Comfort, the buzzword now
V. JAYANTH
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In building new passenger aircraft, it is not just engineers who are involved, but also architects, interior designers and psychologists. It is all towards providing a better flying experience.
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PHOTOS: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
FUTURE FLIGHT: Aircraft manufacturers are introducing a range of new features in the cabin. This is an interior mockup of the Boeing 787.
AIRCRAFT manufacturers are in a race to make flying truly attractive.
Airlines are in intense battle now to capture and retain a sizable share of passenger and cargo traffic. Some of the tricks of the trade include making it really inexpensive to fly for first time passengers and selling value-added services to frequent fliers and business travellers. There are also the aircraft manufacturers who envisage a significant rate of growth in the aviation sector and a substantial increase in the demand for aircraft to meet that perceived demand. Their solutions are to come up with new models, create variations in the existing versions and even build a new Jumbo jet.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the aviation sector appears to be heading for a phase of attractive growth. In India, for example, the sector has not only bounced back into business, but has been enthused by the new open skies policy being adopted with many more countries. Aside from the U.S. maintaining its momentum of growth, most of the growth in air traffic over the next two decades is expected to come from the Asia-Pacific region, which is why more airlines are taking to the sky here and the concept of no-frills, low-cost airlines may be catching on.
New models, much research
As such, the two leading aircraft manufacturers, Airbus Industrie and Boeing Commercial Airplane Co. (BCA) are studying the market and coming up with new models and variations. If France's Airbus caught the imagination of the world recently with the flight of its Airbus A380 — this new jumbo can carry nearly 550 passengers — arch rival and American-based Boeing has fashioned the Boeing 787, which is expected to be launched in 2008. Boeing officials and engineers insist that a great degree of research has gone into the making of this "premium aircraft" (there are already 250 firm orders). Air India is one of the airlines expected to firm up orders for this aircraft.
According to Ken Price, who heads the 787 design team in Seattle, "It is not just engineers who have been involved, but also architects, interior designers and a psychologist. We want to reconnect with passengers and make them enjoy the flying experience. They must feel welcome in the aircraft and not uncomfortable. So, from the time that a passenger boards the 787, it will be a rich and enjoyable experience. That's our objective and promise too."
Inside Boeing's new plane
How does that happen? In the first instance, the design team has experimented with the aircraft shape. Normally, the fuselage is a perfect circle, but in the 787, Boeing has made it oval, with the use of composite material instead of just aluminium sheets. The body now gains in both width and height to make it more comfortable for passengers, says Price. "This is an atrium-like entrance we have designed. The use of architecture provides a new psychological experience. And the passenger can stand his/her full height — there is no need to bend as you enter the aircraft."
There is much more inside. In the two-class configuration on display at Boeing's Seattle facility, and where groups of passengers have been let in to get an idea of what it is going to be like, they can find that business class offers much more than usual. Here, hand baggage cabins go higher and deeper, to accommodate at least two pieces of baggage of each passenger. The seats have also been designed aesthetically for enhanced comfort.
Controlled lighting, bigger windows
Then comes the real surprise. The lighting in the aircraft will be the LED (Light Emitting Diode)-based. The crew can suitably modify lighting to provide the desired level of comfort. A "time zone" can be created to simulate daybreak, a full morning, sunset or night fall. And the airline can choose what colour it wants for this — with a tinge of blue, green or even orange, for branding. Further, cabin windows are twice the normal size so that even passengers in the middle can have a view of the outside. The window has been designed to be "light sensitive", with the use of light sensors. At the press of a button, provided in the passenger console, the window changes from "bright", to "shady" to "pitch dark". And this facility will be available to all passengers.
For a change, even economy or tourist class passengers will also get a better deal, as Boeing wants to make them "enjoy the flying experience". The seating configuration in the rear economy class will be as 3 + 2 + 3 and then in the 3 + 3 + 3 format, where seats can be offered at a discount. Boeing has even gone to the extent of patenting the 3+2+3 configuration.
Cabin pressure
The pressure in the passenger cabin has also been the subject of research. In a passenger aircraft, though it is depressurised, it is in the environs of about 8,000 feet above sea level, which itself can be uncomfortable, as studies show. So, a Boeing research programme among passengers found that a "more comfortable" 6,000 feet above sea level mean for the pressure in the cabin is ideal. Correspondingly, the level of humidity has also been increased for a better comfort-level.
With the increased availability of height in the cabin, Boeing has also gone in for rest bunkers for the crew — two in front and a few at the back, along with extra seats for the crew to rest, especially during long haul flights. This obviates the need to block a couple of business and economy class seats for the crew, making it far more appealing to airlines. The attempt has been to please the passenger.
Asked about the issue of safety as there is considerable use of composite material, Boeing engineers insist that "it is far more safer and we will put the 787 through the toughest tests when it is ready to fly. The composite materials have already been in use and are more reliable and sustainable when compared to aluminium, especially in withstanding structural fatigue".
But passengers have to wait till 2008 to endorse this new aircraft.
Net in the sky
FOR about a decade now, satellite telephones have been in use on board passenger aircraft, but for a fee. Expensive, it has been a service available in a few airlines across the world. But satellite technology has now made it possible to provide internet access on board. And, to pioneer this effort, Boeing company has set up an exclusive subsidiary to provide those links on board aircraft. Called "Connexion", this subsidiary has begun "wiring" aircraft and enabling wireless communications to and from an aircraft. Essentially, it will mean an aircraft will be equipped with a dish to link up to a satellite.
Mobile phone, net facilities
Connexion's Vice-President, Sherry L. Nebel, told a team of journalists from the Asia-Pacific region, which was in Seattle recently, that inflight entertainment will provide for four channels on-line, on demand. Simultaneously, passengers will be also be able to use their mobile telephones and connect to the internet. An e-mail facility is possible. Of course, it will be for a fee, though it is up to an airline to make any special offers it wants.
Initially, passengers will have to use their own laptops to link up, though it will be up to the airline to decide whether it wants to create a "net café" on board. All this will depend on demand and use on board.
GET WIRED: Passengers can look forward to using new technological options.
Connexion says it has taken up these linkages not just for Boeing aircraft, but also on Airbus aircraft. "We are dealing with customer airlines whose fleet is mixed and we must provide the service they want. We are pioneers in this segment and plan to stay ahead in the race," says Nebel.
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