Just before Aircraft Interiors Expo this year, easyJet announced a massive order with Mirus Aircraft Seating for new seats, with easyJet selecting the Kestral.
So, what’s it like?
At the show, Mirus Aircraft seating had one complete set of three seats on display.
In terms of the seat cover, the Kestral seat for easyJet is fitted with a new trim and finish, showcasing customised dress covers and stitching design in a contemporary grey accented with “easyJet orange” branding.
And yes, easyJet orange is there. Look at the stitching.
The seat is a fixed-back, lightweight seat, with a starting weight of 6.9kg, pitchable from 28″ to 38″ inches. For the maintenance teams, there are wins with low parts counts (as the fewer parts to service, the less time repairs can take).
easyJet has chosen an “enhanced and bespoke comfort level” for its seat, with thicker cushioning than the usual Kestrel seat, which should provide comfort on the longer missions that easyJet aircraft end up flying. There’s also a tray table fitted – something not always taken for granted on some low-cost carriers.
Back of the Mirus Kestral seat
The lightweight seat has a big upside for easyJet – lower fuel burn. With aviation fuel having always been a high cost (especially given current events), reducing weight on an aircraft is key. The Mirus Kestrel will deliver easyJet a weight saving of around half a tonne per A321neo aircraft vs their current seat, while providing significant fuel burn and CO2 emission savings over the life of the aircraft.
Multiply that out by 230 aircraft over the operational life between retrofits, and the savings are apparent in both fuel cost and burn.
In Quotes
At the time of signing the agreement, Ben McGuire, Chief Executive Officer, Mirus, said:
“Mirus is incredibly proud that easyJet, the UK’s largest airline and one of the world’s leading carriers, has placed its trust in us for what represents one of the largest single-model aircraft seat awards ever. This landmark agreement marks a defining moment for Mirus and reflects our shared commitment to enhancing passenger experience and comfort, while delivering sustainability and significant operational cost savings through reduced fuel burn and CO₂ emissions.”
“On top of the sustainability benefits, the additional legroom and enhanced comfort these seats will provide will also deliver an improved onboard experience for our customers which we know they’ll love.”
A massive win for Mirus Aircraft Seating
We’ve been keeping an eye on Mirus Aircraft Seating and waiting for their next big win, so it’s good to see them score a major customer and a major contract with easyJet, as these seats are set for delivery from 2028 onwards aboard easyJet Airbus Aircraft.
Added the enhanced comfort pack and some extra legroom, and whilst, yes, it’s a fixed-recline economy class seat, it will do the mission of shuttlling easyJets passengers in some comfort. It’ll be down to easyJet to see how tightly those rows are packed together.
There’s a way to go before 2028 to tie up the ends to enable the delivery, and for them to be factory-fitted.
But it’s a massive base to continue Mirus’s product development and innovate new products, some of which are seeing the light of day.
Kevin was a guest of Mirus Aircraft Seating at Aircraft Interiors Expo.
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Did you personally sit in the seat for at least ten minutes with the standard seat pitch? The seat looks like a traveling backache but I desperately want to be wrong. The fact that my bowling ball weighs the same doesn’t inspire much confidence about the comfort level, even for a LCC.
I make the effort to sit in what I write about for five minutes to get a feel for it at least. I would had liked to had seen two rows with legroom demonstations – but I doubt that was authorised to be shown at this point by the airline.
Whilst Economy Seats continue to be “passable”, the says of plush foam and thick seats is long gone down the back of the aircraft. They weigh too much, and you can’t stick as many people in. Or if you do, you end up like I did with Air Asia, with knees rammed into the seat back.
And thats just not fun.