Budget travel has seen a significant rise in the last ten years, and it’s challenging to find a more affordable choice than Ryanair, which occasionally offers tickets for just €7.99.
Nevertheless, recent social media claims suggest that the Irish carrier plans to introduce an even more affordable choice with “stand-up seating.”
These seats would be similar to vertical bicycle saddles, enabling passengers to lean instead of sitting completely upright.
Travelers would basically find themselves in a partially upright stance, held securely by a cushioned, slim seat equipped with a headrest to maintain their body alignment.
Extra safety measures often depicted in conceptual drawings of such designs comprise harness-type seatbelts or similar securing mechanisms meant to keep passengers safe during take-offs, landings, and periods of turbulence. Additionally, there are vertical poles linking each seating row to the airplane’s ceiling to enhance steadiness.
This is an extremely efficient setup that enables airlines to fit more passengers inside the cabin for shorter trips.
Various travel-oriented platforms and social media entries claimed that Italian company Aviointeriors was set to supply these seats to Ryanair, enabling the airline to offer them as an option starting from as early as 2026.
Nevertheless, the firm has assured Neste that they have “no intentions of doing this.”
In the meantime, Aviointeriors’ official statements clarified that the Skyrider, a standing seat demo frequently mentioned in such assertions, “is actually a conceptual prototype from 2012” and “is not included in their official product lineup.”
Nevertheless, the source of these viral assertions dates back to previous comments made by Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, renowned for proposing unorthodox money-saving concepts.
Back in 2010, O’Leary talked about the hypothetical notion of “unseated standing areas” aimed at optimizing airplane capacity and providing incredibly cheap tickets. In 2009, he floated the suggestion for chargeable lavatory use during flights along with an additional levy intended to apply higher fees on heavier travellers.
Nevertheless, these concepts were debated merely as jests or means of drawing attention, with no formal plans being drawn up.
Could standing seats work?
Even though no airline has officially endorsed the implementation of these upright seats, they might theoretically work for extremely brief flight routes.
The standing seats created by Aviointeriors have already been subject to initial safety evaluations and have demonstrated their ability to meet the standards for emergency landings and quick evacuations set by aviation authorities.
These tests indicate that, considering only safety aspects, it could potentially be feasible to achieve the strict criteria established by organizations such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The main concern for both airlines and manufacturers revolves around passenger comfort. During short flights, the nearly standing position that travelers would assume in these saddle-like seats leads to worries about unease, tiredness, and issues with blood flow.
Likewise, airlines already face criticism over shrinking legroom and cramped conditions. Introducing standing seats would generate significant backlash: while surveys indicate a small niche of ultra-budget travellers might embrace standing seats if fares were extremely low, widespread public adoption would likely be challenging, and limit the airline’s commercial viability.