The In-Flight Comfort Revolution and the Shifts it will Bring to the Market

Let’s talk about your last flight experience! Do you remember which engine was installed on the last jet you flew in? I bet none of us do. Well, let’s give it another try.
Can you recall how many kilograms of CO2 did it emit per revenue-passenger-kilometer? Sounds almost alien to many, I’m sure.

While these are both extremely important parameters for both OEMs and fleet owners, to most passengers, they hold no significance. The only thing I remember about my last flight is the fact that I was able to get a seat with extra leg space in exchange for some extra dollars and that really made the journey more comfortable. Luckily, this inclination towards comfort isn’t singular and in fact, a recent research conducted by Ipsos shows that ‘more comfortable seats’ are among the second most sought-after improvements in air travel, by US passengers; second only to lower prices.

The interiors of an aircraft are what delight the passengers and, not the technical specifications. Fleet owners understand this better than anyone else and their relentless endeavors towards providing a better flight experience have been pushing the aircraft interiors market towards a YoY growth of >20% for the past three years consecutively, according to Stratview Research.

How passenger preferences are impacting the market?

In the past 5 years, the expectations of passengers from their respective favorite airlines have seen some paradigm shifts. While more comfortable seats have long been on the list of both airlines as well as passengers; the past half-decade has seen a significant rise in demand for connectivity and entertainment during the journey. Research shows that the availability/quality of inflight WiFi/entertainment systems is now among the top 5 criteria for passengers in the US when choosing a carrier, especially for long-haul flights.

The number of active, connected aircraft in the global commercial fleet has seen a rise of more than 20% in the past five years, with ~10K connected aircraft and ~9K aircraft with wireless IFE systems installed as of December 2024. The number of connected aircraft is further estimated to touch ~20K units by 2030.

For the next half a decade, IFEC will be at the center stage of aircraft interior upgrades, followed by aircraft seatings as the second most active area of development. The industry will see the needle moving towards lighter seats, as well as increased installations of Premium Economy Seats across different airlines. Though all the major carriers(~60 as of December 2023) are already offering Premium Economy Seats, >70% of the active airlines haven’t tapped into this profitable opportunity yet. Profitable because, according to Lufthansa, these seats offer a 33% higher revenue per square foot, as compared to economy class seats.

IFEC systems, with their high penetration rate and seatings being the evergreen area of innovation in aircraft interiors, currently constitute ~60% of the entire aircraft interiors market, combined.

Fig.1. Share of different applications in the Aircraft Interiors Market 

Products and systems for cleaner, lighter, more spacious, and connected flying:

1.The revised standards for hygiene:

The unfortunate and unforeseen pandemic that took the aviation industry by surprise, not only made the aviation industry witness one of its biggest downfalls but also forced the industry to adapt to much stricter cleanliness and hygiene standards. Touchless aircraft systems, that were already available but had not been adopted widely, were integrated rapidly into the existing fleet because of the then-revised hygiene standards.
Companies like Collins Aerospace, Diehl Aviation, Safran Cabin Solutions, etc. saw high adoption rates for their touchless systems, post the pandemic.

Another notable development in this area was the Electronic Cabin Bag (eCB), introduced by Collins  Aerospace in June 2021. The eCB allowed passengers access to a live onboard inventory of food, beverages, and inflight shopping throughout the entire flight and allowed them to utilize their Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) for inflight shopping and service requests, eliminating the necessity for them to touch frequently used call button.

2.Lighter is greener:

This is where it gets trickier for the OEMs. For a better flight experience, they must add features but they cannot add more weight, or else it will lead to increased fuel consumption, and hence disturb both the economy as well as sustainability. So, lightweight components with good structural properties are the only solution. For each kilogram of weight reduced, a commercial jet can offer ~$250 of annual savings in fuel cost, which also implies that every extra kilogram would cost just the same. So, if we talk about seats, reducing just one kilogram per seat, even for a narrow-body aircraft(say the Airbus A320), with a typical accommodation of 140-170 seats, and assuming ~3000 hours flown annually, we are looking at $35K-$42K in annual fuel savings.

Of all the interior components in the cabin, economy seats hold the highest weight-saving potential since both the number and the density of economy seats are the highest. The current benchmark for lightweight economy seats in the industry is the TiSeat E2, which starts from just 6.5 kg/pax, fully equipped, and is touted to reduce annual fuel consumption by 500,000 liters and CO2 emissions by ~1200 metric tons, per aircraft.

Apart from using finished lightweight parts, significant weight reduction can also be achieved by using lightweight materials at the component level too. For instance, launched in November 2023, the new Dupont Kevlar® aramid paper for use in aircraft cabin interior sandwich structures, claims to achieve a 5% reduction in the finished part weight by replacement of the core alone, for parts like aircraft sidewall panels.

3. More spacious, utilizing the same space:

The primary revenue stream for any passenger aircraft is the ‘no. of seats’. Thus, any fleet owner would naturally want to make secondary spaces like galleys as compact as possible. However, dealing with galleys can be complex since major changes in the configurations can arguably lead to changes in the center of gravity. Nonetheless, companies like Diehl Aviation, Jamco, HAECO Cabin Solutions, etc. have introduced some promising designs/upgrades in the past few years. Some of them are mentioned in Table 1.
 

Table 1: Some improved galley concepts and the corresponding seat addition they enable.

Apart from galley systems, space optimization can also be achieved using stowage bins. For instance, the Airspace XL bins for the A220, designed by Diehl Aviation and set to be rolled out in 2025, claim to offer 20% more stowage capacity than the previous overhead bins.

4.Connectivity and entertainment have transitioned from privilege to necessity:

According to a survey with 10K+ participants from 10 different countries who took a flight at least once in the past 12 months, 97% of the passengers use their PEDs during the flight as compared to a meager 33% in 2020. More than 70% of the passengers think that in-flight connectivity and entertainment are critical for long-haul flights and more than 80% of the passengers will prefer the same airlines if the Wi-fi speed is good. Additionally, the survey also found that ~33% of the passengers are willing to pay extra for access to premium content during the flight.

This is why Airlines like Jetblue, Qantas, and more recently, Qatar Airways(in partnership with Starlink) have started offering free in-flight wi-fi to passengers of all classes, and fleet owners like Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines offer free IFE on all domestic flights.

The real opportunity here however is for the content, connectivity, and hardware providers, with IFE hardware providers having the biggest chunk of the IFEC market. According to Stratview Research, IFEC hardware providers alone are looking at opportunities worth more than $2 bn in the present year, with continued double-digit YoY growth for the next half a decade.

How sophisticated are the future opportunities?

Both Boeing and Airbus have predicted deliveries of ~36,000 new passenger aircraft by 2042 globally, to cater to the increasing air traffic and also address the general fleet expansion goals of major airlines. Although the new deliveries will be more centered around the Asia-Pacific region, with China projected to witness ~3x and other regions of the Asia-Pacific to combinedly, witness ~2.5x expansion in the current fleet size, the dominance in the aircraft interiors market isn’t expected to witness drastic shifts in the next decade. Currently, North America alone captures ~40% of the global market for aircraft interiors and is expected to maintain its dominance for another decade. This will be because of the presence of several aircraft OEMs and some of the biggest airlines in the region.

Currently valued at ~$15 bn, the aircraft interiors market is estimated to cross $20 bn in less than five years and this growth will be driven by both fleet expansion and upgradation. Currently, ~75% of the global commercial aircraft fleet is not yet the latest generation, and thus, whether fleet owners choose to upgrade or replace, it’s a win-win for the aircraft interiors market. Not to mention, even the best cabins, seats, floor panels, etc. need a replacement every 6-7 years. So the demand isn’t going to see a halt.

The global passenger traffic is also expected to reach an all-time high of 4.7 billion in 2024 as per IATA and as more and more people start flying, the demand for an enhanced travel experience is going to become more frequent. It won’t be long before passengers will step into a VR-AR-enabled cabin and that’s what the next major shift in passenger experience will be.

Authored by Stratview Research and originally published on Aircraft Interiors International.