In design terms it’s a stroke of genius, but a new airline seating configuration, packing economy passengers head-to-toe, seems unlikely to catch on with the travelling public.

With a concept inspired more by Cannery Row than Heathrow, leading airline seat designers Acumen and Premium Aircraft Interiors Group (PAIG) — responsible for first- and business-class cabin designs in some of the world’s leading airlines — will on Tuesday unveil Freedom, their vision of the economy cabin of the future. Gone are the familiar rows of forward-facing seats, replaced by ranks of alternating fore- and aft-facing seats.

But at what cost? The space gained by making every other seat face the rear of the aircraft means that passengers will now be staring into the face of their neighbour, at extremely close proximity. Psychologists define so-called “intimate personal space” as lying within a radius of about 18in.

If this area is invaded, it provokes a stress reaction, says environmental psychologist Dr Birgitta Gatersleben of the University of Surrey. “Airline seating already places passengers within each other’s intimate personal space, but sitting side by side allows them to avoid eye contact and so control their environment. Placing them in a face-to-face situation for many hours removes that control and is bound to cause insecurity. They’ll feel like sardines packed in a box.”

“We’ve thought of that,” says PAIG’s Ben Bettell. “Passengers will have an eye-level screen they can pull across for privacy, and families will benefit from the face-to-face environment.”

Airlines could certainly benefit: a Boeing 777-300 with 261 economy seats in 3-3-3 layout could be reconfigured to 3-4-3 and gain another 21 seats. An Airbus 380 would gain 50 seats, but passengers, insists Bettell, would gain “an additional two inches of pitch”.

The designers say 10 airlines — including one British carrier — have expressed an interest in the concept, but they’re not saying which ones.

“It’s not us,” says BA, “although we already have a similar concept in our Club World cabin and we’re always interested in anything that improves passenger comfort.”

Virgin and BMI said they were aware of the concept but weren’t interested. “Not us, either,” said First Choice. “We’re more about comfort.” Neither Ryanair nor EasyJet was available for comment.

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