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Another unexpected driver could be the increasingly high comfort level in business and first class on long-haul flights with no domestic alternatives (yes, JetB

Another unexpected driver could be the increasingly high comfort level in business and first class on long-haul flights with no domestic alternatives (yes, JetBlue mint and Delta one are nice, but are they widely available enough domestically?) "Business class" on most domestic flights in US would be called "premium economy" on most long haul airlines. Yet it can easily cost more in cash than an actual business class seat on a long haul airline. Domestic flights really should level up on their premium options. Convert all the non-lay-flat "business class" seats to just "premium economy" and start getting lay-flat business class seats between hubs multiple times a day. These seats will always be filled with actual executives or people with the points to upgrade to them. The fuel bill still gets paid, less private jets in the sky, and a move towards more competitive pricing on comfortable seats for the rest of us. Very recent example of what this could look like: FlyDubai (a narrowbody discount middle eastern carrier) just announced a very nice looking lay-flat business class option: https://onemileatatime.com/news/flydubai-business-suite/ https://onemileatatime.com/news/flydubai-business-suite/

aeternum 4y ago
One major issue especially in the US is airport congestion. There are just too many flights operating out of too few commercial airports. This configuration would increase congestion as it means more flights needed to service the same number of passengers. Private jets avoid much of this congestion by performing most of their ops at smaller regional airports. And good luck building new commercial airports, nearly impossible nowadays.
- kylehotchkiss 4y ago
  Couldn't this be partially resolved by converting routes with 6 departures a day on regional jets to 2 departures a day on 737/A320s? I'm thinking of the SFO-Southern California routes right now where Skywest flys the small regional jets.
  - aeternum 4y ago
    That could help, and modifying landing fees might be a good way to do this. Currently I believe landing fees are proportional to size/weight which doesn't make a lot of sense since a small regional jet takes just as much space in the ATC system and nearly as much space in the terminal as an A320.

aeternum 4y ago

One major issue especially in the US is airport congestion. There are just too many flights operating out of too few commercial airports. This configuration would increase congestion as it means more flights needed to service the same number of passengers. Private jets avoid much of this congestion by performing most of their ops at smaller regional airports. And good luck building new commercial airports, nearly impossible nowadays.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
Couldn't this be partially resolved by converting routes with 6 departures a day on regional jets to 2 departures a day on 737/A320s? I'm thinking of the SFO-Southern California routes right now where Skywest flys the small regional jets.
- aeternum 4y ago
  That could help, and modifying landing fees might be a good way to do this. Currently I believe landing fees are proportional to size/weight which doesn't make a lot of sense since a small regional jet takes just as much space in the ATC system and nearly as much space in the terminal as an A320.