At EBACE 2014, for the first time Lufthansa Technik is presenting its product chair[TM], a ground-breaking and original family of chairs dedicated to VIP and business jet aircraft.
Designers can adapt the seat to designated purposes and interior requirements, from basic working chairs, to lounge and dining chairs or to full flat sleeping beds. Besides weight and space savings in the cabin, chair[TM] also offers other new features such as "active seating" for children and adults.
"On board of an aircraft, the seats are the central interfaces between the passengers and the cabin", said Andrew Muirhead, head of Lufthansa Technik's new "Original Equipment Innovation" product division. "After decades in which VIP and business jet seating only changed its shape or colour, passengers want something new at the highest and most basic levels - the comfort and convenience of the most innovative cabin along with the wealth of options they know from home furnishings and more room to move freely in the cabin."
While the technical design of chair[TM] was developed by Lufthansa Technik, the aesthetic design of the exposed chair[TM] versions was developed in parallel as one possible design line together with the renowned aircraft interior designer, Jacques Pierrejean, Design Office Manager from Pierrejean Design Studio.
Pierrejean said: "This seat is my friend. It wears a different cover depending on the comfort I need, the situation I'm in and the culture I live in. The concept of chair[TM] opens up an unequalled degree of freedom for cabin interior designers."
"chair[TM] is not just another VIP seat, it is a unique approach to offer designers completely new possibilities to select the perfect chair configuration for every cabin floor plan. The family concept offers several thousand different configuration possibilities", said Oliver Thomaschewski, product manager chair[TM] at Lufthansa Technik.
Made in Germany in cooperation with the premium automotive supplier Dräxlmaier, all chair[TM] configurations are based on a seat frame developed in bionic harmony with the human body and an extremely slim load-bearing primary structure. Individually sized ribs, customized upholstery of every thickness, back rests in different heights, ergonomic functions such as leg and arm rests and a variety of other flexible add-on elements produce a hitherto undreamed-of variability.
The chair family is in the process to be certified as a 16g seat.
First dynamic tests have already been completed.
At EBACE 2014, Lufthansa Technik is presenting three versions of its chair[TM] family at the Lufthansa Technik booth (no.5634, hall 6).
Lufthansa Technik:
The Lufthansa Technik Group, with more than 30 subsidiaries and about 26,000 employees worldwide, is one of the leading providers of technical services for the aviation industry. Lufthansa Technik is licensed internationally as a repair, production and development enterprise. The Group's portfolio encompasses the entire spectrum of services in the areas of maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification and conversion, engines and components.
