Source: www.chron.com
Author: Kiah Collier

United Airlines plans to fit more fliers onto its Airbus jets and allow more passengers to surf the Web in the air as the carrier forges ahead with a program to modernize and upgrade its fleet.

Sometime next year, United will begin retrofitting its 152 Airbus aircraft, a mix of A319s and A320s, with "slim-line" seats designed by German aircraft seating manufacturer Recaro. The lighter-weight seats have slimmer backrests, creating enough space to add another row of six seats in economy class without affecting legroom.

Though the amount of space between seats will be reduced by 1 inch, legroom won't be affected because the seats are skinnier.

"From our perspective, putting in an extra row of seats enables us to offer six additional seats for people to redeem their miles - or six additional seats for low fares," United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. 

"From our perspective, putting in an extra row of seats enables us to offer six additional seats for people to redeem their miles - or six additional seats for low fares," United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. "It's also the ability to get more revenue per flight without impacting the experience."

Johnson said several airlines are using the slim-line seats, including Germany's Lufthansa, United's largest international partner in the Star Alliance.

Johnson also said United plans to move more of its Airbus jets into the Houston market in the near future as it completes its integration with Continental Airlines, the Houston-based carrier it merged with in 2010. Airbus jets fly to several domestic destinations from Houston, including Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Tampa, Fla.

As part of the fleet-modernization program conceived of shortly after the merger, United is also planning to outfit all 700 jets in its combined fleet with WiFi capability. Currently, the only WiFi-equipped planes in United's fleet are 13 Boeing 757s that fly nonstop between New York and the West Coast.

Johnson said United expects to have at least a dozen additional airplanes enabled with WiFi in the air by year's end, although it must get permission from the Federal Aviation Administration. (The FAA last week announced that a government-industry group would begin meeting this fall to study whether the expanded use of electronic devices on airplanes is safe, and make recommendations to the federal agency after about six months).

Other fleet work includes retrofitting the Airbus jets with larger overhead bins. Although the entire program will last for several more years, Johnson said fliers will begin seeing upgrades, including WiFi, more consistently by the middle of next year.