Spirit Airlines Adding Wider, More Comfortable Seats

Spirit Airlines announced plans to overhaul the seats in its planes, adding width, extra cushion and more comfortable features to enhance the travel experience.

The new Vector Light and Vector Premium seats are manufactured by HAECO Cabin Solutions and were unveiled at the APEX EXPO 2022 event in Long Beach, California.

Each seat will gain a half-inch of width through a design that fits closer to the aircraft’s wall, optimizing operations by adding extra room without removing space from the aisle. Spirit’s middle seats will continue to be an inch wider than aisle and window seats.

The airline’s curved seatback designs also provide about two more inches of knee space compared to flatback seats on legacy airlines with the same pitch. In addition, each seat will have more cushion and newly added headrests.

As for Spirit’s Big Front Seats, they will include more cushion, nearly one inch more pre-recline, easier-to-reach tray tables and a wider seatback.

From an environmental point-of-view, the weight of each new Vector Light seat will amount to a decrease of nearly 11 ounces per unit, thanks to advances in seat frame technology, which results in sizable reductions in fuel burn across the carrier’s fleet.

In 2019, Spirit announced a new-look interior with roomier seats, a larger tray table and additional pre-recline on every row. The redesigned interior will be installed on new aircraft deliveries starting in late January 2023. In total, 33 new Airbus A320 planes are planned for delivery throughout next year.

“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,” Spirit Vice President Lania Rittenhouse said. “We’re adding new features while, at the same time, continuing to provide More Go with our same ultra-low fares.”