> News >  

APEX/IFSA CEO and Spirit Airlines CCO to Testify Before Congress

March 2, 2020  | Written by Kristina Velan
Author Photo

Share

Rayburn House
The hearing will take place at Rayburn House in Washington, DC, Tuesday, March 3, 10 a.m. Image via flickr

APEX/IFSA CEO Dr. Joe Leader will testify before Congress tomorrow, alongside APEX member Spirit Airlines’ EVP and CCO, Matt Klein. The hearing will be streamed live, starting at 10 a.m. EST. APEX Media will be reporting from the hearing.

A United States Congressional Hearing, titled “The Airline Passenger Experience: What It Is and What It Can Be,” will take place tomorrow morning. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation said the hearing “will examine the US airline passenger experience today, how airlines are working to improve the air travel experience and opportunities to invest in technologies or innovations that could enhance the air travel experience.”

APEX/IFSA CEO Dr. Joe Leader was invited to testify and plans to highlight the positive steps APEX member airlines and vendors are taking to improve the passenger experience. Others who will address the subcommittee include Matt Klein, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, Spirit Airlines, as well as representatives from Consumer Reports, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the US Government Accountability Office.

Spirit is focused on improving passenger comfort in economy, having partnered with the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors to conduct an in-depth analysis on the ergonomics and comfort of its new economy seats, which were unveiled by Spirit Airlines CEO and president Ted Christie at APEX EXPO in September.

“There’s been many tests done to ensure that these seats and our configuration meets with safety requirements,” Christie said. “While they are closer together than a first-class product, they’ve been validated to show that there’s adequate space to egress the airplane.”

The seats will be installed on nearly 150 Airbus A320-family aircraft set to be delivered to Spirit over the next several years. The first A320neo, equipped with the new interior and seats, was delivered in December.

During his keynote address at APEX EXPO, Christie explained how seat pitch does not always tell the whole story. While Spirit’s new economy seats, manufactured by Acro Aircraft Seating, offer 28 inches of pitch, Christie argued that up to two additional inches of space are provided when the contours at the back of the seat are taken into account.

APEX has since tasked a group of airline and supplier representatives with exploring an alternative to measuring seat space and comfort. APEX Seat Space would encompass both seat depth and width, while an expanded measurement, APEX Seat Space Comfort, would encompass other elements such as headrest, recline, seatback in-flight entertainment, etc. APEX believes that a more holistic comparative rating system for airplane seats would benefit airlines, suppliers, OEMs and travelers.

In November, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted tests to determine whether the size of airplane seats or the space between them affect passengers’ ability to evacuate an aircraft in the event of an emergency. The tests come in response to a bill passed in September 2018 by the House of Representatives requiring the FAA to establish minimum pitch, width and length of airplane seats to ensure aircraft meet evacuation standards, which under FAA rules must be conducted in 90 seconds or less.

However, consumer advocacy groups have raised concerns about the evacuation assessments, saying test participants were not representative of the flying public today, nor were the 60-person drills in line with current passenger loads. The FAA is expected to release a report regarding its findings in June.

List of witnesses appearing before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation tomorrow:

  • Andrew Von Ah, director, Physical Infrastructure U.S. Government Accountability Office
  • William J. McGee, aviation consultant, Consumer Reports
  • Lee Page, senior associate advocacy director, Paralyzed Veterans of America
  • Joe Leader, chief executive officer Airline Passenger Experience Association
  • Matt Klein, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, Spirit Airlines