The Economic Explanation for ShrinkingAirline Washrooms

For a number of years, in a typical coach-class washroomon a passenger airplane, the distance from the mirror on oneside to a wall on the other measured about 84 centimetres.On newly produced jetliners now going into service, thewashroom width is closer to 66 centimetresa reduction

ofmore than 20 percent.

The reason for the decrease is that the previously more"spacious" washrooms required airline companies to incura significant opportunity cost. Reducing the widths of theforward and rear washrooms by 18 centimetres each gainshalf the distance required to add an extra row of seats on atypical jetliner. Airline companies can obtain the additionalspace for an extra row of seats by removing closets, shrinkinggalleys, and placing all other rows of seats a little closertogether. By adding a row of seats, an airline companygains millions of dollars of additional revenue over the lifetimeof a typical plane. This fact explains why these companiescame to view the opportunity cost of the largerwashrooms of the past as too high to continue to incur.

For Critical Thinking

10 marks