Many factors go into the decision of buying a flight ticket: routing and cabin class, price and timing, and to a greater or lesser degree depending on the traveller, airline. But aircraft type and manufacturer? Leaving aside Concorde, the iconic shape of Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet is probably one of the few that has long been instantly recognisable for most people.
That changed – in part due to the rise of social media – with the Airbus A380, now equally familiar for its full double-deck fuselage. And that is what its manufacturer wants to expand on, launching its ‘Airspace by Airbus’ cabin brand during an event last week at the top of the Gherkin, one of London’s most iconic buildings. In the words of Airbus, Airspace ‘connects the wellbeing for passengers with the operational performance for its airline customers’.
How does it do that? By creating a cabin environment built on the four pillars of ambience, comfort, services, and design, which in its full form will first appear on the Airbus A330neo, due to start flying in late 2017. Airspace by Airbus will then flow into the rollout of its A350XWB (some technology elements the two aircraft already share), with retrofitting to the rest of the wide-body types under investigation.
Ambience combines another step in making the cabin quieter with the latest in LED lighting. At the door 2 welcome area (the normal point of boarding), an LED-illuminated panel has customisable patterns and up to 16.7 million possible colour variations which can reflect an airline’s branding.
Comfort translates into improving two main pain points, particularly in economy class: seat width and overhead storage. Standard configuration is 2-4-2 across, with a seat width of 18” – nearly as wide as the A380 (18.5”) and more than what 3-3-3 across can offer. The latest inflight entertainment – taken across from the A350XWB – removes those electronic boxes encroaching on legroom under the seats. Overhead luggage bins are 66% larger, which in business class means there aren’t any in the middle, creating a greater sense of space.
Services mainly relate to configuration of galleys and lavatories, the latter being larger and fitted with antibacterial surfaces, touchless features, and aroma dispensers. Crew rest has been moved to the lower deck to create additional space where it counts.
Finally, there are a range of design elements that further improve the look and feel of the cabin. Straight and parallel lines along the arch of the fuselage and the luggage bins add to the sense of space. The LED lighting and its colour range can be used to create light scenarios to set the right mood during the flight and help reduce jet lag.
All of these things together are intended to create that familiarity – and ideally, preference – among passengers for Airbus aircraft. Aside from these common interior elements, the A330neo will also have the distinctive A350 ‘glasses’ design of the cockpit windows and winglets, making the Airbus family easier to spot from outside as well.
Airbus has received hundreds of orders for the A330neo – customers include Delta Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, AirAsia X, and TAP Portugal.
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