Recaro Launches Innovative Extendable Overwing Exit Seat for Improved Aircraft Safety

Recaro Aircraft Seating (Recaro) has launched a first-of-its-kind seat designed to increase cabin efficiency on narrowbody Airbus aircraft. The overwing exit seat, named the X-Tend Seat, enables an increased passenger count while maintaining the 13-inch exit width between over-wing exit rows required by EASA and the FAA.

These exit rows often have a seat pitch of around 38in to create that 13in walkway between the seat rows, which is important for safety, and great for legroom in those rows. However, compared with a typical seat pitch of 28in in the rest of the cabin, these rows take up valuable cabin space.

The X-Tend Seat, based on Recaro’s SL3710 model, is intended for short- and mid-range economy cabin configurations, with a seat pan and bottom cushion that can be partially folded down when the passenger stands up, which enables the required exit width to be created within a 33in pitch, freeing up space that the airline can use to squeeze in another row of seats, or to add a little more space to each seat row. With the X-Tend Seat, passenger capacity of an A320 can increase from 190 to 194 pax. The design was a runner-up in the Cabin Systems category of the 2019 Crystal Cabin Awards and is now on the market.

“This design collaboration with Airbus is unlike anything currently seen on the market and has been an important step in our partnership,” said Dr Mark Hiller, CEO of Recaro Aircraft Seating and Recaro Holding.