What does it take to bring comfort to the skies as air travel rebounds? The 21 finalists for the 2023 Crystal Cabin Awards offer insight into what it will take to to make air travel more safe, connected and comfortable.
From a pool of 80+ nominees, the expert jury of the Crystal Cabin Awards selected the finalists for the 2023 Edition, with three concepts making the cut in each of seven categories. The ideas represent a fascinating view of the future of flying, from air purifiers to economy class beds – and even a Wi-Fi connected facemask for video calls.
Cabin Concepts
- Air New Zealand’s Skynest offers lie-flat bunks in economy class for ultra-long haul travel
- The integrated Crew Rest Compartment for Single-Aisle Aircraft by Diehl Aviation could allow airlines to sell more seats while keeping space on board for crew to sleep on longer single-aisle flights
- Lufthansa Group’s Allegris cabin concept offers customers 14 seat types across four travel classes
Cabin Systems, Materials and Components
- Q-Tech by Collins Aerospace reduces noise transmission from engines, the fuselage, and conversations in the cabin more effectively than traditional honeycomb designs
- Jump Seat Duo by J&C Aero integrates a foldable wheelchair within the crew jump seat, letting crew assist passengers with reduced mobility quickly while saving valuable cabin space
- Thales Avionics’ Onboard Data-Center (ODC) promises a 10x increase of storage space compared to existing IFE servers, while also improving compute performance
Health & Safety
- Pothos from Collins Aerospace uses ionization technology to purify and de-odor air in the cabin
- CTT Systems’ Humidification Onboard Pure Air system adds an Active Carbon filter to existing humidification tech to clean the cabin environment from fumes and ozone introduced via bleed air
- Teledyne Controls’ ACES is the first FAA-certified cabin environment monitoring system that continually measures a range of cabin air parameters including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone and volatile organic compounds
Passenger Comfort
- Adient Aerospace in cooperation with Boeing EnCore Interiors qualified with the Ascent Front Row Suite, removing the overhead bin and adding a desk, minibar and library as well as a flat bed and space to seat a companion
- The Airbus A350 Airspace Cabin reached the finals with room for larger galleys, a new flight-crew rest compartment in the upper crown area and a larger forward lavatory on its A350 aircraft
- InteliSence by Collins Aerospace uses an array of cameras and sensors as well as deep-learning AI to monitor interactions and collect information around the seat environment
IFEC and Digital Services
- The Airbus Airspace Link HBCplus satellite connectivity solution, offered both as a line-fit and retro-fit option, allows airlines a choice of Managed Service Providers via an agnostic terminal and radome
- AirFi and Iridium made it to the final round with the AirFi LEO system, letting passengers to connect to WhatsApp and iMessage, aircraft access ACARS transmissions and airlines validate credit card payments
- Skyted with cooperation partners PriestmanGoode, Airbus Development, the European Space Agency Accelerator Program and ONERA integrates a Wi-Fi connection into a facemask engineered to dampen the noise of the wearer’s speech, aiming to to combat increased cabin noise generated by future 5G connectivity in the aircraft cabin and the proliferation of video calls
Sustainable Cabin
- Airbus and its cooperation partners Mitsubishi Chemical Group MCG and CTC GmbH delivered the BioMat Sidewall Panel, a thermoset resin produced from industrial biomass by-products
- Diehl Aviation engineered a cabin lining with integrated vacuum insulation, offering a composite structure developed specifically to save valuable cabin energy.
- Deep Dyed Carpet from Lantal Textiles provide ultra-lightweight, visually customized carpeting within days, independent of design, with substantial water and waste savings during production
University
- The Alba Seating Concept delivers ultra-light seats inspired by the biological form of the human spine using netting as a seat fabric to lower overall mass
- Horus, developed in cooperation with Embraer brings a new low-weight seating design for use on hydrogen-powered aircraft to life
- A 3D printed cushion that optimally supports the human body to provide better seating comfort in a lightweight and sustainable product
The winners of the Crystal Cabin Award 2023 will be announced on the evening of 6 June at a gala dinner at the Hamburg Chambers of Commerce.
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