This Airline Sacrifices Revenue Seats To Give You The Most Spacious Economy Class In 2026

For the vast majority of passenger airlines, economy class is fundamentally a math problem. For every extra inch of pitch, every wider armrest gap, and every missing middle seat, there needs to be a justification for the lost passenger capacity and thus the lost revenue potential. This is ultimately what makes Japan Airlines (JAL) so interesting in 2026. Rather than squeezing the maximum possible number of passengers onto its long-haul flagships, JAL has spent years doing the exact opposite on key aircraft types. This is all while keeping its Boeing 777-300ERs at nine-abreast in economy and offering an eight-abreast layout on certain 787s, where nine-abreast functions as the industry norm.