This could be the seats after the Covid-19

The coronavirus crisis has forced airlines to search for solutions to resume their flights. From offers and promotions to lower prices on long flights, now one of the new proposals would be to design seats that keep each of the passengers and crew protected.

The Italian airline seat manufacturing company Aviointeriors presented two proposals for seats covered with economy class partitions, which avoid contact between passengers and allow users to protect themselves from the expansion of the breathing of the rest of the passengers and thus mitigate the risk of spread of coronavirus or any other existing virus.

The first model proposes an S-shaped seating design, where the central armchair is inverted, facing backwards, with the possibility of adding a transparent thermoplastic head-level screen around each user.

This model has been called Janus, in homage to the two-faced Roman God, protector of doors, the beginning and the end. Each of the seats will have the same space and freedom of movement of a conventional seat, in addition, each passenger will be in front of the back of another seat with a folding table, USB connections and footrest.

The other design is slightly simpler and cheaper for airlines as it does not require them to redesign the flight deck with an upside down row of seats.

It would be a mini cabin as a helmet which comprises placing a protective screen on each of the seats. It can be of opaque or transparent material depending on privacy that the airlines seek.

This solution could become much faster and cheaper for airlines, since they would attach it to existing seats, besides its simple and ideal installation system to remove and clean them whenever necessary.

“This provision allows the three passengers to separate with a shield made of transparent material that isolates them from each other, creating a protective barrier for everyone,” explained the company Aviointeriors, adding that this proposal “makes the entire cabin be harmonious and aesthetically light, and perfectly fulfills the aim of creating an isolated volume around the passenger”.

Besides the health protection benefits, this could also be an interesting idea for passengers who prefer to isolate themselves in their seat during travel hours.

However, it would remain to study how the evacuation would be managed if there are passengers sitting in the opposite direction; How would those parents who should help their children when eating or put on their belts do and how would all the people who claim to be uncomfortable with flying with their backs to the direction of the plane feel?

So far, both designs are prototypes under investigation, and Aviointeriors expects to get better results than those got with the Skyrider 3.0 proposal during the Aircraft Interiors Expo in 2019, since Janus seats could be a starting point for the Discuss what planes will be like after the coronavirus, and what the solutions will be once borders are reopened and the aviation industry functions as it regularly does.