British Airways has announced that from 23 February 2009, it will stop using the middle seat in its Club Europe cabin. At the moment, many of BA’s European services are configured with two seats on one side of the aisle with a half seat in between and with three seats on the other side of the aisle. After February, the middle seat of the three will no longer be used and so Club Europe passengers will always have a window or aisle seat.

The airline said the move would “provide [passengers] with greater privacy and enhance their ability to work and rest onboard”. Earlier this month, the airline announced that the number of passengers in its premium cabins, including Club Europe, had fallen by 9.2% year on year.

Robert Boyle, BA’s commercial director, said: "We've listened to customer feedback and taken the decision to leave the middle seat unoccupied to give our customers that extra privacy and sense of personal space."

Services operated using Boeing 767 aircraft will continue to be arranged in a 2:2:2 configuration.