Denver -- United Airlines is developing lie-flat seats for its narrowbody Boeing 737 Max 10 aircraft -- a move that would allow the carrier to offer a lie-flat product on more transcontinental routes.
Scott Kirby
"It's been really successful in the markets that we have it in and there are other markets out of Newark and [Washington] Dulles that we'd like to have it, but we simply don't have the aircraft to do it," United president Scott Kirby said during the International Aviation Forecast Summit here Tuesday.
United offers domestic lie-flat seats on Newark-San Francisco and Newark-Los Angeles flights, as well as on flights between Boston and San Francisco. The carrier also has lie-flat seats on a small portion of its frequencies between Washington Dulles and both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Kirby said United has already developed a prototype for the 737 Max 10 lie-flat seat, which has gone through one round of testing. A second round of testing will be conducted this fall.
He mentioned Newark-Seattle as an example of a domestic route that Untied sees unfulfilled demand for lie-flat service.
United is working to have its first 737 Max lie-flat product in the sky by the second half of 2020, Kirby said.