The life of an airplane can be a tiring one as we all well know. And planes take a lot of little hits and damage over time, wearing down the products on board – to the point where the planes need to e refurbished or refitted.
This is where a company called Airline Services Interiors comes in.
Airplanes as we know are expensive assets – let alone everything inside the planes – so
Here’s an example of a standard Recaro seat being up-cycled from its original form….
Before.
After.
The seats in the example above have had IFE systems fitted, recovered and refurbished – so life can be extended
Now for a lot of you, that probably doesn’t mean a lot, but if you’ve flown British Airways, Aer Lingus, Thomas Cook or Lufthansa group – you would had come into contact with their work through their managed solutions package.
Let’s take a look at some of their work:
Aer Lingus
A lot of you are aware that Aer Lingus are adding to their Boeing 757 fleet, with Airline Services Interiors adding new business class seating – with the Thomson Vantage Seat.
Aer Lingus Boeing 757 refit – Image, Airline Services Interiors
As well as installing the Thomson Vantage seat for business class, Airline Services Interiors are to supply fully refurbished economy class seats, all fitted with Zodiac’s RAVE IFE system.
This also marked the first time the Thomson Vantage Seat would be fitted and certified for the Boeing 757.
Air Berlin
As part of the Etihad family, Air Berlin has the same seat as Etihad business class did. And these components when they arrived needed a little TLC to turn them into new product
This was a full refurbishment of the seat, with new plastics manufactured, leather seat covered and trims. Zodicac RAVE IFE was also installed on the units too.
British Airways
We all know the British Airways 747s need a little more tender loving care than most planes (one has to remember that British Airways actually owns its Boeing 747-400 fleet – and is therefore sweating its assets whilst it can.
Aircraft Services Interiors worked on the IFE component of the modification kits, integrating a Panasonic eX3 IFE system for British Airways Boeing 747-400s, bringing a modern IFE experience to the plane, and thus, allowing the airline to fly the plane with a refreshed product.
And even in Club World. Recognise this? It’s a Club World screen fascia that is used as part of the kit for the Panasonic eX3 IFE system with British Airways.
The upgrade kits are being deployed in World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Club World and FIRST, working with Zodiac who certified the installation.
For the passenger this gives the equivalent IFE of a Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 – making the passenger experience more enjoyable if you’re watching in the sky.
As well as developing accredited whole packages through their managed solutions products, they also can manufacture plastics… lots of plastics for every little bit of an interior of the aircraft.
Work done for Thomas Cook, with different weighted curtains on each side.
Plastics of all sorts for differing parts of the planes, prototyped and manufactured to meet aviation standards
Mirrors – always tough to photograph.
If you’ve flown Lufthansa (or a Lufthansa Group airline) before you might recognise these pieces of metalwork:
Yes, Airline Services Interiors manufactures these too, helping Lufthansa group name their aircraft appropriately.
The work of Airline Services Interiors makes for interesting thinking about how planes are used, the abuse that gets thrown at them, and how to renew those planes internally.
With the work being carried out keep plane interiors in tip-top condition, Aircraft Services Interiors seems well placed to deal with the demands that airlines need to meet.
And as a result – a much improved passenger experience all around.
You can find out more about Airline Services Interiors at http://airline-services.com/interiors/managedsolutions/
Economy Class and Beyond was a guest to Airline Services Interiors at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2016. The author opinions are his own.
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