Airbus announced on Thursday that it will U.S. airlines extra-wide seats for obese customers in its new A320 passenger jets. The company says it is taking advantage of the wider-bodied aircraft to offer seats that airlines can sell for larger profits. “Airlines asked us how they could create value with this wider cabin. We came up with this idea,” said Airbus aircraft interiors director Zuzana Hrnkova. The company indicated that fees from the larger, more expensive seats could net airlines about $3 million in profits over a 15-year period. More than a third of the U.S. population is obese, and that number is expected to rise to 42 percent by 2030.
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