Aircraft seat and cabin interior design

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Aircraft seat and cabin interior design, seating, galleys, colour, trim and finish for all classes, integrating IFE and helping airlines - such as British Airways, Etihad Airways, Jet2.com, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic - improve the passenger experience of travelling on their aircraft and communicating their brand proposition in three dimensions.

a tale of two worlds : a decade apart

Once upon a time there was a supersonic passenger aircraft and it was called Concorde. This is an aircraft surrounded with extremes, born from a collaboration between two Countries – France and the United Kingdom – the legacy of which can still be seen in the production today of a very modern aircraft: the Airbus A380 Superjumbo.

Faster than a speeding bullet, flying in space so high you could see the curvature of the earth, stretching nine inches during flight and taking passengers across the Atlantic faster than ever before, and ever since. This commercial passenger jet nicknamed The Rocket was initially intended to be a mainstream, commercial passenger transport vehicle to move travellers around the World faster than any other aeroplane. Yet it became a victim of politics, bad timing (the arrival of the Boeing 747) and circumstance (the failure of Tupolev TU 144), which left it to become a retreat for the VIP passengers. Not business class, not first class, not even a super first class, but an exclusive, prestigious, unique experience that could not be replicated any other way.

British Airways became owners of the fleet of seven Concorde jets. Even as these astonishing aircraft aged, British Airways recognised that the fleet had over a decade of airworthiness and were profitable, so, in 1999, they commissioned Factorydesign to improve the experience of flying in the Worlds’ only commercial supersonic passenger aircraft. With more in common with private business jet design, than commercial passenger airline design, this was a unique example of transport design projects.

Working with Terence Conran, Factorydesign quickly established passenger profiles and behavioural patterns for Concorde’s loyal customers, as well as recognising the importance of ‘once-in-a-life-timers’. To elevate the experience, Factorydesign undertook the innovative redesign of a contemporary aircraft interior, including seating, galleys and lavatories (renamed bathrooms) to elevate the overall ambience of the cabin interior. The brand ambition was established simply as ‘to bring the elegance of the outside of the aircraft inside’. To achieve this, new washrooms were treated with product design details consistent with luxury hotels and new seats were designed to be lighter, more elegant and more comfortable. For those expecting the never to come sound or thump in the back, an ingenious blue lighting ‘wave’ was created to alert the passenger to the moment of passing through the sound barrier. Something still only experienced by very few, even seasoned, travellers.

Airline seat galley and lavatory design.

Following a typical design process through idea generation, concept design and refinement, producing full-size mockups, through to the critical design review, Factorydesign developed new airline seats, galleys and lavatories, while supporting British Airways design management team with additional project management.

Circumstance again conspired against Concorde when an Air France jet crashed requiring additional fuel tank linings to be retro fitted to every Concorde. Without the new lighter aircraft seat design, British Airways would not have been able to maintain the same LOPA and same PAX count. The key with the seat was to make sure that component parts function correctly and look elegant; that they do not then require additional parts (and weight) to cover them. This, and the introduction of single monocoque carbon fibre seat backs and bases that meant that the seat reclined around a single pivot point, created a lighter seat, thereby compensating for the additional weight in the fuel tanks. Inspirational detailing made a physical connection between the brand and the products, providing a consistent design language and continuity in brand communication and reinforcing the British Airways brand in an aircraft with a very strong brand of it’s own. While privileged to have made a contribution to her story, we mourn her retirement.

Lightweight aircraft seats .

Nearly a decade later, but using the same design principles of simplicity, function and elegance, Factorydesign have designed new seats for Acro Aircraft Seating, called Clark seats, designed specifically for low cost carriers, and the lightest aircraft seats in class. Careful profiling of the back rest provides passengers with more leg room than standard economy class seats. Clark seats are now flying with the launch budget airline Jet2.com with a conventional 757 cabin layout, providing their passengers with an improved experience and sense of well being in the airline travel market.

Despite being separated by ten years and sitting at the extremes of passenger experience – at one end, the most exclusive and expensive commercial flying experience; at the other end, one endured by more than any other and very cheap, sometime even free – the Concorde seat and Clark seat have much in common and share a design philosophy. They both have fixed seat backs and seat bases; they both have carefully contoured back rests to ensure maximum knee space.

E-leather seats.

They are both covered in leather (though time and technology have provided the innovation of E-Leather seats for the latter); they both declare their components as functioning and elegant parts; and they are both very light.

Aircraft design creativity

Which just goes to show that you can be an international carrier offering the most prestigious flying experience ever, or a low cost carrier transporting vast numbers of passengers from home to holidays, both benefit from intelligent, thoughtful and innovative design creativity. And so will your passengers.

Thanks for reading.

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