American Airlines has placed a new raft of aircraft orders, for 85 Airbus A321neo, 85 Boeing 737 MAX 10 and 90 Embraer E175 aircraft. Plans include offering more premium seats than any other US airline, and retrofitting its A319 and A320 fleets to increase the number of domestic first-class seats
This special issue is packed full of ideas, designs, materials, design approaches and technologies that can inspire future cabin projects, including interviews with Airbus and Boeing
Airbus’s key figures from 2023 include deliveries of 735 commercial aircraft (an 11% increase over 2022), 2,319 aircraft orders, and a backlog of 8,598 aircraft. The widebody market has recovered much sooner than expected, and “with vigour“, says CEO
The recent production delays and quality issues with the 737 MAX fuselage parts could potentially affect the relationship between Spirit AeroSystems and Airbus, as well as other major aircraft manufacturers, says the CEO of Locatory.com
Airbus has gone the extra mile to create an additional 4in of cabin width in the A350, bringing greater flexibility for all types of airline. A wide range of engineering adjustments and improvements, from galleys to MTOW, will keep the new production standard version competitive
Lufthansa will be the first retrofit customer for Airbus’s Airspace L Bins, which were launched earlier this year. From January 2025, 38 Lufthansa A320s will be refitted with these shelf-style stowage bins, with 60% more bag capacity than the A320 pivot bins
Airbus has selected Panasonic Avionics as a managed service provider (MSP) for its Airspace Link HBCplus (HBCplus) Ku-band connectivity solution, which will be offered as a line-fit catalogue or retrofit option
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has finalised the specifications for its A350-900 passenger cabins, ahead of delivery from 2025. The premium economy cabin will be substantially larger than those on SWISS’s existing long-haul aircraft, in response to growing demand for premium leisure travel
Korean Air has selected Viasat as the inflight connectivity provider for its upcoming fleet of Airbus A321neo aircraft, marking the airline’s first foray into onboard wi-fi. The deal marks the largest post-pandemic agreement for Viasat’s inflight connectivity services in North Asia
Airbus has opened an automated A321XLR equipment installation hangar in Hamburg, for the equipping of up to eight rear fuselage sections simultaneously. The hangar is intended to be a key part in expanding Airbus’s production capacity to 75 narrowbody aircraft per month in 2026
