UP F RONT
In-house IFE
Delta’s A321neo will feature a
wireless IFE system created by
the airline’s in-house start-up,
Delta Flight Products.
The system, which launched
on Delta’s A220-100, uses stateof
the-art tablets sourced from
Hitachi mounted into the
seatbacks, with free content
from the Delta Studio catalogue
2
streamed to them wirelessly,
bringing potential benefits in
terms of reliability, maintenance,
simplicity of future upgrades,
and weight. Indeed the Delta
Flight Products team believes
that the switch to wireless
streaming technology saves
around 0.45kg (1 lb) of wiring
per seat.
the stowage volume for personal items and devices,
including dedicated laptop stowage and water bottle
stowage (largely due to the large stowage space
between the seats in front), all within the same
footprint. Delta has also added customer-facing
power ports and enhanced memory-foam cushions.
“Customer insights were instrumental to the new
design, and we spent hundreds of hours listening to
customers so that we could respond with thoughtful
improvements,” states Mauricio Parise, Delta’s
managing director of product development. “We’ve
completely customised every feature on the seat to
create a truly unique, premium seating product for
domestic first class.”
When Delta’s A321neos arrive between late 2020 and
2023, they will be configured with 197 seats, including
20 in first class, 30 in Delta Comfort+ and 147 in the
main cabin. The aircraft will also feature bookshelf-style
overhead stowage bins 25% larger than those of Delta’s
A321ceos, and full-spectrum LED cabin lighting.
aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
MARCH 2020 043
More than
40% of Airbus’s
aircraft-related
procurement comes
from the USA
1. CUSTOMISATION WORK ON THE
CL4710 INCLUDED ADDING EXTRA
PRIVACY AROUND THE HEAD AREA
2. USABLE SURFACES AND STOWAGE
SPACES HAVE ALL BEEN ENLARGED
FOR THE DELTA PROJECT
3. DELTA’S A321NEOS WILL
BE POWERED BY THE LATESTGENERATION
PRATT & WHITNEY
PURE POWER PW1100G
BRAVE NEO WORLD
Delta’s all-new first class for the A321neo brings the airline’s
domestic inflight experience more in line with its international fleet
A major order for the Airbus A321neo
calls for a major cabin upgrade, and this
is certainly the case for Delta, which has
100 firm orders and 100 options for the
aircraft. First-class flyers in particular can
look forward to an experience that brings
elements of Delta’s long-haul widebody
travel experience to domestic routes,
central to which is a new seat with some
comforts familiar from its larger siblings,
including enhanced privacy, comfort and
stowage, and larger IFE displays.
The airline partnered with
Factorydesign on the cabin design, and
also for the customisation work on the Recaro CL4710
seats, the most instantly noticeable part of which is the
privacy wings around the headrests, which also help
support the head during sleep. Aside from privacy and
sleep, the design team took notice of other customer
feedback and industry trends, and implemented larger
tables and stowages, and added convenience functions.
Indeed, compared with Delta’s A321ceo domestic
first-class seat, the neo’s seat offers a larger and
sturdier tray table, including 25% more workspace, triple
1
3
Read our 2020 Design Showcase issue on aircraftinteriorsinternational.com to see more Factorydesign projects
/aircraftinteriorsinternational.com
/aircraftinteriorsinternational.com