The show must go on: Crystal Cabin Awards scheduled for April 2021

The health crisis resulted in the postponement of the awards ceremony for the 14th Crystal Cabin Awards in Hamburg, originally planned for 1 April 2020. However, the organiser of the initiative, the Crystal Cabin Award Association, in close consultation with Hamburg Aviation and the independent 27-person expert jury, has rescheduled the event for 13 April 2021.

The 24 finalists in the awards have not been disadvantaged, as they are still in the running across the eight categories. This will come as some relief to those innovators, as competition for a place in the finals was tougher than ever in 2020, with some 105 shortlisted entries viewed and evaluated by the jury of international experts, a record in the 14-year history of the Crystal Cabin Awards. The finalists will have the chance to prove themselves in a presentation to the expert jury on 12 April 2020, the day before the awards ceremony. 

A special post-Covid-19 category

While existing finalists will be happy, so will a range of new companies, as a special trophy will be presented in 2021 for concepts related to hygiene in the aircraft cabin, to reflect efforts being made to make air travel safe during the Covid-19 situation – even though the expert jury is agreed that the risk of infection with pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is very low on board an aircraft. One of the reasons for this low risk is the high-performance HEPA particle filters that continually cleanse cabin air of dust, bacteria and viruses. 

Over its 14 years, the Crystal Cabin Awards jury has been presented with many innovations with the potential to improve health protection and safety. In 2016, for example, Boeing’s self-cleaning toilet was a finalist. In 2017, US start-up GermFalcon made it to the final round with a UV trolley that disinfected the cabin as it passed through. GermFalcon has come into its own during the health crisis.

An interdisciplinary project team made up of members of the Crystal Cabin Award judging panel will determine the details of the special hygiene category over the course of the summer. The submission phase will start on 1 October 2020, and the winner will be announced at the public awards ceremony on 13 April 2021.

The 2021 Crystal Cabin Award finalists

There are eight regular categories for the Awards, plus the special hygiene category for 2021.