Airplane New designs that airlines use to fix the uncomfortable seat in the center

"There is no justice in air transport," said one day a representative of commercial aviation. One-third of the aircraft's pbadengers are stuck with the central seat, crammed for hours … and their cost is the same as that of the window or the aisle. It's a shame.

But what if we could make the middle seat more comfortable? In 2017, we wrote on a seat called S1. Its design is unique because it places the pbadengers in the center seat slightly behind the other two in the row. Last month, the FAA approved the installation of the S1 on an airplane. An American airline will place it in fifty planes until the end of 2020.

The S1 had been in development for five years and the team responsible for only six people, including sales and operations staff. Designed for flights of a few hours, it delays the seat in the middle and is a few centimeters lower than the window and the corridor.

In addition, the seat is wider by three inches. This allows you to have a little more space for the arms, shoulders, hips and elbows, without increasing the space for the legs or reducing the capacity of the aircraft ( which would affect the profit margins of the airlines).

"We've discovered that what appears to be a small change makes a huge difference – you find it when you sit down in the seat – our main selling tool is to send a sample of the seat to the airlines so they can sit in their place, "he explains. founder of Molon Labe, Hank Scott.

"I've seen it on a number of occasions, an airline executive sees the seat, nods and says that he understands, so we ask him to sit next to me." a big guy, like our sales manager, Thomas (2 meters, 125 kilos), a few seconds really understand, stop thinking as an airline executive and pbad as a pbadenger, "he says.

With regard to the final design of the S1, something is missing that we had highlighted in our reports. Molon Labe developed a "rollover" technology that slid the aisle seat over the middle seat as pbadengers climbed and lowered to make it more comfortable and faster. Despite successful crash and durability tests, the company chose to optimize this option rather than standardize it.

"We decided two years ago to make sure that the S1 really flies as it is and then, when an airline will adopt it and will be happy with our seats and our service, we will offer seats with "rolling", says Scott … "This is a sector so risk-averse that it makes more sense to start with a fixed seat."

In parallel with the S1, the company is working on the S2 and S3 models, designed for long flights that could be launched in the coming years. The approach is as comfortable as it sounds. And even if there is no justice to steal anyway, at least, getting stuck with the middle seat can be a little less miserable.

Gabriel Zadunaisky Translation