Vincente demonstrates the Chaise Longue double-decker economy seats, a previous Crystal Cabins nominee. Photo / Alejandro Nunez Vicente
Vincente demonstrates the Chaise Longue double-decker economy seats, a previous Crystal Cabins nominee. Photo / Alejandro Nunez Vicente
Things are looking up for quirky cabin designs as double-decker seating and economy bunks are becoming a real option for airlines.
Fresh from the success of a win at the Crystal Cabin Awards and the Hamburg Air Expo, Air New Zealand’s Skynest is the toast of the aviation world. The carrier’s concept for bookable economy bunk beds won over the public and judges, offering a snug option for sleep on long-haul B787 flights. While passengers will have to wait until September to try out the pods, the Skynest was hardly the only option at the exposition promising to mix up the tried and tested seating configuration.
Another ambitious design was the “Chaise Longue” double-decker seat.
Designer Alejandro Nunez Vicente says his seats will end the problem of reclining plane passengers and offer quality sleep to all.
His economy seating design aims to squeeze every spare inch out of a confined plane cabin by going upwards. With alternating rows, arranged above and below, Vicente says passengers can recline without bothering the row behind.
With the seats reaching a 125-degree angle and space for storage, passengers have more privacy and comfort than the traditional, row-by-row configuration.
The Chaise Longue double-decker seats have become a viral success. Photo / Alejandro Nunez Vicente
The 23-year-old Spanish designer’s concept won recognition and audiences with Emirates’ president Sir Tim Clark according to the Daily Mail.
Vicente says his ambition is to make long-haul travel better for economy travellers and taps into a burgeoning ultra-long haul market.
The design wouldn’t have been possible without designs like the Skynest getting approval.
“We are actually sponsored and we have partnered with Air New Zealand’s seating certification agency,” he told the Herald.
“They are helping us develop all the certification, testing and emergency evacuations of our seat.”
Bunking in the Air New Zealand SkyNest for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
While the Chaise Longue is yet to get sign-off by regulators or to be adopted by an airline, the pioneering bunk options like the Skynest have set a precedent that could lead to a cabin-design revolution.
Air NZ’s bunk beds have freed other designers to think “out of the box” using vertical space.
“I believe it is a great idea and for me Air New Zealand is a pioneering airline in so many aspects regarding passenger comfort that we use them as a reference for everything we do.”
The Kiwi airline said getting the Skynest approved was a “labour of love” and there were many regulatory challenges to getting vertical bunks approved for takeoff.
“As it’s a world-first there are plenty of hoops we need to jump through and problems we need to solve,” said head of aircraft programmes, Kerry Reeves, who was in Hamburg.
At the Crystal Cabin Awards and Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIE), both held in Hamburg this month, sleep was a top theme.
Apart from viral seating concepts for passengers and crew pods, one of the most ambitious designs was also about minimising sound in the cabin.
A privacy mask, called Skyted, won praise at the Crystal Cabins for thinking about the emerging problem of passengers making calls on planes.
“The designers aim to combat increased cabin noise generated by future 5G connectivity in the aircraft cabin and the proliferation of video calls,” read the awards brief.
