Hygiene has become not just desirable, but a key indicator that passengers are looking for when flying. Inevitably though, as traffic picks up, the intensive cleaning regimes adopted by airlines in the first line of defence against coronavirus will impact aircraft turnaround times and schedule demands.

Instead, the materials technologists and cabin specialists are now working on surfaces and products to support airline requirements for hygiene and increased efficiency, while also reducing the need for harsh cleaning regimes. In the longer term, this will lead to aircraft interiors with in-built resistance against pathogens.

Surface coatings to cut down cleaning times

While new cabins may not be in current plans for many airlines, some are already deploying surface treatments with anti-microbial technology. Surfaces such as seats, tray tables, overhead bins and lavatories across United Airlines’ entire mainline and express fleets are being treated weekly with the surface de-contaminant Zoono Microbe Shield. The spray treatment, which is part of the airline’s United CleanPlus programme, bonds to surfaces and ruptures the cell walls and membranes of microbes that come into contact with it.

Last autumn, Corsair began progressively equipping their tray tables in the aircraft with a protective film incorporating antibacterial and antiviral properties. The film, developed by ADHETEC in partnership with Pylote, provides an immediate and stable microbial decontamination action without loss of effectiveness for four years and protects the tables from aggressive disinfectant products.

Collaboration leads to new solutions

A sense of what is possible in the future can be glimpsed in some recent collaborations. Tapis Corporation, SIMONA Boltaron and Molon Labe Seating joined forces last summer to demonstrate a solution for safer travel. The starting point was Molon Labe’s S2 seat, which features a fresh air vent in the one-sided headrest that can also be rotated to form a physical barrier between passengers.

The seat back, seat pan, armrests and headrests are covered in Promessa Ultrafabric from Tapis, which includes antimicrobial silver ion technology in the top skin. Boltaron’s 9815N FAR-rated material was then used for the thermoformed seat backs, which has an antimicrobial treatment as standard.

“Between [all of] us, we had something like greater than 90% of the seat’s surfaces covered in antimicrobial technology without compromising passenger comfort or experience,” reports Matthew Nicholls, Sales Director at Tapis. He adds that Tapis and its partner Ultrafabrics have seen the addition of Promessa AV to JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and American Airlines fleets in the past 12 months.

Surfaces that self-clean

Safran Cabin has teamed up with 3M to help design cleaner aircraft cabin interiors as part of Safran’s ‘Travel Safe’ initiative. Their current focus is developing a residual antimicrobial coating that can be sprayed or wiped on to make a surface continuously antimicrobial for at least 30 days, claiming the ability to kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in 10 minutes.

“It is our goal to create a ‘self-disinfecting’ interior using this technology,” says Nathan Kwok, Vice President Marketing at Safran Cabin. Their planned next step will be to make antimicrobial and easy-clean properties a permanent feature of the interior surface. Kwok explains: “We are currently studying ways to integrate our polymer into the huge variety of materials, colours, and textures that exist today. The goal is that every surface is antimicrobial, without sacrificing the richness of the colour and texture palette.”

Resistance to disinfectants

Matthew Nicholls at Tapis also notes that materials and surface coatings will need to have resistance to disinfectants if they are going to last into the future, with requirements from airlines evolving to include the ability to clean surfaces with a wide variety of aviation-approved disinfectants.

As an example, American Airlines’ recent 737-800 upgrades included cabin dividers from Jamco America covered in Tapis 9-series Ultraleather, which has antimicrobial silver ion technology embedded in the surface layers. The finish is resistant to cleaning materials used in foggers and hydrostatic sprayers while still being able to be cleaned with alcohol, quaternary ammonium, bleach and hydrogen peroxide-based cleaners without damage.

Other suppliers also highlight the robustness of anti-pathogenic products against contaminants and cleaning agents. For example, high-touch interior replacement parts, such as tray tables and lavatory seats, from Aereos Interior Solutions are certified greater than 99.8% effective against microbes, while also protecting the surface finish.

Removing chemicals from cleaning

Once the cabin’s fixtures and fittings are covered with antimicrobial technology, a review of cleaning regimes will be needed. The elimination of chemicals in aircraft cabin cleaning is a key goal for Muirhead Leather. Its Active Hygiene Leather has built-in antimicrobial self-cleaning properties thanks to permanently integrating Polygiene® ViralOff^TM into the leather during the production process, breaking down bacteria that cause odours as well as viruses to over 99% within two hours.

Myles Hobbs, Head of Sales (Aviation) EMEA and The Americas recommends maintaining its product with only pH-neutral soap and sparing use of water. “During our 7–10-year product life cycle, there is no need to use any lotion, potions, or chemicals,” he says.

Still some challenges to overcome

Incorporating antimicrobial technology into products has challenges. Nicholls says that getting silver content just right is a science in its own right. He goes on to explain that you have to have enough silver particles to provide a safe surface, but as the quantity increases, they can become hard to distribute evenly, also increasing weight and decreasing durability.

Defining a new regulatory paradigm around antimicrobial materials will also be tough, according to Kwok. “Most cleaning and disinfecting guidance documents were written around chemicals that worked while wet, and never envisioned that the surface itself was also the disinfectant. So, now we need to decide as an industry, what level of efficacy is sufficient to declare a surface self-disinfecting? This requires a lot of collaboration across different regulatory agencies because consistency will be important in building confidence.”

Nicholls concurs: “We need to make sure that we’re not compromising other key aspects of the fundamental passenger experience in our rush to solve the COVID issues.”

Hidden benefits of surface coatings need clear messaging

Communicating the hygiene and safety benefits of cleaning regimes to passengers is already part of airline strategies to reassure people that it is safe to fly. It is key when the hygiene technology is embedded in the interior and, as Kwok notes, works invisibly. “There are a variety of ways to do this, including colour and graphical indications on the surface itself, as well as messaging directly to the passengers during the safety briefing or even during the booking process,” he says.

“Our first goal is safety, but also a more relaxed travel experience. We hope that when passengers see the Safran logo, they have confidence that surface does not need that extra squirt of spray cleaner they brought with them because the technology inside the surface works even better.”

Airline requirements for hygiene solutions will evolve as air travel recovery gets underway. In the short term, regular surface treatments would seem to be the natural solution. In the longer term, more innately hygienic interiors mean that there will be improved and potentially less costly cleaning regimes. Ultimately, consistent standards for antimicrobial technologies in aircraft will need to be established to continue to build confidence in air travel.

Moves to reduce emissions are currently concentrated on airframe and operational innovations, plus new energy sources, while the interiors community’s focus is on materials and systems that underpin cabin function.

The transformation of the cabin will be largely incremental and almost invisible, but nonetheless vital in supporting aviation’s environmental goals. And when we look back from the future, these will all add up to a quiet revolution.

The route to carbon neutrality

Lukas Kaestner is the Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of the Sustainable Aviation Lab, the organisation behind the Sustainable Aero Lab accelerator programme for start-ups aiming to move aviation to a sustainable future.

Kaestner observes: “For aviation to reach carbon neutrality, there will be no single method to get us there, but instead we will have to look at a combination of many factors – and this includes interiors.” He adds: “We still see weight as one of the key components to lowering emissions, and we believe interiors can play an important role here.”

The requirement for low maintenance lightweight interiors can only increase in importance as carriers position themselves for the post-coronavirus recovery and turn to addressing environmental goals.

Innovative changes to the seat cushion, pan and structure, lightweight materials and recycled leather covers, plus optimised components all helped Recaro Aircraft Seating deliver an 8kg seat that requires 50% less maintenance. In March 2021, the SL3710 economy seat made its North American debut on Frontier Airlines’ A320neo aircraft to support the low-cost carrier’s (LCC) quest of being ‘America’s Greenest Airline’.

The Recaro seats will also be rolled out to fellow carriers in the Indigo Partners portfolio of airlines, including Wizz Air. The European LCC aims to reduce its carbon footprint via a combination of utilising efficient Airbus aircraft and prioritising lightweight cabin products.

Sustainable composite materials

Similarly, Cecence, whose mission is to bring the benefits of lightweight sustainable composites to the industry, has collaborated with Doy Design to utilise bio-resin in a compression moulding process to develop a seat weighing just over 7kg. The team state the Ultra Slim concept can reduce the overall cabin weight of a short-haul A320 by over 500kg compared to existing lightweight seats on the market.

Speaking with Samantha Bunyan, Cecence Co-Founder & Head of Industry Engagement, she explains that bio resins are manufactured from agricultural waste and provide comparative strength with more traditional phenolic resins. She adds: “Integrating recycled carbon fibre and where possible natural fibres to replace or work alongside more typical reinforcements such as virgin carbon and glass fibre can contribute a great deal to reducing the carbon footprint of the cabin interior and in the case of natural plant fibres in particular, through their ability to sequester CO2 through their growth, prior to transformation into an end product.”

Cecence is working closely with the UK’s National Composites Centre on a life cycle analysis that has been built into its sustainable seat back development programme. Bunyan says: “We have collected wide ranging data from where the materials originate, how they are transported, how waste can be eliminated and where energy savings can be made. This enables a greater awareness of which elements within the supply chain and within the manufacturing process can be adjusted to deliver an end product where the carbon footprint is significantly reduced.”

Focus on the full life cycle

Incorporating the ability to recycle, re-use and repurpose into design processes is challenging. Boom Supersonic, which is developing the next-gen Overture supersonic commercial aircraft, is planning for a decommissioning and recycling process that may not begin for 40 years. In a Boom blog post published in March 2021, Raymond Russell, Head of Sustainability and Environment, acknowledges that today an international recycling standard is not in place for many of the materials that will be used to build Overture.

“Our team is focused on selecting materials that have the highest probability for safe recycling, in addition to weighing critical aspects such as safety and performance,” he says. “Looking closely at recycling, we’re examining the likelihood of whether a market will exist for those recycled materials in several decades. If we were to recycle Overture today, the supply chain may not support the effort. But in 30 to 40 years from now, that same supply chain should be thriving.”

Kaestner agrees that sustainable aviation needs a mindset that covers all aspects of the value chain, including end-of-life. The Sustainable Aero Lab is currently focused on lowering all emissions of flights, however, it is also open to supporting end-of-life solutions. “Separately, for aircraft interiors, I see the end-of-life discussion as one of the most pressing. The current status here is not satisfying enough,” Kaestner says.

A different approach to sustainability

Another approach to lightweight cabins is to innovate around reducing the amount of water that has to be carried onboard. Diehl Aviation’s Grey Water Re-use concept, winning entry at the 2020-21 Crystal Cabin Awards, treats greywater from the wash hand basin for re-use in flushing the lavatory. The cabin equipment and systems OEM claims that reducing water consumption onboard offers cost savings and can make a significant contribution to reducing the environmental impact of air traffic.

It’s not just lightweight material in traditional aircraft that could lead to more sustainable flight, but also the raft of small hybrid- and electric-powered aircraft in development. If the ambitions of the organisations involved come to fruition, some could be in service before the end of the decade.

For example, Rolls-Royce, Italian airframer Tecnam and Widerøe, Scandinavia’s largest regional airline, are aiming to introduce a small all-electric commuter plane into service in 2026. The Electric Aviation Group also expects that its 70+ seat HERA or Hybrid Electrical Regional Aircraft will be ready for delivery in 2028. EAG also views HERA as a blueprint for larger, long range aircraft concepts as propulsion and energy storage technologies develop.

New digital tools will also be key to building more sustainability into ‘start-of-life’ product development and iteration processes. The autonomous sustainable cabin project, ANKA, launched last autumn by technological research and development platform ZAL alongside Airbus is working to create simulation and measurement methods that will reduce the number of test flights usually required to assess the real potential of new technologies to increase cabin comfort. ANKA is applying this approach to simulating and testing the performance of new advanced materials to reduce noise and vibration in the aircraft cabin.

Sustainability the number one priority for airlines

More than 100 years before the Wright brothers took to the air, Sir George Cayley defined the principals of aerodynamics, and it immediately occurred to him that new technologies to make planes lighter would be a critical issue. Cayley’s desire to reduce weight is no less relevant today as the aviation industry focuses on reducing its carbon footprint and improving sustainability

Climate change demands disruptive thinking from the entire aviation industry. The challenges – and opportunities – facing the cabin interiors community may not be as eye catching as new aircraft designs and low-emission propulsion, but they are vital to effect the necessary paradigm shift of the future. To all intents and purposes, for airlines and passengers, the cabin may pretty much look the same, and may perhaps be all the better for its familiarity, but it will function smarter and better in every way possible.

As the biggest awards ceremony for the cabin interiors industry, the Crystal Cabin Award winners often points to what we can expect to see on planes in the future.

The awards ceremony is usually held at Aircraft Interiors Expo, and was delayed due to the pandemic. Instead, the award ceremony was held virtually on 30 March 2021, with an excited audience tuning into the livestream.

The shortlist contained 24 entries from a wide range of aviation businesses, including heavyweights such as Airbus, Safran and Diehl Aviation. The judges then managed to decide on the eight winners for the 2020/21 awards. Find them all below:

Cabin Concepts

Taking home this award is ‘Alice’, the first completely electric commuter jet. Built by Israeli company Eviation Aircraft, the jet first appeared at the 2019 Paris Airshow.

The innovative cabin concept was designed by Almadesign and features a fishbone layout to utilise the available space.

Nominees

• Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Loft, Virgin Atlantic, AIM Altitude, Factorydesign, Boltaron, Isovolta, Mankiewicz UK & F.H.Lambert
• 777x Sky Architecture, The Boeing Company, Teague

Visionary Concepts

With aviation needing to innovate, this category helps to look ahead. Winning the award is AIRBUS with its Airspace Cabin Vision 2030, and extension of its “Airspace” concept.

The concept allows the cabin to be digitally tailored to passenger needs with flexible seating and lounge configurations.

Nominees

• ARCA – Galley Systems, AIM ALTITUDE
• Galaxy: Flatbed for A321, AirGo Design

Material and Components

This category focuses on advances in the enormous variety of materials and components. The winner is a panel based on In-Mold Electronics (IME) from e₂ip technologies in association with National Research Council of Canada. The surface-printed electrical circuitry saves on the complex and heavy cabin electronics.

The IME control element can be seamlessly integrated and can complete a range of functions including positioning of the aircraft seat.

Nominees

• Experience Line Bridge, Diehl Aerospace
• Jade Reading Light, Schott

Greener Cabin, Health, Safety and Environment

This hotly contested category is awarded to Diehl Aviation with its Greywater Reuse Unit. Taking the handwash water (greywater) from the sink and reusing to flush the toilet instead of potable water.

The Reuse Unit would help to reduce the amount of potable water on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner by 250kg and a CO2 saving of 550 tonnes per year per aircraft.

Nominees

• AudioBack, ATR
• Zero economy meal tray, PriestmanGoode

Passenger Comfort Hardware

For ideas that enhance passenger comfort, this category was won by Safran Seats with its Modulair S economy seat concept.

Developed in cooperation with the French university ENCSi, the seat can be extended with various features, bringing creature comforts such as neck support to the largest section of seating.

Nominees

• Space For All, Adient Aerospace
• The Row 1 airport wheelchair system, Ciara Crawford

Cabin Systems

The winner is the SOPHY^TM smart trolley system from Safran Cabin. This tiny module can be installed into existing catering trolleys and provides the operator with information on the entire journey of the equipment, from maintenance and cleaning needs.

Nominees

• Lite2fix, SFS and Jetlite
• Next Gen Connectivity Mobile ONAIR 4G, SITAONAIR

In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity

As the fastest growing sector of aviation, IFEC receives plenty of innovations. This time, the winner is SAFRAN Passenger Innovations department with RAVE Bluetooth Audio.

The problem of too many passengers using Bluetooth enabled headphones is solved by this solution as it controls power and antenna direction to each passenger or seat.

Nominees

• Multi-Screen Experience, JetBlue Airways
• Spafax IQ, Spafax

University

Highlighting new ideas from universities, the winner in 2020 is University of Cincinnati. Their Coffee House Cabin concept would place a long work table down the centre of the plane to allow for productive work groups.

The idea was developed with The Boeing Company and The Live Well Collaborative.

Nominees

• Isofix, The University of Applied Sciences Hamburg (HAW)
• Collapsible beds for Flying V

More Crystal Cabin awards to be won in 2021

To recognise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation, there will be two new categories in 2021: Clean & Safe Air Travel” and the “Judges’ Choice Award”. Find out more about them on the Crystal Cabin Awards website.

Update: The shortlist has been revealed for the two new categories. Find them on the AIX Hub here.

It’s clear that one of the main trends for 2021 will be needing to reassure passengers of cleanliness and hygiene onboard.

Before COVID-19, cabin innovation took inspiration from domestic environments, hotels and cars to create familiarity in the interior space.

However, since early 2020 aggressive cleaning and evidenced hygiene has been essential to continue flying, exacting a toll on cabin interiors never intended to withstand these treatments.

As consumers now have heightened expectations of cleanliness and hygiene, new ideas are needed to design the cabin interiors of the future.

Designing for clean

Put simply, in future it will have to be easier for airlines to sanitise cabins while maintaining finishes and ensuring fast aircraft turn-around. Passengers will want the reassurance that their environment is safe and they can easily identify that it is hygienic. Clean will be the catalysing imperative for upcoming design reviews which means some new approaches to aircraft interiors will ultimately be required.

Admittedly, with fewer people flying, revenues at all-time lows and airlines cash flows taking a beating, this is a hard ask right now. As Anthony Harcup, Senior Director at TEAGUE, puts it: “Opinion is very divided on what the market needs because we haven’t settled on a period of normal that is long enough to have identified real commercial trends…I think we will see a much bigger response to cleanliness and sanitation…when revenues start to return and airlines have money, data and passenger opinion.”

Nonetheless, designers and interiors OEMs are already innovating seats and cabin monuments with clean in mind. For example, an open storage structure – big enough for a trolley bag – features underneath the Project AIRTEK lightweight business class seat concept. The consortium behind AIRTEK, JPA Design, Williams Advanced Engineering and SWS Certification Services, says this space is easy to clean and improves cabin airflow.

Another response to COVID-19 concerns is OPERA, a business seat for single-aisle aircraft launched in autumn 2020. Designed by STELIA Aerospace to protect passengers’ space and limit their exposure to other travellers and crew, it features a fully-integrated door and direct aisle access in a reverse herringbone layout with users facing the windows. Passenger contact with the seat in high-touch areas is minimised as it is operated via a smartphone or Bluetooth audio jack.

Emmanuel Regnier, STELIA’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Cabin Interiors, notes: “Globally, we can observe that the COVID-19 outbreak has reinforced the market trends of the last years – increased privacy, independence and distancing…and motivated new ones, such as touchless features and easy-to-clean surfaces. Post-COVID, these will not only be considered as comfort and tech features but as must-haves, required to assure passengers of their safety onboard.”

Making clean easy

Demand for products that are easier to maintain cleanliness and reassure passengers that surfaces are sanitary is also predicted by Jamco America. Their Venture reverse herringbone business class seat, which debuted in 2019, eliminates potential dirt traps to minimise operational costs and in 2021 it unveiled a Venture Pristine solution incorporating surface finishes that inhibit the growth of pathogens.

“Airlines are balancing the need for items like doors and compartments, which are convenient for passengers, against the need to ensure the seat can be effectively cleaned,” says Jeremy Hunter, Senior Sales & Marketing Manager. “We have noticed that airlines are including cleanliness as a desired ‘feature’ similar to past product features for their passengers.”

Pristine comes under Project Blue Sky, Jamco’s initiative to alleviate travellers’ anxiety about cabin cleanliness. In the lavatory, this has included developing a hands-free lavatory door handle and lock, as well as investigating a foot pedal mechanism to lift toilet seats and lids hands-free.

A new design language

However, designing for clean will require more than just new interior hardware. It will necessitate reconsidering the visual design language and reviewing the cabin as a part of the greater travel journey ecosystem. Harcup observes that as people have changed their behaviour to risk assess their environments like never before, so passengers will be looking for visual cues that things have changed in the cabin.

It will be even more complex to implement mechanisms to control human congestion, such as the scramble to retrieve belongings and deplane. “I think the only way to solve those issues would be to have a second look at the entire end-to-end journey so that processes are prioritised over scheduling, which is a really tough call to make,” says Harcup.

A three-year process

Knowing it will take at least three years to develop and certify future cabin products, PriestmanGoode is already pushing ahead with reimagining business and economy travel in terms of personal space, hygiene and a touch-free journey.

The premium cabin in its Pure Skies concept features ‘rooms’ enclosed by full-height curtains, elimination of all but essential seat breaks and use of photochromic and thermochromic inks on surface materials to react to UVC light and heat cleaning and send a message of reassurance of cleanliness to passengers as they board. The economy cabin is zoned with clear dividing screens every other row for greater separation and staggered seating to enhance the sense of personal space. Radically, the seat-back tray is replaced by a clip-on meal tray direct from the trolley.

PriestmanGoode Founding Director, Nigel Goode, acknowledges that the industry may need to design things it has not thought about yet, including new passenger behaviours, which may mean, for example, shielding people more when they are in the aisle rather than the seat.

While the clean design imperative will not be instant, Goode expects it to start appearing in briefs and PriestmanGoode is already working with material and dress cover manufacturers to try to implement some elements of Pure Skies. He notes: “I think we should be doing our utmost to try and alleviate some of this problem for next time.”

Design changes now will protect from future problems

We accept aviation as a vital linchpin in our world, opening up economies and supporting societal advancement. However, picking up where we left off in 2019 is no longer an option. Change, including new approaches to the process of rolling out cabin interiors, must be embraced.

The interiors sector also needs to be part of a bigger conversation about how the cabin fits within a new end-to-end travel journey environment. Coronavirus can be seen as a comparative warning shot across our bows. Aviation will get back on its feet quicker once it accepts the need to solve these problems, not just for this pandemic, but also the inevitable health crises of the future.

Not so long ago the main preoccupation of passenger experience thinkers at airlines was how to get travellers in seats and to keep everyone happy.

That was the old reality, but if any message has emerged from recent trend-spotting reports from organisations such as Euromonitor, Springwise and Trendwatching, consumer awareness and expectations have significantly shifted. Let’s have a closer look at those new expectations.

The brand will be key for airlines

Specifically, customers are predicted to be much more brand conscious regarding those organisations that make positive contributions to the sustainability of our planet and our societies. The need for clean, driven by the pandemic, is here to stay. And the adoption of digital technologies that bridge the physical distance between us will continue to accelerate.

Trends that were just over the horizon not so long ago, are now established fact. Digging into the detail reveals both the need to change quickly and areas of opportunity for the coming year.

The recovery is seen as the chance for a green reset. This is underscored by Euromonitor International’s Top 10 Global Consumer Trends 2021, which advocates a shift from a volume- to a value-driven economy.  “Brands that rebuild a greener and more equitable world could gain not only a competitive advantage but also the necessary social licence, or trust of society, to operate,” it predicts.

Furthermore, this shift is echoed in 5 Forces of Disruption, the 2021 forecast from Re_Set Advisory and Springwise, which highlights that seven in ten consumers intend to make permanent behavioural changes to improve their response to the climate emergency. Quick fixes will not cut it, instead, they must look to make meaningful changes, such as de-carbonisation and elimination of plastics throughout the supply chain. “Sustainability must permeate every aspect of doing business,” state the innovation specialists.

A continued focus on sustainability for airlines

The business opportunities identified in Trendwatching’s 21 Trends for 2021 include transcycling, where brands make use of their waste to enter new markets. Another is carbon labelling, whereby revealing the true (hidden) cost of products will win customer trust and competitive advantage. It cites a pop-up shop launched by Swedish food brand Felix, where items are priced according to their carbon footprint, saying this approach is spreading to restaurants and fashion brands as well.

We all know that ultimately travellers will expect their consumer experiences on the ground to be reflected in the air, so how should the interiors community respond? For some time now SEKISUI KYDEX’s focus has been to ensure that the lifecycle of its products is sustainable and materials are 100% recyclable. As part of the full lifecycle approach, it partners with the Aircraft Interior Recycling Association (AIRA) to implement recycling streams for materials that reach the end of their use.

Talking with Design Director Karyn McAlphin, circular solutions will be the way forward. She goes on to say: “Socially conscious brands will pursue lighter weight alternatives, redesign structures we’ve relied upon for years, and determine how to take things apart at their end of life to upcycle for different purposes. Ultimately, brands viewed as contributing to a cleaner, healthier, more equitable world will gain a competitive advantage.”

Safe to fly initiatives needed across the industry

Reassuring passengers that it is safe to fly by implementing rigorous cleaning regimes, plus investigating antimicrobial surfaces and materials have been key to the interiors sector’s pandemic strategy. What Euromonitor calls safety obsessed (but might be more easily understood as hygiene obsessed) is not just desirable, but as good as mandatory, with customers expecting efficiency and cleanliness.

Definitions of wellness will expand to include mental wellbeing, with Trendwatching spotlighting products and services that seamlessly boost mental and emotional health as an innovation opportunity.  Think about it for a moment. Even before the pandemic, stress has been hardwired into the journey for many passengers. How then should onboard environments and services be developed to alleviate that stress and make travellers better informed and so feel more in control?

A touchless future onboard aircraft

Another aspect of the past year’s need for clean has been going touchless. In our everyday lives, card and mobile payments have dominated the shopping experience when we are able to go outside. While air travel initiatives have ranged from Emirates and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) trialling a digital COVID-19 pass to Jamco and ANA teaming up on a hands-free lavatory door.

Going touchless complements, the third force for disruption – high-speed adoption of digital technologies. Re_Set and Springwise observe that a comprehensive digital strategy is now essential. In response to the pandemic, businesses have been experimenting with everything from virtual showrooms to social shopping that blends e-tailing with social media. They predict that other content-first strategies are likely to emerge such as using digitisation to drive greater personalisation.

The realms of the physical and virtual are no longer distinct separate entities. Consumers now rely on digital tools for daily activities, with Euromonitor noting that consumers, especially younger people, are indifferent as to whether these activities are physical or virtual; they no longer distinguish between the two.

2021 will still be challenging for airlines

2020 has changed the culture around flying. B2B or B2C, customers and passengers are questioning everything we did before. How the passenger experience community rises to these challenges in 2021 will have a far-reaching impact in the years to come. What is clear is that shape of the industry in 2021 is already looking very different from the way we imagined just a year ago.

The global pandemic of 2020 has had a massive impact on all parts of aviation. A new report from Cirium has analysed all flight data from 2020 and compiled it into The Cirium Airline Insights Review 2020.

The main takeaway in commercial aviation is that global passenger traffic is down an estimated 67% compared to 2019 and that this is equal to the levels of travel in 1999. Total flights are also down by 49% to 16.8 million in 2020.

Aircraft still in storage

The main impact for the interiors industry in 2020 has been airlines delaying purchases and aircraft being put into storage. The report states that up to 30% of the global passenger fleet remains in storage.

However, only 10% of the Airbus A320neo are in storage still. This points to airlines wanting to save money by using the more fuel-efficient planes. The return of the 737 Max is also on the horizon and will lead to reduced operating costs.

With the pandemic severely impacting long-haul routes, the Airbus A320 has become the world’s most used aircraft. Cirium tracked a total of 5.49 million flights through 2020 using the narrow-body model.

Larger planes sent to retire

The early retirement of some planes, such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, is also a major trend from 2020. Leading airlines including Qantas and British Airways were among those who took the decision to retire their iconic 747s. At the latter, the 747 had been in service since 1995.

Some of these larger planes may end up as transport cargo instead. Cirium believes that conversion of 66 planes have taken place in 2020 and is expecting more in 2021. These conversions are likely driven by consumers moving to online shopping due to the pandemic.

View the full The Cirium Airline Insights Review 2020 here.

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