Dretloh Crystal Cabin Awards
Our Dretloh team attended the Crystal Cabin Awards last year. This year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo is currently happening, so we decided to take a look at the finalists. The 91 entrants comprised the largest shortlist in history.
Participants involved are from 18 countries. The results for finalists are in and a total of 24 innovators were selected to continue to the final round.
Dretloh weighs in on the Crystal Cabin Award Finalists
In order to secure a win, the finalists are currently presenting their ideas publicly to the international experts of the jury. The event is taking place right now from April 10 – 12 in Hamburg, Germany! For the first time, white trophies were produced using 3D printing technology. There are eight categories that make up the Crystal Cabin Awards and for the Dretloh Crystal Cabin Award review we’ll check out a few. The areas we’re highlighting are: Cabin Concepts, Cabin Systems, IFEC (newest category added this year), Passenger Comfort Hardware, and Visionary Concepts.
As industry experts in aviation refurbishments and overhauls here at Dretloh, we figured we’d take an in-depth look at the best new innovations. We are especially interested in the latest in seats, cabins, and comfort designs.
Here is our Top 8 List of the Crystal Cabin Awards.
Cabin Concepts
In Cabin Concepts, we took a particular liking to the introduction of what’s called the “Airspace” cabin by Airbus. The cabin is designed to improve the flying experience for passengers in all cabin classes. Airspace provides retrofitted overhead lockers, light interior paneling, and atmospheric lighting. This concept has been uniquely introduced on the A320 aircraft ranges and we look forward to seeing more from Airbus.
The Airspace Cabin. Image: Airbus
Landing number two on our list, another finalist in this category is the luxury design agency, PriestmanGoode. The company shares the newest Business-class seating product made for its customer, Qatar Airways and we found it is unique in versatility. What we considered noteworthy for the “Qsuite” seating product is the flexibility in regard to seat movement. The suite can be a standard business class seat arrangement or it can take four seats and turn them into a family sitting area for passengers traveling together on long-hauls.
The Qsuite Cabin on Qatar Airways. Image: PriestmanGoode
Cabin Systems
After research and reviewing the diagram above, we are quite impressed with this next one. The PASSME Consortium shares its design of an Innovative Aircraft Seat. The seat design allows Economy row seats to be pushed together and allow for faster boarding times with more space in the aisles. This new concept comes at an ideal time when many of our customers are refurbishing or overhauling an aircraft to install larger amounts of Economy seats and aisles aren’t getting any larger. Except, in this case, we could see this feature from PASSME Consortium becoming extremely useful for cabin design and all others in our industry.
The Innovative Aircraft Seat. Image: PASSME Consortium
IFEC or In-Flight Entertainment & Connectivity
This category is unique since it was just added to the Crystal Cabin Awards roster this year. We work regularly with IFEC Solutions here at Dretloh. It is our goal to help our customers easily integrate these new and on-demand offerings aboard their aircraft.
Bluebox Aviation Systems takes the cake in this category with the latest “Bluebox Accessible IFE” platform. The platform helps visually impaired passengers with barrier-free access to in-flight entertainment. The system is already available on long-haul flights with Bluebox’s partner Virgin Atlantic.
The Bluebox Accessible IFE platform in black and white. Image: Bluebox Aviation Systems
Passenger Comfort Hardware
In Passenger Comfort Hardware, we like the “Valkyrie Bed” made by Rockwell Collins. The bed makes it easy for Business class passengers to adjust to sleep mode with a simple pull from the side panel and expansion across the seat.
The Valkyrie Bed. Image: Rockwell Collins
Coming in at number six on our list is Zodiac’s “Eco Zlounge.” The seat hardware involved in this concept is particularly interesting for us. The Eco Zlounge gives the traveler the option to convert an empty passenger seat in front of them into an ottoman-like leg rest. What a creative solution for our Economy class!
Visionary Concepts
On the tech end of visionary concepts, Renacen of Spain shares its virtual view of the cabin. We like that this feature shows passengers a visual of the cabin and they have access from their home computer. Even more, the 3D Virtual Reality Seating Map is designed for the aircraft cabin. It’s the right combination of SeatGuru.com mixed with some element of Google Street Views.
Finally, our number eight is Airbus’s “Day and Night” concept. From an industry standpoint, we like the customization on this one. According to the State of Remote Work 2018 article which was recently published, shared workspaces and remote employees are on the rise. The day and night concept divides an airplane cabin into both living and shared workspaces as well as a separate sleeping zone.
The Day and Night Concept. Image: Airbus
Dretloh Crystal Cabin Awards
Generally speaking, the Crystal Cabin Awards aren’t just about the recognizable names in the industry. The awards are about providing a unique aviation thought platform and they promote innovation for the next generation of creative world-changers.
At Dretloh, we are passionate about innovation and solutions for our clients. Read more about how we can transform your next commercial aircraft here.
Dretloh Crystal Cabin Awards
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Nicely done Randy.
Thank you, Stacy for visiting the Dretloh blog! We enjoyed writing this article and we’re glad you liked it.