What if the future of luxury aircraft cabins was more like an overstuffed sofa on the sunny, wooden deck of a yacht?
That’s the question that maintenance, repair and overhaul giant Lufthansa Technik, part of the wider German airline group, is asking with its new SkyRetreat concept cabin for the Airbus A220.
This kind of VIP aircraft product is partially ultra-one-percenter stuff: the company tells me it plans to launch SkyRetreat at the Monaco Yacht Show, which perhaps gives a reasonable idea as to the kind of market the LHT envisages for the product once it takes the summer to refine the concept.
READ: Why long-haul sleeper berths may not be bunkum.
But the concepts, designs and functionalities of new airline cabins — and in particular the 15 to 20 percent of seats that are in business or above on most long-haul aircraft these days — are often drawn from elsewhere, including luxury yacht design and the private aviation cabin market.
Emirates’ latest-generation Airbus A380 bar concept, for example, has a very business jet feel about it.
And so to SkyRetreat, tagged “flying barefoot in the mind”.
It’s clearly about making a point about natural light and materials, aided by the A220’s large windows and a concept that LHT says is “a reduction to the essential, thereby cleverly and discreetly integrating latest cabin technologies, from 4K roll-up displays and smart touch surfaces to a totally unique Observation Lounge to be revealed in the coming months.”
Long dark wood decking planks on the cabin floor is replicated on the seating-sleeping surface, which feels has a strong beach house aesthetic: oversized white cushions, coffee tables, and more of the decking plank effect on the walls, with the end-cabin monuments featuring green tree and plant motifs.
“Although the A220 represents the new entry level of both Airbus’ corporate jet portfolio as well as our completions offerings, it already provides an incredible amount of space for breathtaking VIP interiors,” says Wieland Timm, Senior Director Sales, VIP & Special Mission Aircraft at Lufthansa Technik.
“Our SkyRetreat concept makes optimum use of this spacious cabin and its technical features will provide our customers with a whole new sense of space and a unique travel experience.”
Compared with the prevailing bizjet cabin wisdom, which is very much like the previous generation of convertible first class seats, it’s certainly a departure.
Similar to the Moments seat by French design house Style & Design that was a finalist in this year’s Crystal Cabin Awards, it rethinks what luxurious comfort means in today’s modern world.
Is the future of airborne luxury the opportunity to curl up on a comfortable sofa rather than recline in a zero-gravity cradle?
A quiet atmosphere, natural daylight, and natural materials to escape the growing artificiality of our built environments?
Panasonic and Jamco asked the former question a few years ago with a technically advanced convertible first class sofa, but it hasn’t really gone anywhere, while the latest in first-class seats are doubling-down on the cradle (Emirates new 777) or the separate chair-and-bed strategy (Singapore Airlines).
There are, of course, bells and whistles: rollable 4K displays and smart touch surfaces aren’t exactly low-tech.
But at a time when airlines are looking to figure out what the next generation of premium cabins might look like, a natural and nautical theme would certainly make a splash in the world of passenger experience.
