Finalist of the Crystal Cabin Award 2015
The Jazz economy class airline seat was the result of an unprecedented partnership between aircraft interior supplier B/E Aerospace, IFE (in flight entertainment) supplier Panasonic Avionics Corporation, and the design firms of Formation Design Group and Teague to design a next generation long-haul economy seat. The goal of this coordinated effort was to take into consideration both seat and IFE design requirements simultaneously from the ground up, as opposed to the traditional route of creating separate systems and integrating them at the end of the development cycle. Designing both seat and IFE in concert opened up new opportunities for passenger comfort, integration of new technologies, reduced weight resulting in lower aircraft fuel consumption, simplified manufacturing, and easier maintenance.
Formation Design Group took the leading role designing the seat’s overall aesthetic, engineering it’s underlying structure and mechanisms, and developing it’s comfort systems. New materials and manufacturing processes were explored and implemented, such as newly developed aerospace grade magnesium alloys and DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) additive manufacturing. By working closely with Teague and Panasonic engineers as they defined the next generation of passenger entertainment, Formation’s seat design was able to accommodate many emerging technologies and premium features that were targeted by the IFE team’s design, such as a 13.3” high definition display, wireless charging, and a multitude of connectivity and power options.
The final result of this joint effort was the production of a set of fully functional demonstrators.
