What does the future hold for premium cabin travel? Expect an immersive (and borderline overwhelming) entertainment experience paired with dynamic seating adjustments, assuming the Maya concept seat from Collins Aerospace and Panasonic Avionics comes to life.
Introduced at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024 in Hamburg last week, the Maya seat integrates the latest innovations from both companies into a solution developed collaboratively, rather than cramming separate designs together. And while it is very much a concept seat, it is also not impossible to deliver. All of the technology components are in development today, not notions of the future.
This is the ultimate in collaboration between Collins and Panasonic and how it all comes together. What IFE and seating look like when they’re developed in harmony from the start, rather than the world’s best seat being developed with the world’s best IFE and then glued together at the end.
– Andy Masson, Vice President Product Management, Portfolio Management, Strategy and Marketing at Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Blending digital and physical
At first glance it is hard not to notice the 45-inch curved OLED screen that dominates the seat. It offers a 21:9 aspect ratio to allow passengers to fully engross themselves in the Astrova entertainment platform. Indeed, at first blush the screen feels almost too large given the distance one sits from it. Indeed, Collins’ Vice President & General Manager, Interiors Christophe Blanc acknowledges that the screen “might appear to be a bit overwhelming at first. But that enables all the options passengers want.”
A passenger can watch a movie across the full screen, for example (and assuming airlines load the content in that format). Or they can segment the screen into different sections. A version of the flight map can sit to the side, keeping a passenger informed in a semi-passive manner. Other widgets can be incorporated, enabling the multi-tasking experience that younger, digital native travelers expect. Indeed, PAC’s Andy Masson describes the target audience as “the millennials, the Gen Z is the people who are driving Teslas, the people who are really used to this sort of digital experience.”
On the physical side, the seat is a lie-flat bed, of course. Beyond that, however, it includes the Arise sensor system that is constantly monitoring body position in the seat and adjusting the pressure points and temperature of the cushion in response.
The entertainment system also gets a bit physical. The headrest includes noise-cancelling, directed sound “headphones” built in. Similar to the Euphony solution flying on Safran’s first class and business class seats for JAL’s new A350 today, they provide an optimal audio experience, without disrupting others in the cabin. Passengers can also pair Bluetooth headphones if they prefer. The seat adds tactile transducers as well, bringing a physical oomph to the inflight movie experience.
The value of cooperative development
By cooperating on the seat design the companies also realized some efficiencies in the development. The Astrova entertainment system has a bit of spare processing power, for example. Collins was able to tap into that for some of the seating controls rather than buying and integrating a separate processor. That drops weight, cost, and power consumption for the platform.
The joint development also allows the companies to process airline feedback in a more coordinated manner. And, ultimately, that was the companies’ goal for the show. “All the technology is real; all of it is in development,” Masson explained. “But what we’re trying to do at the show is get feedback from the customers to understand what do they like about this suite? What do they not like about the suite?”
And if the day one feedback is to be believed, the response is overwhelmingly positive. Masson suggested that at least four airlines are ready to take the next step in customizing Maya for their airplanes. Subject to actual contracts and such, but the concept certainly looks like it will fly soon enough.
More news from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024
- Expliseat launches new economy class seat with Hop! E190 contract
- Back to basics: New business class seat designs vie for Crystal Cabin Award honors
- Upstarts get creative in economy class for 2024 Crystal Cabin Awards
- In search of sleep: innovation targets snoozers for 2024 Crystal Cabin Award
- AIX Preview: New IFE ideas set to fly
- Increased supplier option a Plus
- Anuvu validates dual-panel Ka-band antenna with in-flight testing
- IndiGo taps AirFi for on-board entertainment trial
- Condor taps Intelsat for inflight internet
- Intelsat, JAL partner on LEO/GEO connectivity
- Eclipse snags 50+ plane connectivity retrofit deal
- Thales FlytEDGE delivers a new paradigm for in-flight entertainment
- AJet to offer inflight internet via TCI
- Introducing Helix, the new single-aisle economy class seat from Collins Aerospace
- Feeling the squeeze: 10-abreast A350 moves closer to mainstream
- Dropping out of the IFE race
- Inflight Dublin snags order-to-seat deal with AirAsia
- Starlink sees Qatar Airways, airBaltic both online by end of year, architecture changes beyond
- Southwest shows off customizations for new Recaro seats
- Airbus adds to HBCplus backlog
- ThinKom sees trio of innovations driving growth
- Collins, Panasonic launch Maya: next-gen business class concept seat
- SES Open Orbits brings multi-constellation, multi-orbit Ka-band connectivity together on a global scale
- Shifting install sequencing
- AirBaltic takes Pratt to task for engine issues
- ESAs, China, and the future of inflight connectivity
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