Icelandair takes flight with Geven Seating and Panasonic Astrova

As part of Icelandair’s recent Airbus A321LR delivery, there was a major uplift in the passenger experience, with seating provided by Geven Seating and the debut of Panasonics Astrova IFE system.

 
Geven Comoda-Materia seats with Panasonic 16″ Astrova Screens installed – Imge, Geven

This delivery introduces Icelandair as the first customer to feature Geven’s New Comoda-Materia Pack for Business Class and Elemento for Economy Class, both of which are integrated with the Panasonic Astrova IFE solution for the first time.

 
Comoda-Materia Pack for Icelandair – Image, Geven

 
Elemento on Icelandair’s A321LR – Image, Geven.

This program is particularly notable as it represents Geven’s first implementation on a narrow-body aircraft. While debuting on the A321LR (A320 family), both seating solutions have been designed for long-haul operations. They are also slated for delivery on the A330 and A350 fleets, allowing for versatile deployments across different aircraft types.

In Business Class, Icelandair passengers will experience the latest evolution of the New Comoda-MateriaPack, which has undergone a custom redesign to reflect the airline’s brand identity. This bespoke version includes enhanced features such as cradle functionality, a spacious central console offering storage, and design elements that provide increased luxury and privacy.

In the back of the aircraft, the Elemento seat makes an appearance, which is designed for comfort – but also for weight.

However, if you’ve kept up with this blog, you would know that the other big launch on the route was Panasonic’s Astrova platform. This deployment marks the First-ever integration into a seating product.

The Comoda-Materia Pack seat is equipped with 16-inch Astrova monitors, while Elemento features 13.3-inch Astrova monitors. This demonstrates the effective use of lightweight, flexible Astrova OLED screens to improve the passenger experience while meeting challenging design and certification requirements.

In addition, the upgradeable peripheral bar on the Astrova screens should reduce servicing and replacement times whilst in the field. 

The cooperation with Panasonic began in July 2023, and within 12 months, the seats with integrated IFE were successfully certified in a short lead time for both Comoda – Materia Pack and Elemento.

In Quotes

Alberto Veneruso, Geven Managing Director, said:

“We are incredibly proud to have accomplished these results with Icelandair and Panasonic Avionics. This partnership marks a significant achievement for Geven, showcasing our commitment to innovation and passenger comfort. As the New Comoda – Materia Pack and Elemento are also set to debut on the A330 and A350 fleets, we are excited to see these solutions shaping the future of long-haul travel. We look forward to supporting Icelandair in offering their passengers an exceptional flying experience.”

Helga Huld Bjarnadóttir, Director of Customer Experience & Loyalty at Icelandair said:

“Designing a new cabin is a complex and collaborative process that starts with designing an exceptional customer experience. This process relies on the expertise of multiple partners and great collaboration. For the whole seating and In-Flight Entertainment design, it was a pleasure to witness the innovative solutions and dedicated efforts from Geven and our shared focus on delivering an outstanding experience for our passengers.”

A First Deployment 

With every brand-new deployment, there are lessons to learn as partners work together on the finished product and how to integrate it. From the look of things, the partnerships between Geven and Panasonic Avionics have come out well, giving both companies lessons learnt, as well as an advantage for Geven if they wish to deploy the screens to other airlines.

Similarly, Panasonic Avionics will be looking carefully at the deployments, this being the first time Astrova (as well as some of the additional features that Icelandair have signed up for) and seeing the impact of the product in the real world. 

But the result for the flying passenger should be a comfortable experience, along with some of the best screens in the sky. 

Images, Geven Seating S.p.A.