Korean Air has ultimately withdrawn its plan to change the economy seat configuration from the existing '3-3-3' to '3-4-3'. Changing the seat arrangement inevitably narrows the left and right space, leading to criticism that Korean Air's existing plan represented "chicken coop seating."
Korean Air announced on the 7th via a press release, "We have decided to completely suspend the plan to modify the economy seat 3-4-3 configuration for the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft." Last month, Korean Air stated it would introduce a premium class, an intermediate grade between economy and business, on 11 of these aircraft and change the economy seat layout from the existing '3-3-3' to '3-4-3'.
The existing plan was to change the economy seat arrangement structure of the premium class introduction phase to '3-4-3' and reduce the seat width by 1 inch (2.54 cm). This would allow Korean Air to increase the total number of seats per aircraft from the existing 291 to 328. It appears that this led to the controversy regarding whether Korean Air was prioritizing revenue, which ultimately resulted in the decision to retract the plan.
Joo Byeong-ki, a candidate for the chair of the Fair Trade Commission, also noted in written responses during the personnel hearing, "I understand that the Fair Trade Commission prohibited unfavorable changes to major products and services for about 40 routes where competition limitations were a concern at the time of the conditional approval of corporate mergers last December."
However, Korean Air plans to operate the first aircraft that has already been modified in the '3-4-3' configuration. It will be deployed on the Incheon-Singapore route starting on the 17th. The aircrafts numbered 2 to 11, which have not yet been modified, will operate in the '3-3-3' configuration.
A Korean Air official said, "Negotiations with the seat manufacturer and the re-evaluation require considerable time, so we will provide future plans at a later date."