Are you sitting comfortably...?

Seats, galleys cabins as far as the eye could see. This year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo hosted more than 500 exhibitors from 30 countries. 

As has become customary, many of these exhibitors used the opportunity to launch their latest product offerings. One such was UK-based Pitch Aircraft Seating, which hoped to win over the single-aisle, economy class retrofit market when it unveiled its new lightweight economy seat. 

The manufacturer worked with Intier Automotive, a division of Magna, and automotive and aviation design specialists Design Q to create the PF2000 seating solution, which weighs less than 25kg for a triple unit and is currently being tested for certification. 

“This is our first seat,” said Stewart Cordner, sales and marketing director. “Testing should be finished by September and will go into production in December. What we’re trying to do here is show everybody, look Magna International are behind it, the seat is already being tested and it has passed most of the tests,” he explained.

“The seat is one of the lightest in the world, weighing 8.2-8.4kg per passenger, per seat. So that saves a lot of fuel,” Cordner continued. “The design, which was done by Design Q, is ultra-slim. Your whole body is sitting so far back in the seat that you have 1.5 extra inches of leg room.”

The product is a fixed-back seat in a semi-reclined position. “You can’t recline the seat but what’s good about it is that you have this position designed by the automotive designers, Design Q, so it’s in the optimal position for most people. Also if you have someone sitting in front of you, they can’t recline back into you,” Cordner said. “So you have your space – it’s your environment. And once you know your environment you get more comfortable with it.

“The other good thing about the seat is that most seat manufacturers have an order lead time between 12 and 15 months at best; we’re down to 12 weeks, thanks to Magna’s automotive production expertise and facilities.”

Also focusing on passenger comfort was InSeat Solutions, which introduced its second generation aircraft massage system at the show – Pulsating Acoustics (PA). “Our standard massage system flies in Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Qantas and Gulfstream business jets,” explained Mark Hodgson, account executive for InSeat Solutions. 

“Emirates is our flagship; it has used our massage systems for approximately eight years in all the seats in its business and first class.”  

Building on its experience of providing vibrating massage systems to the airline industry for the past 10 years, InSeat Solutions’ new PA product features vibration massage with a variety of modes, intensity and speed settings, allowing each passenger to customise their preferred massage level.  

The system also features an interactive movie mode, in which it responds to the low frequency audio output from the IFE through feedback movements, enabling the seat to massage to music, or vibrate at certain points in the film to simulate high-end cinema. “You can multi-task with the product, from massage, to watching a movie – everything is interchangeable,” said Hodgson.

However, the biggest advancement of the new system is the development of lighter motors, meaning that the massage system can now potentially be fitted in economy seats. “We’ve been able to cut the weight in half with our new motors,” said Hodgson. “We do have a company this year coming out of North America that is going to be using the massage in economy, because we’ve been able to get the weight down.”

Another company concerned with acoustics on board the aircraft is interiors supplier Tapis, which supplies fabrics to Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways.

Tapis introduced its Ultraleather Bolero at the show, which it believes sets a new standard for sound absorption. “Bolero is a new product that we’ve launched for acoustical value, both for corporate as well as the commercial jets,” explained Jason Estes, director of commercial & VIP sales.

The fabric has been designed to significantly reduce cabin noise by improving low and mid frequency absorption and Tapis claims that during independent testing, Ultraleather Bolero outperformed fabrics and genuine leather.

“When you use Bolero with sound-absorbing foam it allows the sound to go through it and be absorbed into the sound-absorbing foam,” said Estes. “It really started with Falcon; they came to us specifically and wanted a material that could perform to help reduce cabin noise. We’ve had interest from many customer bases because cabin noise reduction is becoming more and more important.”

Schott Lighting and Imaging and Lufthansa Technik presented their first joint invention at the show – their new cabin lighting product HelioJet. 

Unlike conventional LED stripes, which work with multiple LEDs in a row, Crystal Cabin award-nominated HelioJet only relies on two LEDs that guide their light into an optical light converter. 

“HelioJet only requires about one fifth as many light-emitting diodes as conventional LED solutions,” said Andrew Muirhead, director of innovation at Lufthansa Technik.  “This has a positive effect on reliability, maintenance and costs and makes our latest development attractive for all airlines.”

Meanwhile, Lumexis Corporation debuted its new wireless data delivery system WiPAX alongside its established fibre-to-the-screen (FTTS) in-seat IFEC offering.  WiPAX allows passengers to stream high-definition video to their personal electronic devices. 

“This is for an airline that doesn’t want to install seatback systems; it can be just used with the passengers’ carry-on devices – whether that be an iPad, smartphone, laptop, iPod…” explained Clyde Stroman, regional sales director for Lumexis. “The benefit is that since you are using the passenger’s own devices for the programming, you don’t incur high expenses installing monitors in every seat. We have one airline that has signed up to do an evaluation on one aircraft and I suppose in the next six months we will be announcing new customers.”

Also making its Hamburg debut was the world’s first child seat certified for take-offs and landings in all configurations. Manufactured by UK-based Gama Engineering, the seat was demonstrated at the show by Starling Aerospace Interiors. 

Already in service with long-haul carriers Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific, the Gama Infant Safety Seat is designed to enhance the in-flight experience for both toddlers and their parents as children no longer need to travel on their parents’ or guardians’ laps. 

Lightweight at 7.5kg and easy to install, adjust and stow, the seat may be used on any aircraft seat type in any cabin of CS Part 25 aircraft.

Starling Aerospace Interiors was also showcasing its own services in aircraft interior outfitting. Providing a complete engineering, design and development service from concept through to completion, the London-Heathrow based company has already won many Middle Eastern clients.

“We do VIP/business class aircraft so we have a lot of Middle East clients,” said director, Coralie Wigg. “We do everything – they come to us with an aircraft and we do the whole thing. We design it all, we build it all, we buy the seat frames, we do the upholstery how they want it, and then we install it with the maintenance company.”

German 328 Support Services/328 Design GmbH was at the show to tell the industry that its production capabilities reach beyond the Dornier 328 jet and can be applied to a growing number of other aircraft, such as Boeing 737/BBJ or Airbus A340.

“We are a type certificate holder of the Dornier 328 aircraft but we are trying to spread the word that we are not limited to the 328 aircraft as a type,” explained Florian Luithlen, sales manager at 328 Support Services. “We are working with other major outfitters as supplier of VVIP galleys – we supplied an A340 galley worth around $2 million, we are just working on a 767 VIP galley, and have won the contract for two BBJ galleys, so we are not limited to the 328 as an aircraft,” he explained. 

“We are still working on becoming more known in the Middle East market,” he said. “Most people read the 328 and think it’s 328 aircraft only – that’s why we are trying to spread the word that we are not limited to that type of aircraft.”