Get Ready To Fly With 'Cozy Suite'

By Staff

Thursday, April 16, 2009, 16:28

Are you still cursing the air lines you had travelled the last time you had been in an official trip? Is your back ache a result of the uncomfortable seats and the uneven cushion in the flights? Well, than must say, it's time for you wash away the blues, fasten your seat belts tight, and welcome the new 'Cozy Suite'.

Thompson Solutions, which expertises in aircraft cabin engineering, has designed a new type of seats in an aircraft that may help travellers sleep and provide more privacy. According to the designers, the new 'Cozy Suite' seats are 'a major step forward in passenger comfort and cater towards the growing size of passengers. Quizzed on how the suite works? Well, the manufacturers believe that the seats are staggered in a bid to create a more private space and also provide passengers with a place to rest their head while sleeping.

By staggering the seats and overlapping the armrests, the company could increase the width of each seat to 50 centimetres and a knee space of 78 centimetres, five centimetres more than other airline seats. "A conventional seat on a Boeing 737 is 17.5" (44.5 centimetres) wide; our seats are 19" (48 centimetres). For an A320, a conventional seat is 18.5" (47 centimetres); ours is 20" (50 centimetres)," News.com.au quoted a Thompson Solutions' spokesperson as saying.

The spokesperson added: "These are valuable increases given the continued growth in average passenger size and the remaining lifespan of the current generation of aircraft."

Meanwhile, the new design received mixed reviews from online bloggers, some of whom are hailing the better comfort it provides. "I think that this is excellent. No more complaining of back aches or no sleep," said passenger Schweeney. However, there are other travellers, who don't seems to be happy with some aspects of the design, and there seems to be a few mixed reactions. "You can't recline the seat. Guaranteed failure," said one unhappy traveller.

There are others who are saying that removing the ability to recline the seat will have a limited impact. "Removing reclining on an airplane seat is the best idea ever. The actual recline on a plane is so small, it does nothing," said another passenger.

The idea of manufacturing the suite, however, didn't just hit upon the manufacturers. Thompson Solutions, the UK-based design house, came up with the design only after observing that passengers trying to sleep on long flights tend to position themselves at an angle.They also noticed that people sitting at the window seat seemed happy to rest their head against the wall.

Though no Australian-based airlines have purchased the seats as yet, Delta Airlines, which is from the United States, is the first first customer to order the Cozy Sutie, and will rollout the product on its entire Boeing 757ER and 777 fleets next year. The design will allow Delta to fit eight seats in a row instead of seven. And according to reports, the company is close to selling the Cozy Suite to several other airlines, including a Middle Eastern airline.

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