dailynewsnblog
Within the highly competitive realms of the airline industry, premium carriers aspire to provide the best service and in-flight experience for their customers in every class of travel. While it is easy for airlines to differentiate their products within premium cabins, such as first and business class, the line separating different airlines becomes a lot narrower when comparing economy class seats.
Therefore, this guide will look at airlines that offer some of the most spacious economy class seats currently on offer, and this will be determined based on factors such as seat pitch, width of seat and product availability or consistency across the fleet, while other factors, such as the soft product, or other amenities, such as the IFE and meal services, will not be considered. For fair comparison, all dimension data will be taken from the aeroLOPA database.
Qatar Airways
With 31 inches (78.74 cm) seat pitch, and 18 inches (45.72 cm) width
Qatar Airways is known for its premium services and has one of the best business class products in the world. The airline has a diverse fleet with varying configurations and products, often being offered within the same subfleet. While this could result in passengers flying on a significantly different premium product in the event of an equipment swap, the economy passengers are less likely to be affected, as the economy product offered by the airline is mostly consistent across its fleet.
Data indicates that the economy seats across most of Qatar Airways’ fleet offer a seat pitch of 31 inches and a seat width of 18 inches, placing the airline’s economy seats on the more spacious end of the seat spectrum. However, there are exceptions. The airline has configured its Boeing 777 aircraft types with a larger pitch of 32 inches, but narrower seats of 17.3 inches. Meanwhile, some of the airline’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft have the standard 31-inch seat pitch, but an even narrower width of 16.9 inches.
However, some of Qatar Airways’ 787-8s and the larger 787-9 aircraft have seat pitches of 34 inches and 31 inches, respectively, along with a seat width of 17.1 inches. The final exception to the carrier’s average dimensions is its Airbus A321neo aircraft configured in an all-economy configuration, which has 29 inches pitch and 18 inches of width.
Emirates
With 32 inches (81.28 cm) seat pitch and up to 18 inches (45.72 cm) of width
Emirates is another carrier known for its premium services and luxury amenities, especially the facilities the carrier offers onboard its fleet of Airbus A380s. The carrier’s fleet, for the most part, is extremely simplified and consistent, with Emirates only operating three different aircraft types, offering two different first class products, two business class products, a single premium economy product, and a single economy product, across its fleet of 250+ aircraft, with only capacity variations.
When it comes to the airline’s economy class seat product, the majority of these seats have 32 inches of seat pitch and 17.9 inches of seat width on the carrier’s Airbus A380 and 17.3 inches of seat width on the airline’s Boeing 777s. However, onboard the airline’s newest aircraft type, the Airbus A350-900, the economy seats still maintain the 32 inches of pitch, but have a slightly wider dimension of 18 inches.
The carrier’s economy class seats (and services) have been known to be extremely comfortable, and Emirates remains one of the few airlines to invest billions of dollars in retrofitting and improving all of its cabins across the majority of its fleet to ensure it can continue delivering elevated passenger experiences amid delivery delays of new aircraft such as the Boeing 777X, while also introducing new products such as the Emirates’ highly coveted premium economy cabins.
This Airline Has The World’s Most Comfortable Premium Economy Seat In 2025
The Dubai-based carrier’s premium economy product is relatively new.
Singapore Airlines
With 32 inches (81.28 cm) seat pitch and over 18 inches (45.72 cm) width
Singapore Airlines, much like Emirates and Qatar Airways, is known around the world for its luxurious in-flight experience offered to passengers flying in its premium cabins, and maintaining its brand identity, the airline’s offerings in economy class are also substantial. The airline is consistent in offering 32″ of seat pitch across the majority of its varied fleet. Data indicates that the exception to this is the airline’s subfleet of Boeing 787-10 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft types, which only offer 31″ and 30″ pitch, respectively.
While the recline varies depending on the aircraft type and its configuration, the airline also offers a consistent seat width of 18″ across most of its fleet, with the exception being the aforementioned 787 and 737 subfleets, offering 17.1″ and 17″ widths, primarily because of the narrower cabins of these aircraft type. However, an exception on the other end of the spectrum is the airline’s Airbus A380s, which offer 18.5″ of seat width.
Other airlines that offer similar levels of space and seat dimensions include carriers such as Qantas, Delta Air Lines, Turkish Airlines, and even narrowbody operators such as the US-based JetBlue.
JetBlue
With over 32 inches (81.28 cm) of seat pitch on narrowbody aircraft
Despite only operating narrowbody aircraft and primarily offering budget services, the JetBlue economy product across its fleet is rather impressive, with the carrier offering seats with 32 inches of pitch or more (depending on aircraft type and configuration), along with a seat width of 18 inches. This level of spaciousness does elevate passenger experience despite being on a narrowbody aircraft, especially when flying on medium-haul sectors.
The carrier’s fleet exclusively consists of the Airbus A320 family and the Airbus A220 aircraft types, of which the former has larger cabin diameters. This enables the airline to maintain the 18-inch seat width, unlike the smaller dimensions of the 737s, while the standard economy configuration of the A220s is a 2-3 layout, enabling the airline to still maintain the 18-inch seat width, despite the smaller cabin.
The airline’s all-economy configured Airbus A321, with a capacity of 200 seats, is configured to have 34 inches of seat pitch along with the standard 18 inches of width. However, passengers seated on the exit rows of a JetBlue aircraft can enjoy seat pitches of up to 37 inches, depending on the aircraft type. However, these are limited on every aircraft. When compared with other major US carriers, JetBlue still comes out on top, considering operators such as United Airlines and Delta Air Lines only offer 30 to 31 inches of seat pitch on their standard A320 family economy seats (excluding United’s economy plus or Delta’s Comfort seats).
Flight Review: JetBlue From Raleigh-Durham to New York-JFK On An Airbus A220 “Even More Space” Economy
Exceptional service and hot coffee made the trip go by in a flash.
ANA – All Nippon Airways
With seat pitches up to 34 inches (86.36 cm)
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has always been known for not squeezing as many seats as possible in a given space, essentially elevating the flight experience for passengers traveling in their economy cabins. The carrier does this by configuring its aircraft in a less dense manner to ensure passengers have sufficient space and level of comfort, even if it means that ANA compromises on its maximum capacity.
The majority of the carrier’s aircraft configured for international operations are designed with seat pitches of 34 inches, with the seat width varying depending on the aircraft and its configuration between 17 inches and 18 inches. The exception to the 34-inch seat pitch is the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787-8s configured for international operations, which only has 31 inches of pitch. On the other hand, aircraft configured for domestic flights tend to be more densely configured, and these seats are designed with 31 inches of seat pitch and varying seat widths between 17 and 18 inches.
Another odd economy cabin configuration is the airline’s subfleet of Boeing 777-300ERs being configured in an unusual 2-4-3 layout, accommodating nine seats abreast, when the standard economy class configuration for most carriers is a denser 3-4-3 layout with 10 seats per row. Despite having one less seat, the seats only have a width of 17.3 inches; however, this configuration does give the cabin a more airy and spacious feel, thereby elevating the in-flight experience for passengers.
Japan Airlines
With up to 34 inches (86.36 cm) seat pitch and over 18 inches (45.72 cm) seat width
Like its fellow carrier, ANA, Japan Airlines also offers premium services and products onboard its aircraft, and its economy cabin is no exception. The airline, on average have seat pitches in economy up to 34 inches, while the seats (depending on aircraft type) have widths exceeding 18 inches, giving them some of the widest economy seats with the highest seat pitches on this list.
The airline is also known for some unusual cabin configurations wherein the carrier chooses to use less dense layouts in economy class. Some of these examples include the carrier’s Boeing 787-8 economy class (for international operations) being configured in a 2-4-2 layout with eight seats abreast, rather than the usual 3-3-3 layout with nine seats. Another example is Japan Airlines utilizing a 3-3-3 layout on all its 777-300ERs with nine seats per row, instead of the standard 3-4-3 layout. By removing a seat from a row, the carrier opts to utilize the space by increasing the width of the remaining seats, ultimately providing passengers with more comfort and space.
The most spacious economy class seat available within the airline’s fleet has a pitch of 34 inches and a width of 18.5 inches, and can be found commonly across Japan Airlines’ Boeing 777s and 787s configured for international operations. This says something important about the carrier, as every other operator on this list had seats with less pitch and width on their 787s compared to the rest of their respective fleet, but Japan Airlines avoided this by removing a seat from the row, allowing for a more comfortable experience.
