Award Winning Aircraft Interiors Designs
The winners of this year’s Crystal Cabin Awards have been revealed at the annual Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg last month. The award is judged by a panel of 25 aircraft interiors experts and aims to promote and recognize cabin designs that can be “enhanced and implemented” in the future. The awards celebrate truly innovative concepts and ideas for making air travel better for everyone. Here are the winners:
Category: Cabin Concepts.
Winner: Etihad Airways’ First-Class Suite on Boeing 787.
The Cabin Concepts award went to Etihad Airways. Etihad worked with Acumen Design to rethink first class and make it even more luxurious within the relatively narrow fuselage of B787 Dreamliner. “Ingenious use of space gives the company’s Boeing 787 First Suite the same comfort as the Airbus A380”, said the judges. Each fully-enclosed suite comes with high sliding doors for maximum privacy, a mini bar, personal closet and large table for two-person dining.
Category: University.
Winner: Delft’s The HeadRest.
The key advantage to the window seat isn’t the view of all the things that look like ants. It’s that you can rest your head against the wall. All three finalists in the University category came from the Netherland’s Delft University of Technology. The trophy went to Manon Kuhne for her economy-class headrest “hammock”. This innovative headrest device was designed to offer you more control and privacy while sleeping or relaxing on a flight.
Category: Visionary Concepts.
Winner: Zodiac Aerospace’s Lifestyle Cabin.
Zodiac Aerospace won the Visionary Concepts award for its Lifestyle Cabin. Instead of the traditional class system fliers are used to, it features different areas for sleeping, meeting and lounging.
Category: Cabin Systems.
Winner: B/E Aerospace’s Viu Lighting System.
Viu, from B/E Aerospace, is an LED illumination system that provides a nearly limitless palette of colors to play with. Flexible LED elements make it possible to illuminate almost every space in the cabin. That should help on long flights, and with crowd control.
Category: Electronic Systems.
Winner: Lufthansa Systems’ BoardConnect Portable Solution.
The Electronis Systems award went to Lufthansa systems for its BoardConnect Portable solution. The lightweight system consists of a server, modem, entertainment packages and access point for up to 50 passengers and their mobile devices. The system lets flight attendants move broadband routers through the cabin, bringing the Internet to passengers.
Category: Passenger Comfort Hardware.
Winner: Rebel Aero’s Booster Economy Seat Design.
UK manufacturer Rebel Aero was awarded for its innovative economy-class cabin seat. The concept promises more legroom thanks to a seating surface that can be folded upwards during flight. The seat can also be used as a child booster seat, eliminating the added weight of a separate child seat.
Category: Greener Cabin, Health, Safety and Environment.
Winner: Boeing’s Clean Cabin Lavatory.
Boeing took home an award for its Fresh Lavatory concept. The prototype uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill 99.99% of all lavatory germs, in three seconds, after every use. Its architectural and material design have been optimised to eliminate the accumulation of dirt within the toilet space.
Category: Material and Components.
Winner: Sekisui SPI’s Infused Imaging.
The Pennsylvania company won the “Material and Components” category by using thermoplastics to create lovely patterns and designs that will make even a RyanAir flight a little cheerier.
