EDITOR’S NOTE

PAX Tech 26 Pearl Street, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 1X2, Canada Tel: (1 905) 821-3344 Fax: (1 905) 821-2777 Website: www.pax-intl.com

PUBLISHER Aijaz Khan E-mail: aijaz@globalmarketingcom.ca

EDITORIAL OFFICES Rick Lundstrom, Editor-in-Chief PAX Tech 723 Jefferson Street, NE Minneapolis, MN 55413, USA Tel: (1 612) 378-0862 Fax: (1 612) 378-0852 E-mail: rick@pax-intl.com

Jane Hobson, Editor Tel: (1 905) 821-3344 x30 E-mail: jane@pax-intl.com

Sabrina Pirillo, Associate Editor tel: (1 905) 821-3344 x21 E-mail: sabrina@pax-intl.com

Ash Khan, Social Media Coordinator Tel: (1 905) 821-3344 x34 E-mail: ash@pax-intl.com

CONTRIBUTORS Mary Jane Pittilla Jeremy Clark

ART DEPARTMENT Jessica Hearn, Art Director E-mail: jessica@globalmarketingcom.ca

ADVERTISING OFFICES

Kevin Greene, Advertising and Marketing Manager Tel: (1 905) 821-3344 x31 E-mail: kevin@pax-intl.com

PAX International and PAX Tech are published a total of 10 times a year (February, March/ April, May, June, July, September, October, December) by PAX International, 26 Pearl Street, Mississauga, Ontario L5M 1X2, Canada. International Distribution.

Subscriptions: $200 for one year; $300 for two years; $400 for three years. Art and photographs will not be returned unless accompanied by return postage. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher or editor. July 2019. All rights reserved. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. © PAX International magazine

ISSN 1206-5714 Key title: Pax International

Living space or pitch?

Alittle more than a year ago, a BBC television show called Rip Off Britain brought cameras and reporters to talk to a seating company that tried to explain how increased aircraft density does not necessarily mean less space for the passenger.

The company, coincidentally named Pitch Aircraft Seating, is one of the firms that has been working hard to change the reputation of decreased seat pitch with its slim intricately configured PF3000 Economy Class seat. In the show, two people from the company, one six-feet five-inches and the other five-feet eight-inches, both took a seat in an Economy Class mockup to show that while certainly tight, both could maintain a level of comfort needed for what is likely a short flight.

The program is no longer available in the Rip Off Britain archive but in the consumer world, the controversy over denser airline cabins lives on. In late fall, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration conducted evacuation testing. According to reports, findings by the FAA will be released this summer. More recently, at this year’s APEX Expo in Los Angeles the new curved back Series 6LC seat from Acro Aircraft Seating took center stage for its ability to more comfortably fly passengers in dense configurations. One of the people sitting in the seat, was the six-foot plus CEO of APEX, Joe Leader, who wrote in a recent publication for Recaro that seat pitch has become an outdated measurement with the modern construction of seating. “When seat pitch is reduced for efficiency by one inch (or 2.5 centimeters), then the counterbalancing facts of gained space are lost to the traveling public,” he writes.

However, such a claim would not be lost to someone like Alastair Hamilton of Collins Aerospace who certainly concurs. With technology moving ahead, as well as industrial design and materials, more room can be found in reduced pitch environments. “Pitch is no longer a very good definer of living space,” Hamilton told PAX. “Airlines are trying to optimize the density of their aircraft and in doing that they are reducing pitch, but they are installing the later generation seats that offer equivalent or better living space.” All of this is rather well known to companies that are setting up stands at the Aircraft Interiors Middle East. However, getting the word out to the occasional airline passenger – who tunes into evening shows like Rip Off Britain – will require giant steps to educate in what they see is still a game of inches.

Rick Lundstrom Editor-in-Chief PAX Tech

12

20

FEBRUARY 2020 | www.pax-intl.com

MRO, Interiors & IFEC

Tracking the Cabin Evolution Interiors

ON THE COVER: Read our report on Virgin Australia’s retrofitted 777 and the industry’s current retrofit climate in our MRO special on page 26.

DEPARTMENTS 3 EDITOR’S NOTE 6 NEWS 38 FACTS & FIGURES

Features

SEATING 12 NEW SEATING HORIZONS Commercial aviation is entering the new year with one new aircraft poised for introduction, another posing uncertainty, but with buoyant demand for seating and companies ready to supply solutions COMPANY PROFILE 15 FRONT TO BACK Regent Aerospace Corp. comes to this year’s Aircraft Interiors Middle East with a full portfolio of capabilities at a time when demand for a one-stop shop anywhere in the world is greater than ever Q&A 16 ASTRONICS JOINS THE SMART AIRCRAFT REVOLUTION Jon Neal, President of Astronic’s Ballard Technology, reveals how the Astronics Smart Aircraft System enhances passenger comfort and shares his insight into the future of the connected cabin CABIN INTERIORS 18 SKY TRIALS Diehl Aviation is part of the Boeing 2019 ecoDemonstrator program that takes tech from the lab to the sky to test the latest industry innovations IFEC REPORT 20 CONNECTING ABOVE THE CLOUDS Qatar Airways is the first airline in the Middle East to select Gogo 2Ku for its inflight connectivity system 22 GAMES ABOVE GROUND! The year 2020 is shaping up to be an important one for the niche segment of inflight entertainment gaming with suppliers rolling out new platforms to launch on committed airline customers 32 STAR OF THE SCREEN Burrana is proving there’s plenty of potential in the overhead screen market as it pioneers a new generation 4K product MRO 26 RETROFIT’S MODERN MAKEOVER Leading interior design companies discuss their approaches to retrofit designs, share their insights on sustainability and highlight successful projects EVENTS 34 AIX EXPOSÉ As Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) approaches, PAX Tech highlights some of the many innovative items that will be showcased in Hamburg from March 31 to April 2