Airbus announced a collaboration agreement at Airshow China 2024 with a Chinese aircraft seat manufacturer Jiatai Aircraft Equipment, AeroTime reports. The agreement will provide newly designed economy class seats on the A350 aircraft. This is part of Airbus’ concept for a new production standard for the Airbus A350 cabin layout, with the aim of improving the overall passenger experience and increasing the use of the aircraft’s interior volume. This was achieved, for example, by redesigning the cabin side walls, which allowed for a significant additional four inches (10.16 cm) of cabin width and 35 inches (88.9 cm) of length. As a result, the development of more comfortable and wider economy class seats (17 inches wide) arranged in a 3-4-3 abreast configuration, a wider galley area, a new crew rest area and an enlarged lavatory was enabled. In addition to increasing cabin volume utilization, the new production standard also enables other improvements such as overall aircraft weight savings, better take-off performance and an increase in maximum take-off weight. For carriers currently operating the Airbus A350 in a nine-abreast configuration, it would allow a graceful transition to a ten-abreast configuration, without the need for extended aircraft grounding and extensive material changes, providing approximately 30 additional seats on board.
