Provided by Ameco/Crystal Cabin Awards
The Crystal Cabin Awards shine a spotlight on innovation in the aviation industry. Among this year's nominees is Ameco's Fly Buddy Hub, which reconfigures the economy cabin to allow passengers to sit facing each other. Here's a rendering created by Ameco of what the design could look like:
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Hamburg, Germany CNN —
From the economy cabin concept where you sit facing each other in rows to wellbeing areas designed to keep passengers moving on ultra-long-haul flights: welcome to the future of aviation, at least according to the 2024 Crystal Cabin Awards.
Each year, the premier aviation awards spotlight innovation in aircraft cabin interiors, with nominees ranging from ready-to-go airline-backed initiatives to experimental, yet-to-be-realized designs.
This year's finalists included Ameco's eye-catching concept, the Fly Buddy Hub, which the airline describes as a “multi-purpose social hub” that rearranges two rows of the economy class cabin to allow six passengers to sit facing each other.
Provided by Ameco/Crystal Cabin Awards
The Ameco concept is also designed to be able to transform into a bed, and here's another rendering that shows how this would work.
Ping Li, Ameco's design department manager, told CNN Travel that the idea was designed for “families and business groups traveling” and was born from the idea that “social areas are well designed for business and the upper class” but are lacking in economy class.
After narrowing down a long list of candidates to a finalist list earlier this year, 28 industry experts selected the eight winners at this year's ceremony held at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.
Among this year's winners was Deal Aviation, which designed a Wellbeing Zone in collaboration with Qantas for the airline's ultra-long-haul Project Sunrise flight, which will link Sydney with London and New York on a journey of more than 19 hours.
Deal and Qantas' design won in the “Passenger Comfort” category, envisioning a spacious area between the A350's premium economy and economy cabins, giving passengers room to stretch their legs, have a snack or move around between time zones.
Provided by: Qantas
Diehl Aviation won the Crystal Cabin award for the Wellbeing Zone it designed in partnership with Qantas for the airline's upcoming “Project Sunrise” ultra-long-haul flight. Below is a rendering of what the zone will look like on board an A350 aircraft.
Caroline Oxley, who works for the Crystal Cabin Awards Association, told CNN Travel that this year's finalists have taken a “more democratic approach” to improving the passenger experience.
She points out that while Deal and Qantas's Wellbeing Zone is a more common concept in business and first class, Deal and Qantas' vision is designed to benefit passengers sitting in the cheapest seats on the plane.
Also aiming to improve the overall flying experience is Accenture GmbH's “Accenture PED Safety Bag,” winner in the “Health & Safety” category. The concept aims to address growing concerns about lithium battery fires on airplanes. If a personal device were to catch fire, the bag would safely contain the flames for up to six hours. Oxley called the design “very compelling.”
Equally buzzworthy in the Health & Safety category was nominee Schroth Safety Products' AirPRO, which unveiled a passenger lap belt airbag developed in collaboration with design studios Teams and Design Büro Stühmer/Scholz. Combined with crash sensor technology installed under airplane seats, the bag is designed to deploy quickly in the event of an emergency to protect passengers from injury.
The Crystal Cabin Awards also aim to shine a spotlight on ideas to make aviation greener, with Oxley suggesting “practical solutions” have won.
This year's winner in the “Sustainable Cabin” category was Diehl Aviation, which developed the “ECO Sidewall”, a design that makes the walls of an airplane more environmentally friendly. Other finalists in the category included RECARO Aircraft Seating's intriguing R Sphere, which imagines an airplane seat made from sustainable materials such as recycled fishing nets and cactus. RECARO claims that the 100% recyclable seat could reduce CO2 emissions by 63 tonnes per aircraft per year.
Meanwhile, the Crystal Cabin “University” award shines a spotlight on next-generation aviation innovation and, as the Crystal Cabin Awards Association puts it, “aims to provide a forum for particularly original design.” This year's winner is Shanghai's Tongji University for its “Flexifold” seat, which aims to add flexibility to an easily adjustable economy seat concept.
Courtesy of University of São Paulo/Crystal Cabin Awards
Also nominated was the University of São Paulo in Brazil, which worked with Embraer to design an entire aircraft's noise-cancelling system, as shown in this rendering.
Other notable contenders in the university category include Brazil's University of São Paulo, which worked with aircraft manufacturer Embraer to design an aircraft-wide noise-canceling device, eliminating the need for individual headphones. The futuristic concept uses artificial intelligence and on-board cameras to target sound waves to passengers' heads, reducing the noise of aircraft engines.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, in collaboration with Boeing, All Wheels Up and Collins Aerospace, has developed the Wheelchair Space and Safety System (WSSS), a hook-based device that allows wheelchair users to remain in their wheelchairs during flight.
Cabin Concept Winner: Factorydesign, Coop. BermudAir “BermudAir Aisle Class Suite”
Winning Material and Component: Collins Aerospace “STARLight”
Cabin System Category Winner: Safran Cabin “theCUBE”
Health & Safety Winner: Accenture GmbH “Accenture PED Safety Bag”
Passenger Comfort Winner: Diehl Aviation, Coop. Qantas Airways Ltd “The Wellbeing Zone”
IFEC and Digital Services Category Winner: Thales Avionics “FlytEdge”
Sustainable Cabin Winner: Diehl Aviation “ECO Sidewall”
University Category Winner: Tongji University, Coop. Dupont “Flexifold”
