Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

Wang Zhenghua, the chairman of Spring Airlines, recently proposed a bold and unlikely scheme to sell standing tickets on flights operated by the Shanghai-based budget carrier.

In a recent press conference, he said that according to the scheme, standing ticket passengers will be equipped with a back cushion, handrails and a safety bar at their chest. There will also be a small supports for their lower body, similar to seats one might find in a pub.

Wang said the scheme will allow the airline to have three classes: business, economy and standing. The standing berths will take up half the space of regular seats and allow more passengers to be loaded into one flight. The tickets will be sold at a 30 percent discount over regular seats.

This scheme sounds more like a marketing ploy to attract eyeballs and free publicity than a feasible scheme.

For the plan to be realized, the airline will need the consent of China's aviation authority. This is unlikely to happen, according to aviation experts, since there has never been a precedent for standing air tickets anywhere in the world.

Even if authorities acquiesce, the airline will need to customize the berths with the help of international airplane manufacturers. Many test flights and trials would be needed to test the reliability of the standing berths, and that will entail considerable costs which I don't think the budget airline would want to shoulder.

There are also obvious safety concerns. When flights experience turbulences, the standing position, even with a safety belt, may pose serious discomfort and even danger to passengers. When strong turbulence or a crash occurs, seated passengers are usually instructed to put their heads down and hug their knees. This will not be possible for standing passengers.

As a budget carrier, Spring Airlines is already known (or notorious, some would say) for its cramped cabins and narrow corridors. Inserting even more passengers onto their flights will only make the customer experience even worse.

Speaking personally, I doubt if anyone would want to buy a standing ticket, which would mean hours of being on one's feet, tied up by belts and bars in a confined space. And at just 30 percent off the seated price, the fare does not look enticing at all.

Since standing tickets would be available on mostly short-haul domestic flights, the airline would face strong competition from high-speed trains, which can carry passengers in comfort for about the same price, minus the hassle of airport security checks.

An additional piece of information: Spring Airlines is not the first airline in the world to propose standing tickets. Ryanair, a budget Irish airline, made a similar proposal in 2009. This plan was thwarted by regulators who refused the airline's application for test flights.

But considering the amount of publicity generated by standing ticket proposals, I must say that the CEOs of these carriers seem to have a remarkable understanding of how to attract the attention of today's media.