus A220 jets, likely means that these seats come closer to being a cabin than Spirit’s Big Front seats. Furthermore, the idea of Breeze Airways is less far-fetched, as the company’s CEO, industry veteran David Neeleman, founded multiple low-cost airlines that do operate some form of business class cabin.
1:46
Related
Breeze Airways: 5 Airports That Serve As Operating Bases For The New Kid On The Block
These facilities all serve as bases for the young carrier.
JetBlue, which Neeleman is best known for founding, introduced its Mint business class cabin for long-haul flights in the years leading up to the pandemic. WestJet and Azul, two other Neeleman airlines, also have business-class cabins, and the former even has them on short-haul aircraft.
The bottom line
At the end of the day, budget airlines are meant to offer travelers lower prices. Typically, those looking for discounts are not interested in premium cabins, and the few that are will likely go for established legacy airlines with higher-quality business-class offerings.
Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock
Industry change is coming, however, with numerous legacy airlines targeting more and more leisure travelers, with basic economy tickets attempting to entice the discount-searching traveler. We will have to keep watching to see how legacy airlines will respond to this competitive challenge and attempt to understand whether low-cost carrier premium cabins could have a major purpose to serve in the late 2020s.