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TRIP REPORT: Back to Innovation, Back to Hamburg – Sights of Aircraft Interiors Expo 2023 (What you might have missed)

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Sights of Aircraft Interiors Expo 2023 (What you might have missed – PICTORIAL)
Back to Innovation, Back to Hamburg

a collage of food and a bed

Time for a photo tour around Aircraft Interiors Expo. Because it’s one hell of a busy show… With lots and lots of pictures.

In this trip report:

Time for something a little different this year. Rather than me listing all the Press Launches I covered, here’s a more pictorial view of Aircraft Interiors order.

To be fair, this will be in Alphabetical Order, so there are no accusations of favouritism or “because I like that company”.

The fact is that a lot of the show was very open to the press and had representatives that are happy to talk to people. And there were some interesting things I saw on my travels.

Acro Aircraft Seating

Acro was showing off its Series 9 seating (which launched with Jet2), including the Series 9 Regional seat which launched with Deutsche Aircraft.

a group of chairs in a room a group of chairs in a room

Aerq

IFE and Systems Aerq were showing off their ARENA Platform, some of the seat-end units that are making their way aboard Eurowings Discover, as well as a Condor and Bucher collaboration.

a person holding a tablet a display of a television
Ignore the reporter in this picture used for demonstration purposes. 

a group of seats with screens on them
With Eurowings Discover.

a hand touching a screen a hand reaching out to display a screen
As well as fast-rollout of IFE updates. There’s more on this when I get more than five minutes to write.

Airbus

There was a slew of announcements from Airbus, with A220 programme news, A350 updates and some of the eco-measures that they are working on with partners.

a group of people inside a plane
The Airspace cabin comes to the A220. 

a chair in a room
A Concept Business Class by Stelia Aerospace shows a lightweight business class concept. 

AirFi

Air-Fi had a very successful show, picking up awards (including a Crystal Cabin Award). They were showing off their W-IFE platform, as well as their Iridum-connected LEO soulti9on.

an orange rectangular object with a button on it a woman standing in a room with a window

ATR Aircraft

ATR Launched its Highline passenger interiors. And it has scooped a customer up at the Paris Air Show to boot.

a large screen on a wall a large screen on a wall

Collins Aerospace

It was a busy show for Collins Aerospace, launching their Aurora Narrow body concept, along with showing off some of their seating products and Intellisense.

a seat in an airplane
Aurora Seat – I have lots of thoughts. 

a group of seats in a room
Meridian – As deployed on Aegean Airways

a table with a computer and a wine glass on it
Intelisense in action. We’ve talked about it.

Delta Inflight Products/Air4All

I said this was the most important demonstration at AIX – and I stand by it, allowing powered wheelchairs to be accommodated in the main cabin of an aircraft.

Check the article. It’s a step-change in travel, that desperately needs commercialisation.

a pair of seats in a room a man standing next to a wheelchair

Hughes, Thinkom and OneWeb

As we move into the age of Low-Earth Orbit satellites, dense arrays and clusters of mini-satellites, that can deliver high bandwidth and latency, Hughs were demonstrating their antennas, Thinkom was showing the palates and connective was shown off by oneweb.

a wall with a picture of an airplane
2 GEO-type Antennas. Ku, Maybe…

a sign with a couple of round yellow lights
MEO, GEO and LEO in a tidy package. 

a table with a sign on it

a screen shot of a phone
And there’s a full long writeup in the works. 

Intelsat

It wouldn’t be a show without an Intelsat 2Ku antenna, would it?

a large oval object with a blue background

They were also showing off their LEO solution too.

a white object with a green background

Mirus Aircraft Seating

Mirus has been putting their seats on a diet, with the Kestral going down to 7kg, whilst the Hawk is still being offered. a row of black chairs
Mirus Kestral

a row of black seats
And the Hawk.

Muirhead Leather

When we consider how much leather or material is used to cover a seat, Muirhead Leathers gave a stunning example of how to make good use of a hide.

a row of chairs in a room
Three seats that look the same-ish. The seat on the right-hand side is covered by a single hide – increasing the possibility of waste. The middle seat uses one piece for the headrest, and another hide for the body of it – this allows for a far more efficient use of a hide. The seat on the left takes this concept and allows the headrest to be removed – as this is where they find the most wear and tear on a seat.

Panasonic Avionics

We spent a lot of time with Panasonic over the week, as they showed off their Astrova updates for their IFE system, which is now being picked up by several airlines.

Astrova now scales from 13″ as released, right up to 42″, as 13″, 16″, 19″, 22″, 27″, 32″ and 42″ depending on the class and your deployment.

a man standing in front of a screen

Astrova has a modularity concept, that allows the chin bar to be removed and services, allowing for upgrades to be deployed as needed.

a group of seats with screens on them

Pansonic Avionics also announced that the power availability would be increased from the initial 67 watts to 100 watts over USB-C. That’s one hell of a jump.

There was also a demonstration of their spatial sound solution that we covered. It’s immersive, I’ll give it that.

a blue light on a screen

Recaro Aircraft Seating

Recaro Aircraft Seating was showing off their new Long Haul Premium Economy Seat, amongst other things. Here is the PL3810a group of chairs in a room

They were demonstrating the R Studio Concept – the next step in the evolution of Business Class seat development for Recaro.

a seat with a touch screen on it

As well as recycled seat concepts and how to reduce further weight from a seat.

a row of black chairs in a room

Safran Seating

Over to Safran, who was showing off the VISA seat – that will form Air New Zealand’s new Ultra-long haul seating.

a grey chair in a plane a person holding a phone in a seat a group of people standing around a seat

As well as that, they were showing off other concepts – including their Vue Single-Alise Business Class seat

a seat in a plane a screen on the side of a plane

As well as their economy-class products.

a person holding a black and grey chair a close up of a seat

Tapis

Tapis were showing off their new methods for producing seat covers, as they strive to close the circles in production and development.

a brochure with different types of objects on it a person's hand pointing at a poster

How does this translate? Well. Some examples of TAPIS products installed on seats

a row of black and red seats
Installed on a Causeway Aero Group PF3000

a seat in a vehicle
Various TAPIS Ultrasuede installed on the Butterfly seat 

a group of red seats
Even Colour-matching is possible, with this year’s Pantone Colour of the year (PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta).

ZIM Aero Seating

Finally, we have ZIM Aero Seating showing off their ZIMlite seat, available in Short, Medium and Long Haul configurations.

a group of yellow and blue chairs

As well as the seat being used for Luthansa’s Alegris Premium Economy Seat

a seat in a room

Next – It’s time to head home. I want to take the easy way out. Sometimes easier is better.

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Comments

  1. CraigTPA says

    I admit it can be hard to tell from a picture. but none of those economy seats look particularly comfortable for a longish flight (transcon for US/Canada, Trans-Atlantic, etc.) I hope I’m wrong.

    And I’m sorry, but I still can’t take a company named “ZIM” seriously. They should name a line of seats “GIR” just to see if anyone is paying attention.

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