The Dynamics of a Flexible Interior
Share
Airlines are looking to differentiate within the aircraft cabin but certification requirements and the changing needs of passengers don’t make this easy for manufacturers to deliver. In a session moderated by Vern Alg, consultant, Aircraft Interiors Expo, industry experts were asked to define the meaning of flexibility in the aircraft interior.
Defining Flexibility
“Flexibility is about the ability to a take on more innovation,” began Adrian Berry, creative director, Factorydesign. And similar to what keynote speaker Richard Seymour replied when asked how to overcome the lengthy certification process, Berry confirmed “The only way to do that is to think earlier about the issues and collectively talk about it.”
For Baden Smith, vice-president Business Development, AIM Altitude, true flexibility will come from all sectors of the industry working together. “[It’s about] getting to an environment where the airlines and OEMs can actually support the needs of the customer in a quick way,” explains Smith.
“Flexibility means choice. Choice to cover different markets, different routes and to satisfy different passenger profiles,” added Zuzana Hrnkova, head of Aircraft Interiors Marketing, Airbus. And choice for airlines and passengers is really the focus Airbus is taking with the latest cabin innovations.
Challenges with Flexibility
But with innovation comes challenges, whether from a pre-delivery standpoint for manufactures or a post-delivery standpoint for airlines. Kerry Reeves, head of Aircraft Programmes, Air New Zealand explains minimizing reconfiguration is key. “Reconfiguring is the worst possible thing an airline can do. That means you got it wrong… Be really smart without being conservative and be ahead of where you think you need to be today.”
That may be easier said than done, and as a British Airways cabin design representative from the audience noted, “Aviation is an unpredictable market,” therefore, reconfiguration is almost inevitable. “New platforms like the A350 design have second-life reconfiguration in mind,” says Hrnkova. And though the overall consensus was that with flexibility comes high costs, all parties agreed that more communication in all aspects of the innovation process is crucial. “It’s about OEMs having those tough conversations with the regulator up front,” adds Smith.
Driving Innovation
Aircraft interior designers such as Factorydesign know that for airlines, innovation can be hard to implement. “You need to think bigger but have [that] external person to come in and agitate things,” says Berry. And though sometimes that innovation can be ahead of it’s time, such as the Airbus SPICE galley project which generated a lot of excitement from an innovation perspective but had little uptake, both Smith and Hrnkova note these projects serve as learning experiences. “I think the project didn’t happen because the industry wasn’t ready for such a big step. The lesson learned was to move step by step,” says Hrnkova.
With technology and the connectivity space moving at such a high pace, innovation through communication seems to be the key to helping airlines keep up with passenger demand in the cabin.
All photos by Maxim Sergienko