APEX Editor's Blog

After Delta Air Lines caused a major stir in the passenger experience community earlier this year with plans to configure its new Boeing 737-900ERs with smaller modular lavatories, Boeing’s rival Airbus is now marketing its own “Smart-Lav” to narrowbody aircraft operators. The concept behind the B/E Aerospace-designed lav featured on Delta’s narrowbodies is to make [...]

These days it seems as if more and more airlines are opting to offer a 31in seat pitch in the economy class cabins of their long-haul aircraft (or perhaps worse still, ultra-skinny seat width). But don’t lump Oman Air into that bunch; the Muscat-based carrier’s Airbus A330s, which are configured 2-4-2 in economy, feature seats [...]

Virgin Atlantic’s Little Red, a new UK domestic operator, and Dutch carrier KLM are using more durable leather – but with a lower carbon footprint – for their new aircraft seats. KLM’s new World Business Class seats are predominantly fabric but feature Andrew Muirhead and Son-supplied leather trim on the head- and arm-rests, while Little Red features [...]

Most people you ask would dread the prospect of being the last speaker of the day at a day-long conference jam-packed with gifted, inspiring speakers. But Thomas Lee, the director of marketing and innovation of the galleys and equipment division for Zodiac Aerospace is not most people. Taking the stage at the tail end of [...]

When you think of BAE Systems, you might not necessarily think “commercial aircraft cabin”. BAE even describes itself as “a global company engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defence, security and aerospace systems in the air”. But take heed – BAE is on the march to provide the airline industry with a new intelligent [...]

PHOENIX: As airlines get more creative in driving down seat mile costs, customers could find themselves packed even more tightly on aircraft. Noting that airlines’ preferences have moved towards larger-gauge aircraft, Airbus Americas CEO Barry Eccleston told attendees at the Phoenix International Aviation Symposium today that the A321 narrowbody is rapidly becoming the airframer’s most [...]

Anyone who witnessed the smash-hit debut of Stephen Schlachter’s SmartTray X1 at the APEX EXPO in Long Beach, California last year is probably still smiling about it. Elegant, easy to use, and above all else, deceptively simple in concept and design, Schlacheter’s re-imagined tray table turned staid, traditional tray table design on it’s ear with [...]

Italian seat manufacturer Optimares believes that the constraints placed on airlines by the product catalogue systems employed by airframers are hindering aircraft interior product innovation. Speaking to the APEX editor’s blog at the recent Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Optimares business development head Marco Tonucci claimed the airframers’ requirements that airlines select seats and other interior [...]

In the days leading up to the Aircraft Interiors Expo, a Denver-based design firm called Molon Labe Designs generated a tremendous amount of press after releasing a graphics-filled video about a unique new ‘side slip’ seating concept. By the time the Expo opened its doors in Hamburg, Molon had developed a working prototype of its [...]

If someone told me last week that a celebrity had encamped at the B/E Aerospace booth at the Aircraft Interiors Expo, I would not have been surprised; such was the hubbub and swarm of people surrounding the firm’s cabin mock-up in Hamburg. But Lady Gaga was nowhere in sight. So what was the cause of [...]