US airline seat densification Part 2: The Big 3 add seats, change the profile of willing passengers

The three large global US network airlines are in the midst of adding seats to their aircraft at a time when the country's domestic capacity is creeping up and unit revenues and yields are falling. Of course these reconfiguration projects were set in motion before the price of fuel dropped significantly and pockets of weakness emerged in the US market place.

American, Delta and United remain bullish about their strategies to grow capacity through seat densification, often characterising the additional seats as efficient generators of capacity at nominal costs.

It also appears that the densification efforts are a competitive response to one another as the three large network airlines seek to offer the same size aircraft in order to reap the benefits that more densely configured jets deliver. Passengers, however, have at best mixed views about the strategy of adding additional seats to bolster revenue.