HE A D - OF - STATE C OMPLETION
SEEING CLEARLY
H ead-of-state projects are normally kept under wraps, but
the aircraft registered PH-GOV, which will serve the Dutch
government and royal family, is a notable exception.
Replacing an outgoing Fokker 70 KBX, PH-GOV is a BBJ with an
interior design by Robin Dunlop, design director at CTM and
co-founder of Altea. The aircraft was completed by Fokker Techniek
under the guidance of Altea. The design is in the public domain because
it was purchased via EU tender, and using taxpayers’ money, for circa
€90m (US$99.3m).
Dunlop was involved in the previous aircraft’s design, after its
coordinator was impressed with a presentation he made to Fokker back
in 2007. Following the tender process, Dunlop was entrusted with the
design of the new BBJ too.
FLEXIBLE FLOORPLANS
The main difficulty was that, due to the public nature of the procurement
process, the cabin had to be designed without knowing which aircraft
OEM would prevail. To prepare for any outcome, 15 floorplans were
created. “For example, the position of the emergency aisle differs
between the BBJ 737 and the ACJ319,” says Dunlop. “We had to make
the design as generic but as feasible as possible.”
While the tender pitch had to be flexible, the regulations governing
the completion were incredibly rigid. “Once your user requirements and
businessjetinteriorsinternational.com
020 OCTOBER 2019
RIGHT: THE FORWARD LOUNGE
FEATURES A 42IN 107CM
RETRACTABLE IFE MONITOR
BELOW INSET: EVEN CLOTHES
HANGERS ARE CAREFULLY
CUSTOMISED IN TONES ASSOCIATED
WITH THE NETHERLANDS
BELOW: THE MID LOUNGE AREA
Altea’s Robin Dunlop is an advocate of
hiring experts when it comes to lighting,
as he did on this project. “The back-end
was delivered with Boeing lighting, but
that wasn’t quite right so we stripped it
out,” he explains.
The customer didn’t want colourful
RGB mood lighting, so the focus was on
getting white LEDs with the right colour
temperature. “We worked with a great
lighting firm called RE:Light to match the
colour temperature and light calculations
– what the bandwidth is, dimensional
positioning, spill and also frequency,
making sure it is all in harmony,” says
Dunlop. “What you don’t want is a light
frequency that is effectively strobing
if you slow it right down.”
The team worked with a direct form
of lighting that features an LED spot with
no strobe in it in terms of its frequency,
and matched the hardware frequency
and colour temperature.
“Then it was down to positioning,”
explains Dunlop. “You might want the
lighting to be in a specific place but
you can’t always get it there because
there’s a bunch of wiring running
through or an aircon duct
or whatever. Honestly, I don’t
think business aviation as
a whole gives enough
credence to lighting design
and that’s why we
involve specialists
in this area.”
King Willem-
Alexander is a trained
pilot, so may fly the
aircraft himself on
certain state visits
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