Aviointeriors reveals future of seating post-pandemic
With the current precautions in place affecting the passenger transportation industry in effort to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 sickness, Aviointeriors has announced it has already designed and industrialized solutions for safe passenger travel, which are to be supplied to its customers in a very short time.
According to the press release, the Italian seating company has studied solutions that take into account social distancing among passengers, specifically passengers sitting on the same seat in the Economy Class, as well as Premium Economy or Business Class.
"We have worked and we will continue to work for a tomorrow with products specifically designed to make the travels of the near future post-virus ever safer and in accordance with the new requirements for passengers who will have to share the space," said the press release.
Introducing the Janus seat
The first solution from Aviointeriors is the Janus seat. This seat is distinguished by the reverse position of the center seat to ensure the maximum distance between passengers seated next to each other. While passengers seated on the side seats continue to positioned in the flight direction as usual, the passenger sitting in the center is facing backwards.
So, Janus is a two-faced seat, like the two-faced god of Ancient Rome which it is named after. The center passenger occupies the same space as others, so this seat does not need a higher pitch than usual. Access and exit clearance are as usual too, therefore the seat installation pitch remains as originally provided for by the aircraft specification layout.
This arrangement allows all three passengers to be separated with a protective barrier made of transparent material. Each passenger has their own space separated from the other, even from people who pass through the aisle.
The seat shield allows the passenger sitting behind to use all the equipment situated on the back of the front seat: meal table, literature pocket and other possible equipment. The shield will continue to performs its separation function between passengers when the backrest is reclined.
To ensure access to the seat from the aisle by a passenger with a disability, the shield portion on the aisle can be foldable or sliding.
The Janus seat is made of easy-to-clean and safe hygienic materials and is available with the shield in opaque or with different degrees of transparency.
The Glassafe shield
The second solution for the future of seating from Aviointeriors is the Glassafe barrier. It is a kit-level solution that can be installed on existing seats to make close proximity safer among passengers sharing the same seat. It is made of transparent material to make the entire cabin harmonious and aesthetically light, but perfectly fulfilling the objective of creating an isolated volume around the passenger in order to avoid or minimize contacts and interactions via air between passengers, so as to reduce the probability of contamination by viruses or other.
Glassafe is designed to ensure that a passenger with a disability can use the seat on the aisle side by means of rotation of the side panel. After accessing or egressing the seat, the rotating panel respositions itself in order to guarantee the protection of the passenger at the same level of safety.
The barrier is supplied in various executions with fixing systems to the seat that allow easy installation and removal. The shield is shaped in such a way as to leave complete accessibility to the accessories normally installed on the back: stables, magazine pockets, coat hooks or other.
The shield can be supplied in opaque material or with different degrees of transparency, all easy-to-clean and hygienic.