Airlines push premium seats as fuel costs rise

Airlines are expanding premium seats, airport lounges and higher-end food as they look for more profitable passengers while jet fuel costs rise.

The shift could reduce the share of basic coach seats on many flights. Some airlines now see a future in which up to 70 percent of passengers pay for upgraded options, even if they are not in first or business class.

Volodymyr Bilotka, a Purdue University professor who specialises in aviation economics, said business-class seats can take up as much floor space as four basic seats but sell for five or six times more.

American Airlines said premium products generate roughly half of its ticket revenue from about 30 percent of its seats. The airline said premium revenue rose 18.5 percent year over year in the most recent quarter, outpacing main-cabin growth.

Other carriers are adding new products. United Airlines announced an Economy Plus option that would allow customers to avoid having a passenger in the middle seat on some flights from the end of 2026. JetBlue announced BlueFirst, a new first-class service on domestic flights, in September.

Delta has invested in DeltaOne, a higher-end service planned for new Airbus A350 planes, while British Airways said in October that the upper level of its A380 would be entirely premium seating.

Travel news site Skift said premium seats on US flights have risen 33 percent since 2020, more than double the growth of mainline seats. Consultancy Cirium estimated that premium seats among 42 carriers in the three main airline alliances and Middle East carriers now make up 19 percent of total volume, compared with 17.1 percent in 2019.

The push toward premium travel may also create space for discount carriers, though higher fuel costs remain a challenge for airlines across the market.