All aircraft built in the United States since October must conform to standards designed to keep passengers conscious through an impact involving deceleration at 16 times the force of gravity so they can escape any subsequent fire.
The same rules will be introduced in Europe by the end of next year, said European Aviation Safety Agency spokesman Jeremie Teahan.
While many seats comply with the so-called 16g rule without needing air bags, which are installed in about 2 percent of seats, manufacturer AmSafe Inc. predicts they’ll become standard by 2020 amid heightened awareness of safety issues. The devices cost about $1,200 apiece, versus $25 for a regular seatbelt.
"The problem with our economy seats is that they have rigid shells and a head impact is more difficult to handle," Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said in an interview. "Therefore we need air bags."
About 80 percent of plane crashes are survivable, and a 2005 study of 25 impact-related accidents by Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration concluded stronger seats and better restraints could have averted 62 fatalities.
Safety rules for seats introduced in the United States in 1988 and Europe in 1992 applied to only new models, exempting planes including the Boeing 747 jumbo jet and Airbus SAS A320 that were introduced earlier but are still in production.
Under the stricter rules, all new-build planes must be 16g compliant.
AmSafe’s air bags are stored in the seatbelt and inflate within 90 milliseconds of a crash, expanding up and away from a passenger to accommodate head movement in all directions.