By Taylor Guglielmino
Spirit Looks to Enhance Guest Experience with New HAECO Seats
Not that long ago, in 2019, Spirit Airlines promised to enhance the passenger experience by adding wider seats and larger tray tables. Recently Spirit once again renewed its commitment to improving passenger comfort by unveiling a new product, the Vector Light and Vector Premium seats. These new seats will be rolled out on their A320neo aircraft as early as January 2023.
“Our cabin refresh in 2019 was a significant enhancement in the Guest experience, and these new seats are another great step forward in increasing value for our Guests. We’re adding new features while, at the same time, continuing to provide More Go with our same ultra-low fares,” said Lania Rittenhouse, Vice President of Guest Experience, Brand, and Communications for Spirit Airlines.
The new seats will add half an inch with a “new seat technology unlocks previously unused space with a design that fits closer to the wall of the aircraft”. Additionally “this innovation also supports the optimization of cabin operations by adding the extra room without removing space from the aisle to ensure fast boarding and deplaning for Guests. Spirit’s middle seats will continue to be an inch wider than aisle and window seats.”
Adding to the comfort of the new seats in the curved seatback design that Spirit says adds two inches of legroom to the seat pitch by allowing for more knee room. All seats will have increased cushion as well.
The most exciting upgrades are coming to the “Big Front Seats” which will have “more cushion, nearly an inch more pre-recline, easier to reach tray tables and a wider seatback.”
Spirit Airlines new Big Front Seat. Courtesy Haeco
According to Spirit’s press release the new seats come with a small environmental benefit as well. The weight of each new Vector Light seat will amount to a decrease of nearly 11 ounces per seat due to the new technology HAECO Cabin Solutions is employing. These small changes have outsized effects in a large-scale operation, resulting in sizable reductions of fuel burn across the fleet.
These new changes will first rollout on Spirit’s 33 new Airbus A320neo aircraft that are scheduled for delivery in 2023.
What does this mean for the passenger experience?
Spirit Customers can look forward to a more comfortable flight experience across the fleet as the new seats start their roll out. Despite the lackluster reputation this move proves that Spirit is focusing more and more on the happiness of their passengers, all while maintain low costs.
JetBlue has already stated that they want to integrate the JetBlue style into Spirit’s customer service model, so I guess you could say it’s time to become a fan of Spirit Airlines.
