Qatar Airways is launching a new Economy Class product this week. The airline has invited members of the press to a press conference on Wednesday, March 6. The press conference will take place on the opening day of ITB 2019 in Berlin. ITB Berlin is known as "the World's Leading Travel Trade Show." According to the invitation, members of the press are invited "to visit the Qatar Airways stands [...] for the presentation of a new product" after the press conference.

Qatar Airways' new Economy Class product

Rumors have been swirling for a few weeks that Qatar Airways may introduce staggered Economy Class seating. Simple Flying reported last month that Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways, described the new economy seating the airline is about to reveal as "revolutionary." At this time, however, we do not know what exactly this means.

Staggered Economy Class seating

Anyway, staggered seating in Economy Class would indeed be revolutionary.

There are a couple of ways the seats could be staggered. (You will be able to see pictures of the options when following this link.)

Qatar Airways could simply offset the middle seat slightly to provide the passengers with some added space. A little bit different from what we are used to, but probably not revolutionary.

Another possibility is that the seats will not be aligned next to each other at all and would actually be staggered. With this option, passengers would basically have direct aisle access from all seats. Furthermore, they would have more space. This layout could certainly be considered revolutionary.

The new seating configuration will be used for the first time on Qatar Airways' Airbus A321neo aircraft.

Best Airline Innovation of the Year Award

Qatar Airways received the "Best Airline Innovation of the Year Award" in 2017. The airline received the award for its innovative "Qsuite."

The Qsuite features "aft and forward-facing seats" and "a private space fully adaptable to [passenger] requirements." These are features the aviation world had not seen on commercial aircraft before.

Apparently, Qatar Airways is not afraid to challenge the status quo. Consequently, it is very possible that the airline will introduce staggered seating in Economy Class.

Overall

There are at least a couple of viable options for staggered seating. If Qatar Airways will really reveal this new cabin arrangement in Economy Class, did it choose one of these options? Or, did the airline come up with something even more innovative?

We are definitely looking forward to seeing Qatar Airways' new cabin product on Wednesday.

Will Qatar Airways indeed introduce staggered seating in Economy Class? If yes, which option do you think it chose?