My reading of that article is that the FAA hadn't previously tested whether small seat pitches are unsafe for non-emergency reasons, like if they cause more cases of deep vein thrombosis in passengers.
The article ends saying, "The agency so far has allowed airlines to determine how to size and space their seats, but any arrangement of an airline cabin must allow all the passengers and crew to evacuate within 90 seconds." It's long been my understanding that every potential airline seat configuration must pass an FAA evacuation test before it's allowed in service.
The article ends saying, "The agency so far has allowed airlines to determine how to size and space their seats, but any arrangement of an airline cabin must allow all the passengers and crew to evacuate within 90 seconds." It's long been my understanding that every potential airline seat configuration must pass an FAA evacuation test before it's allowed in service.