Room for one more?

Eleven-abreast in the A380 is nearing reality

Eleven seats across in a 3-5-3 configuration on an Airbus A380’s main deck is no longer a napkin-sketched nightmare of minuscule proportions, it’s a reality – or, at least, it’s as close to reality as Airbus will get without an airline purchasing the layout and seats it was displaying from two manufacturers at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

In a two-row mockup cabin, we learned precisely how the airframer expects to fit in another person in every row in an A380’s main deck while still insisting that the seats are 18in (45. 7cm) wide between the armrests.