Airline seat manufacturers edgy about plane delivery delays

Dubai: Don't judge a seat by its cover, especially an economy airline seat.

Despite their reputation for being undersized and uncomfortable, a single economy seat can cost an airline, on average, $4,000 (Dh14,695), according to Patrick Fretelliere, a sales manager in the Middle East for Sicma Aero Seat, who was at this year's Dubai Air Show.

"It varies depending on the configurations. We don't have range of off-the-shelf products, but if you take the price for a [3-seat] economy configuration ... it's about $12,000."

There is a good reason behind the price, however. Airlines are demanding manufactures make their seats as light as possible. A wide variety of alloys and composites materials, such as carbon fibre and aluminium silizium, are being used and developed for these seats. While they are expensive, they are financially smart.

"Sometimes it makes sense to pay more for lightweight seats because at the end of the day you save some fuel," said Axel Kahsnitz, the chief executive of Recaro, a Germany airline seat manufacturer. Kahsnitz estimates that even one extra kilogramme of weight can cost an airline between $300 and $800 a year. Seats on short-haul flights usually weigh in at about 9kg, but seats on longer flights can weigh as much as 16kg. Multiply that by hundreds of seats — for example, the Airbus A380 can hold over 500 seats — and the saving or costs can be substantial.

Custom-made seats

While $4,000 for an economy seat may seem expensive, it is nothing compared to the cost of installing a first or business-class seat.

Fretelliere said a business class seat can cost on an average about $12,000. First-class seats are a little harder to price, since those seats are custom-designed to meet an airline's specifications, but he puts the starting price at around $25,000 with prices ranging as high as $100,000 per seat. The pricing in all seats vary due to the components, such as an entertainment centre that an airline includes, but the price of first-class seats can include additional amenities such as wood pannelling and isolation cabins.

What seats are being purchased also offers some interesting insight into just where the airline industry is going.

According to Kahsnitz, most airlines are moving away from first-class seating — demand for the so-called "super-first class" seats, which includes amenities such as showers, is especially low — with most airlines instead focusing on premium coach seats. Business-class seats are still a significant portion of the company's business, he says. Kahsnitz estimates the airline seat industry to be worth about $1.3 billion in 2009, with about eight major competitors in the market.

While demand for the last few years has outstripped supply, a number of factors have led to a slight decline, which is expected to continue into next year. Two factors that have impacted the industry are delays in new aircraft, notably Airbus' A380 and the Boeing Dreamliner. "We cannot say the marketing isn't dropping. It's just suffering because of the reschedulings, or the financing to the airlines," Fretelliere said.

Both Fretelliere and Kahsnitz say the financial crisis has also slowed down the rates at which airlines replace the seats, which is usually two to three times over the life of a plane, which is about 25-30 years. Kahsnitz said no one is sure how 2011 will look. While refurbishments are a major contributor to industry revenue, there are worries about new planes.

‘Difficult situation'

"We still see a face a difficult situation in 2011," Kahsnitz said. "If you look to the order books ... they are full order book for the next eight years. Nobody knows how the how the airlines are able to finance their aircraft, so there is always the question of whether they will be able to take the aircraft they have on order. This may effect our business as well, but over all, we see still a healthy growth for the next five to 10 years."

The industry is also seeing significant demand from low-cost carriers, which order exclusively economy seats.