First ‘densified’ BA Cityflyer aircraft starts flying today

Today is a bad day for anyone who flies with BA Cityflyer, which operates from London City Airport.

According to Flyertalk reports, the first ‘densified’ Embraer 190 aircraft, with eight extra seats rammed in, will begin service on the 9.45am San Sebastian flight today.

It is also due to be used on the 2.55pm Frankfurt flight in the afternoon.

I should say that the ba.com seats maps for these flights still show the standard seating configuration (25 rows, not 27 rows) at the time of writing so this isn’t 100% guaranteed.

The new seating was meant to have been launched some weeks ago, but we understand that there have been delays in getting the required certifications.

Historically, Cityflyer’s Embraer aircraft fleet has had a generous (by modern standards) 33 inch seat pitch. This is because British Airways deliberately ordered them with 98 seats.

One reason was due to contractual issue with ‘mainline’ pilots. Heathrow pilots agreed to accept a lower paid pilot fleet operating from London City as long as the aircraft had under 100 seats and so offered less competition to Heathrow services.

There was also a cabin crew issue. Regulations require one crew member for every 50 seats installed on an aircraft. This is not OCCUPIED seats, it is INSTALLED seats. A 98 seat aircraft only requires two members of cabin crew.

These two issues have now gone away:

• Heathrow pilots accepted a new contract as part of the pandemic restructuring which, I believe, removed any ability to influence the size of aircraft at London City. Remember that the new Euroflyer operation at Gatwick also pays pilots less than at Heathrow.

• I understand that Cityflyer has already been experimenting with having three crew members on some flights for the last few months in an attempt to improve customer service. Three crew members would also potentially allow ‘buy on board’ to be launched in Euro Traveller.

What do the new BA Cityflyer seat maps show?

Here is a map for a future BA Cityflyer service using the old configuration. You will see that it has 25 rows.

Here is the seat map for a different flight. It has 27 rows, reflecting the densification:

What do we know about the new seat?

Officially, nothing.

It is reportedly the Geven Essenza RJ seat which offers:

a touch of those extra essentials able to slightly elevate a normally basic high density economy cabin section, into something with a bit more

Here’s a picture from their website (click to enlarge) albeit without the adjustable headrest that BA has apparently added:

The colour scheme is believed to be the same as the new Club Europe seats recently unveiled for the Heathrow fleet. There will be no at-seat power of any sort and no wi-fi.

What is the legroom on densified aircraft?

It seems that:

• rows 1-12 will retain a 33 inch pitch

• rows 13-25 will shrink from 33 inches to 29 inches

• row 26 (new) will have a 29 inch pitch

• row 27 (new) will have a 28 inch pitch

Whilst the entire aircraft has been refitted with the new slimmer seats, the exit row remains at Row 12. This is because the position of the emergency exits is fixed, removing the ability to add an extra row in front of it, and BA wants to give Club Europe passengers some extra space.

According to a report on Flyertalk:

“I’ve tried out the new seats and they are certainly much firmer than the old ones, but are taller with better back support and an adjustable headrest. I would say you sit higher off the ground than the current seats, and this along with a thinner back should mean legroom beyond row 12 is acceptable. Tray tables have a lip on the edge so no more meal trays sliding off.”

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