Re-examining the Stelia Aerospace Celeste seat – who’s buying it?

A couple of years ago, I looked at a seat that was impressive in its space – the Stelia Aerospace Celeste seat. But no-one had touched it in terms of orders. And that has been a shame as it is an interesting premium seat.

Until now it seems.

Stelia Aerospace has refocused its plans, and have redesigned the Celeste seat it to be a regional business class seat for narrow body planes. The idea is you can  deploy Celeste in 2-2 formation at the front of your plane to provide a premium passenger experience.

Stelia Aerospace Celeste seat in 2 across configuration (and yes there’s an Equinox 3D seat  in the right of the image. We’ll talk about that another time).

The Celeste seat reclined – Note the movement is a cradle movement rather than reclining back into the space behind

The Celeste seat reclined – from above.

Legroom on the Celeste – this is pitched at 40″. Please ignore your correspondent with a camera in the picture.

One of the things I love about the Celeste is the motion of the recline mechanism. Rather than the back of the seat being pushed back at an angle like a traditional recliner seat, the Celeste movies in a cradle-like motion in a smooth single movement.

This recline mechanism is either available in a manual or an electric version, with the first versions being manual.

It’s a comfortable seat with a good amount of features including laptop stowage, water bottle stowage, and the ability to have a full working table. Of course, it’s able to integrate with an airlines IFE system if it is supplied.

So with the refocusing and the refining of the seat… is anyone buying it? The answer is yes!

Stelia Aerospace has disclosed that four customers are in line to purchase the Celeste seat, with these seats being line-fitted (installed when the aircraft is being kitted out for the first time). These will be rolled out through the year. Sadly, the exact customers have not been disclosed at this time.
Of course, once we hear who has brought this innovative seat, we’ll let you know.

I for one love the Celeste – it was one of the first seats that made me think “Hmm. Maybe someone can make a premium seat that is different from the rest”.

Hopefully with the seat entering service, more airlines will pick it up and install what I think is a quality bit of hardware on their planes.

Thanks to Stelia Aerospace for access to the stand during Aircraft Interiors Expo 2017.

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