Originally Posted by
senecacaptain
Numerous theories exist that if the middle row is blocked off, the LCC's will not be able to compete with legacies, they will have 66% of previous max capacity, and running the same cheap fares. They will have to raise fares to legacy prices, but now they are not a "Low Cost" carrier anymore.
this is not a comment against LCC, just saying if the middle row is blocked/eliminated, it will be hard to compete.
sure, a guy in front, or in back, can recline his seat etc and get into your personal space.
my comments are from a pure "eliminate the middle seat PAX" point of view
LCCs/ULCCS historically break even with a load factor in the high 60% range. Legacies break even around 75%. LCCs can just about break even in that "no middle seat" scenario, legacies can't unless they raise prices, which would give the LCCs an advantage. LCCs grew at a crazy rate after the great recession, and in the following 5 years had the highest profit margins in the industry while legacies shrank. 9/11 was a similar story.
Time will tell, I suppose.