The staggered layout is a staple of forward facing business class cabins, including the Unum Two in this A350 rendering (image via Unum)
Unum Aircraft Seating now offers business class beds in forward-facing layout, with general availability of its Unum Two seats. The design joins its Unum One herringbone layout, providing airlines with more options in the forward cabin.
Comfort is our starting point, and Unum Two delivers luxury combined with great living space, a huge bed and lots of storage, and of course our trademark zero G seat mechanism, while being engineered to be maintainable and perform consistently over time.
– Chris Brady, Unum founder & CEO
The Unum Two seat delivers a 21.5″ wide seat, staggered for direct aisle access. Privacy doors are on offer, of course.
The “honeymoon” center pair of seats in the Unum Two cabin, showing off the direct aisle access and privacy doors (image via Unum)
And the company pitches it as providing the largest side furniture in its class. All while matching cabin density efficiency of alternative seats flying today.
A pair of windows per passenger in the outboard seats for the Unum Two layout (image via Unum)
The seat also features Unum’s patented Scimitar recline mechanism which delivers zero-gravity ergonomics and infinite adjustability.
The Unum Two business class seat offers several storage options, plus privacy doors (image via Unum)
A Family of Seats
Unum Two joins Unum One to form a coherent family of premium cabin seats. The two options offer airlines a choice in seating layout while maintaining significant design and structural commonality.
Both seats are based on a single-piece composite shell. It is a tricky bit to manufacture, but gives the company an advantage in weight and reduces space lost to structural elements on board. CEO Chris Brady explains, “It is a very complicated, hard to design and hard to make composite tub. But, ultimately, that is a simplifying step. Once we get it built everything bolts on and that architecture has proven from a certification point of view, and a reliability point of view.”
That manufacturing process is not easy. “It takes ages to get it right,” Brady shares. “But you get it right and you’re fine, and we’ve got it right now. And we’ve got two sets of parallel supply chains for resilience and redundancy.”
Unum Two comes to market after a three year development cycle covering industrial design, engineering, and testing. Brady now shares that the Unum Two program “has been through the full discipline of design, engineering and testing, and is ready for airline programs.”
Big screens, decent footwell space, and a wide seat are all part of the pitch for the Unum Two seat (image via Unum)
But that does not mean it will be flying anytime soon. He still anticipates a three year process to get to a certified product, ready for airline installation. Most of that time, Brady says, comes from regulatory delays. “In the last couple of years, our primary bottleneck is the regulator. Not the tests, but the regulator. We cannot get slots in their diary for the testing.”
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Seth Miller has over a decade of experience covering the airline industry. With a strong focus on passenger experience, Seth also has deep knowledge of inflight connectivity and loyalty programs. He is widely respected as an unbiased commentator on the aviation industry.
He is frequently consulted on innovations in passenger experience by airlines and technology providers.
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