Flying in economy in an 18 hour-plus flight isn’t exactly a glamorous or enjoyable experience. Being contained in a small seat that doesn’t have much recline, pitch or legroom for such a long duration takes a toll on your body and mind.
Thanks to the startup company, Zephyr Aerospace, things are going to change. Zephr Aerospace has designed a two-tiered, lie-flat seating system for economy passengers.
O’Neill, the founder and CEO of start-up Zephyr Aerospace, said, “We believe that new types of travelers will require privacy or will want to pay extra for that as much as they would pay for the ability to sleep,”
The company proposes a double-decker seating option that will give passengers more space even to lie fully flat. Not only that, passengers will also get more isolation that is must in a post-COVID world.
Best part is Zephyr seat design would provide all this without minimizing the number of seats available in the cabin. The formation would provide double-decker seating in a 2-4-2 configuration and would fit into the majority of global airlines’ planes. O’Neill explained “We basically retrofitted a whole other seat on top of another.”
This brilliant idea came to O’Neill, while travelling on world’s longest commercial flight out of Singapore. He remembered. “I’m on probably the best rated airline in the world, and I’m getting wonderful service and the food is edible, but I can’t sleep,” “This is really uncomfortable. Why is it so difficult to find an affordable way to lie flat on a flight that’s 19 hours?”
Image courtesy zephyr-aerospace
