See Norwegian's New Slimline Seats on Its 737 MAX 8
A year after Norwegian launched transatlantic flights from small regional airports on the US' East Coast to Europe, the airline has taken delivery of Boeing 737 MAX 8s with new slimline seats that it will use on the same routes.
According to a press release, Norwegian will take delivery of 12, 737 MAX 8s this year with the new seat. According to Economy Class and Beyond, the first aircraft with the new seats is registered EI-FYG. FlightRadar24 shows that it's been operating in Europe since late May.
The seat, a Recaro BL3710C, is 17.2" wide and has 30" of pitch on the MAX. The MAX will replace Norwegian's 737-800s which are currently used on some of the transatlantic routes. The new seats will replace an older model that, according to SeatGuru, has 29" to 31" of pitch. Note that the seats in the front row with fixed armrests will only be 16.8" wide.
There are currently 189 seats on the MAX, arranged in a 3-3 configuration — three more than on the -800. The new MAXs will keep the same seat count and layout. Norwegian is billing the new seats as a boon for tall travelers, claiming the slimline design offers more legroom at knee level than the older model.
Although Norwegian claims they are the first customer of the BL3710, the seats appear to already be installed on SAS' A320neo. In parallel with the MAXs fuel efficiency, these seats are about two pounds lighter and will reduce the overall aircraft weight by more than 440 pounds.
Norwegian currently has 100 MAX 8s on order and uses the aircraft to fly from New York Stewart (SWF) and Providence, Rhode Island (PVD) to destinations in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Norwegian spokesman Anders Lindström told Runway Girl Network that new seats should have been installed on the six MAXs that were delivered in 2017, but delivery was "delayed" — those six aircraft will be retrofitted with the new configuration, too.
