Plane toilets to get even smaller

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This was published 10 years ago

Plane toilets to get even smaller

By Jolyon Attwooll
Tight squeeze ... a toilet on board a Qantas A380. A US manufacturer has come up with a new design that will shrink plane toilets even further. Delta Air Lines will be the first to install the toilets on their Boeing 737s.

Tight squeeze ... a toilet on board a Qantas A380. A US manufacturer has come up with a new design that will shrink plane toilets even further. Delta Air Lines will be the first to install the toilets on their Boeing 737s.Credit: Getty Images

You may have thought plane toilets were small enough already – but a new design will make a mid-air loo stop an even tighter squeeze.

The lay-out will shave off so much space that airlines will be able add more seats to their economy class sections, the Wall Street Journal reports.

B/E Aerospace, a Florida-based manufacturer of aircraft cabin products, has designed the new lavatories for Boeing's 737.

It has reduced the standard 3 x 3 foot (90cm by 90cm) size of the economy class lavatory, allowing more space for the plane's cabin.

Delta Airlines will become one on the first airlines to use the new design, which will reportedly allow it to add four economy class seats to its 737-900s.

The airline insists that passengers will not notice the difference, saying that the new design uses space that is currently wasted behind the sink.

Those sitting in front of the lavatories will also still be able to recline due to sculpted exterior walls.

The smaller-proportioned rooms will be in use later this year, but only in economy class.

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It is likely to precipitate a battle among rival manufacturers to make similar space savings in their own designs.

It is the latest in a series of cost-cutting cutting measures introduced by American airlines.

Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air were among the first to charge for hand luggage, a move that was followed shortly afterwards by the European airlines Wizzair.

Ryanair's Michael O'Leary has previously threatened to charge passengers to go to the toilet as well as to cut the number of toilets on an aircraft to one.

- The Telegraph, London

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