Airline Interior Design

Deltas has begun the refurbishment of its 777-200ERs, equipped with the Delta One Suites, Delta Premium Select cabins and the broadest seat economics in the Delta global airline network. Deltas and Bombardier Commercial have announced the contract to buy 30 Bombardier CS300s under airBaltic's new Destination 2025 commercial programme.

While Ctrip has acknowledged that it has made a strategy to invest in Boom Super Sonic, which leads the prosecution to return ultrasonic traffic to the market. ANA has chosen eight First Class seating units, 56 Business Class seating units and 73 Premium Economy seating units on the top decks, while the flagship will have 383 Economy Class seating units on the top decks.

Airline companies that invest in interiors: What, When and Why

Carriers are continuing to make changes to in-flight services, so the sector is experiencing a surge of cab conversions and alterations. Indeed, in 2026, expenditure on cabins is expected to be in excess of $2 billion for narrow-band and wide-body jets - twice as much as in 2016 - according to the ICF in London.

According to ICF, this development will be fuelled by Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 upgrade and the launch of next-generation jetliners such as the A350, Boeing 787 and the new 777X. "The interior design market, along with passenger-to-freighter completions, will show the highest rate of increase for narrow-body airplanes, while most of the increase in widebody business will come from connecting cabins," says ICF chief Richard Brown.

Included in the re-configuration is a premier stateroom that Avianor expects to be increasingly used by low-cost long-range wide-body carriers. Mr Brown also reported that airline viability had a big influence on incremental upgrade expenditure. "The recent gains have enabled carriers to pay more for discreet things like new connectors, bigger luggage compartments and atmospheric lighting," he states.

Mr. Kent Craver, Seattle based Boeing Commercial Airplanes Captain of Cabins at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, agreed that the interior spaces fitted to recently shipped airplanes are a catalytic converter for upgrade and modification of existing airplanes. He points out, however, that the emphasis of cab innovation today is on providing services in full size classes and in the increasing number of prime economics facilities.

Craver says it is " an interesting development " as it has largely superseded the first rate services on many planes. By way of illustration, he says that before 2008 about 70% of the fleet of the 777 were furnished with first-class cabs, but in the first seven month of 2017 only 22% of the new 777 and 787 shipments were so outfitted.

"A full-surface business-class cab made up 65% of our 777 shipments in 2008, but with the exclusion of low-cost 777 and 787 operators, this figure rose to almost 100% of the 777 and 787 shipments in 2017 through July this year," he notes. Nevertheless, the first grade will probably not vanish, Craver underlines.

Indeed, he notes that some carriers have raised the bar on the idea by making very high housings available in their first-class cabin. In particular, he mentioned Airline Dubai, which at Dubai Airshow 2017 introduced a new premium suite with six privately owned suite on its 777-300ERs. Emerirates presented its new Boeing 777-300ER First Class (below) and Boeing 777-300ER Light Commercial cabin (left).

Mr. Orson added that an extravagant interior in a special category should also serve to distinguish services from those of businessclass, which corresponds to what was first-class just a few years ago. Emerirates presented its new Boeing 777-300ER Commercial Cabin. Wilcynski says that new lean seat designs have been developed for the economics sector, allowing the addition of extra seat space without compromising freedom of knees and shins.

On the other end of the scale, high-density economics is another nascent tendency that offers less convenience than traditional economies, with extra seating and smaller spacing, says Michael Planey, co-founder of HMPlaney Consultants in Alexandria, Virginia. While there are some travellers who are willing to buy less than the usual economics services, carriers are also using a higher-density economics area to motivate consumers to move up to the next category of buses and spend more on them.

"Airline complains about the tight seating in economies have opened up the possibility of purchasing a luxury cruise or executive cabin," he states. As a result, MFRs are able to make many adjustments to the cockpit, especially on small aeroplanes where luxury cockpits are used. When asked whether there is a general rule for the number of long distance seating positions, Diamond says that low-cost carrier usually dedicate themselves to a prime cab in a wide-body plane, while it is airline dependent, a good general rule would be about 10% of the entire seating position.

In addition to modifying bus and luxury class air frames, Gary Weissel, Tronos Aviation Consulting's Atlanta based executive vice president, said in-flight connectivity is an important driver of cab conversion. The traditional way of connecting to the aircraft interior was by means of a harddisk which provided the passengers with contents from the airline and was shown on the backrest monitors.

However, this would make way for an interconnection via download links to a terrestrial base unit or a satelite line enabling travellers to use their own equipment. "There is a tendency towards a higher rate and lower costs for satellites as more businesses come onto the scene.

"There' s a huge surge among non-US carriers to deploy it, with most choosing satellite-based systems," he states. Avianor' s Diamond reported, however, that in many cases the orders for in-flight Entertainment (IFE) equipment are controlled by what is already on the aircraft, as it is more cost-effective to keep the equipment in place and perform some up-grades.

"There' s a very large liquor in which the backrest system is in place, and it will take a few years to get through that," he says. A further trend in cab interior design is emphasized by Nina Schulz, Director General Products and Services at Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg.

"We' re switching to the use of solid-state light emitting diode (LED) illumination system where atmospheric light supports the board-ing proces, grocery or purchasing scenario, branding and chronobiological processes," she states. "That means carriers can create simulated solar setting or solar rising situations that will have a very beneficial effect on passenger well-being by helping the internal watch to adjust to the new timezone.

Capacity conversion frequencies will be linked to factors such as air services level and airplane commissioning, says Ken Herbert, general manager and aviation, space and defence analytical at Canaccord Genuity's San Francisco offices. Temporary activities in the field of airplane lease also play a role in the interior design sector.

Avianor CEO Diamond called 2018 "the year of the 777" in this context, as he reported that a large number of this kind of leases were concluded and marketed to other carrier.