Mid-Air Meet-Up This year’s Crystal Cabin Awards entrants take-on the challenges of in-flight socialising, passenger comfort and sustainability to present the future of flying.
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Celebrating innovation in the air, the Crystal
Lozano Robledo of the University of Cincinnati,
Cabin Awards took place in March with the top
winner in the University category. Developed
prizes going to those pushing the boundaries in
with Boeing and the Live Well Collaborative, the
on-board products, systems and technologies.
concept features a long table for meetings and
Despite the global pandemic causing
coffee breaks, and allows passengers to have
widespread disruption – grounding flights and
their own personal workspace during flight.
keeping people apart – a number of the concepts
Retractable screens at the centre of each table
presented were designed to bring travellers
provide a partition for privacy when required,
together in new ways.
with the seats able to rotate to face forward for
In the Visionary Concepts category, Airbus
safe take-off and landing.
was triumphant with its Airspace Cabin Vision
Other projects to make the shortlist include
2030, which shows what the future of flying
Adient Aerospace’s SFA (Space For All) concept,
could look like. Cabin layouts will boast more
which transforms a row of seats into a lie-flat
flexible seating and sleeping configurations,
surface for parents and children to sleep or play;
while in-flight bars and lounges provide space
and the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Loft, created
for socialising. According to Airbus, passengers
for the airline’s first A350-1000 and offering the
will have more choice and the flexibility to select
largest social space across the fleet.
a personalised flight experience based on their
Elsewhere in the awards scheme, sustainability
individual needs, whether they are travelling for
was a key focus. In the Greener Cabin, Health,
business or leisure, alone or with family.
Safety & Environment category, Diehl Aviation
Also catering to the idea of bringing passengers
won for its Greywater Reuse Unit, which sees
together is Coffee House Cabin by Alejandro
waste water from the handbasin reused to flush
