For more than 25 years, Airbus has ordered a major portion of the passenger cabins of its A320 family aircraft exclusively from aircraft interiors supplier, FACC. This relationship has deepened with the first delivery of the complete entrance area of the A320 Airspace cabin from FACC – part of the company’s expanded cabin product portfolio.
FACC received the commission from Airbus to develop and produce the entrance area of the A320 Airspace cabin In mid-2018. After an intensive development phase, the first article parts have now been delivered to Airbus in Hamburg.
The A320 Airspace entrance area has been completely redesigned, not just for a sophisticated appearance, but to optimise weight through the use of fibre composite materials. FACC’s design comprises the entire lining of the entrance and door area in the front, middle and rear sections of the aircraft.
Another new feature for the Airspace cabin is the lighting system, named ‘Hero Light’, which has been integrated throughout, from the entrance area via the main cabin, to the rear service area. The lighting is intended to create a unique and pleasant interior atmosphere for passengers.
According to FACC, a further benefit of the design is the intelligent and innovative connection concept, which can reduce maintenance times for aircraft technicians.
“The new concept enables us to significantly reduce service costs for our customers. In addition, we have geared the component design of the entrance area towards high volumes and modern production processes. The Airbus and FACC teams worked together perfectly during the entire development phase,” stated Andreas Furthmayr, VP of cabin interiors at FACC AG.
The first shipset, comprising an Airspace entrance area and Hero Lights, has now been delivered to Airbus in Hamburg, where it will be installed in a serial aircraft under the supervision of FACC. The company now intends to ramp-up series production of the hardware, with the scope of the project ranging from the development and the entire procurement process, to production and the associated logistics.
