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aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
MARCH 2020
FLIGHT PRIDE
I t has been an eventful beginning to
2020 for aviation, with coronavirus and
the ongoing B737 MAX saga creating
serious worry and disruption. It certainly isn’t
how I imagined 2020 would start; to my ears 2020
still sounds like the future, a year by which many
envisioned we would be travelling in flying cars,
and served by robot butlers.
Today’s world may not feel particularly sci-fi,
but perhaps we’re a little blasé about recent
progress. After all, in the 2015 world imagined
by futurologist Bob Gale – writer of Back to the
Future II no less – people used now-familiar
technologies such as cashless payment,
smartglasses and tablet computers, while other
ideas such as flexible displays and smart clothing
are on the brink of entering the market.
Even the more outlandish ideas enjoyed by
the 1989 movie’s main protagonist, Marty McFly,
such as self-lacing shoes and flying cars, aren’t
the stuff of fantasy, with Nike’s EARL (Electric
Adaptable Reaction Lacing) technology available
today (albeit for US$800), and you can join the
order book for Terrafugia’s flying car, though
it is conservatively priced at US$279,000, and
quite when you’ll receive it and where you’ll
be able to travel in it is unclear. Perhaps in
many ways we have gone beyond Marty’s
world, with technology such as smartwatches,
nanotechnology, wi-fi, 5G, satnav and even
exoskeletons now available.
Looking at the inflight experience, cabin crew
can become instant polyglots with automatic
translation devices, and airlines can 3D-print
cabin components detected or reported to have
broken during flight, ready to be replaced upon
landing (p18). With projects such as iCabin (p34)
the cabin can monitor itself, keeping track of
galley operation and stocks, optimising
temperature, and monitoring passengers’ health.
Even those flexible displays are not the stuff of
movies any more, as CES 2019 saw Delta show
a first-class seat clad in wraparound OLEDs.
As with Marty’s shoes and flying cars, new
technology is initially only available to those who
can afford a high price tag. However, access to air
travel is egalitarian, available at some remarkably
low price points. Perhaps some passengers are
too focused on their immediate environment: the
experience becomes magical the moment you
remember you are travelling in a flying machine,
and all it takes is a glance out of the window.
Aviation may be starting 2020 with challenges,
but the industry learns, adapts and overcomes.
The #flygskam trend of ‘flight shame’ is another
factor to respond to, but just look through
the hundreds of innovations featured in this
magazine that can be used to reduce weight,
power consumption and emissions, while also
enhancing passenger wellbeing, and you’ll see
why aviation should have a new ‘flight pride’
hashtag #flgstolthet.
Adam Gavine, editor
/aircraftinteriorsinternational.com