Cabin seats – the future

London-based transportation design firm PriestmanGoode has come up with an imaginative scheme for future airlines’ cabin seats.

Maintaining 6ft of distance from other people on an aeroplane is currently very challenging. Airlines such as Delta, JetBlue and Southwest have taken to temporarily blocking middle seats to allow for more space between passengers.

It proposes staggering the rows of seats, so that people have more private space. This also allows people to sit with a group of two or three friends or family members, while steering clear of other parties on board. Between each row of seats, a screen divider would extend from the ceiling to the top of the seat for additional protection. Even the seats are constructed with no seams or cracks so they are easier to clean.

Seat backs and tray tables have been completely overhauled by PriestmanGoode. Instead of built-in touchscreens for movies and in-flight announcements, this design includes attachments for passengers to prop up their own tablets and smartphones on the seat backs.

And instead of the usual pocket with magazines and brochures, the firm has opted to print safety information and in-flight announcements on the seat so there’s less material to touch and handle. Similar to the media display, passengers could use bungee cords to fasten their own bag, water bottle or personal items to the back of the seat.

They have different solutions to safely serve food: removable tray tables that go straight from the service trolley, to the passenger, then back to the flight attendants to be cleaned. Rather than wiping down the tray table before eating, this would allow passengers to have a freshly disinfected dining surface each time they are served.

The design firm also proposes using far-UVC light to kill airborne germs and virus particles in the cabin. The lights would be blue during the UVC light cleaning process, then shift to warm yellow when complete.

PriestmanGoode suggests that Business Class travellers have their own pod, complete with a personal overhead compartment and wardrobe for storing items. A curtain would serve as a partition between the passenger and the rest of the aircraft for more protection.

www.priestmangoode.com

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David Bentley, Manchester

How much does all this weigh?