Is This the Future of Economy Seats?

It's no secret that airlines try to configure as many seats into an aircraft as possible without sacrificing safety and (sometimes) comfort (let's hope this mini-seat doesn't become the new norm). Passengers who fly in economy know that ample pitch is hard to come by in the rear of an aircraft. One company, PearsonLloyd, has developed an economy seat that would give passengers more space and comfort. It's called the Eco Seat.

PearsonLloyd is a London-based design firm that specializes in aviation, workplace, healthcare and urban environments. They designed this seat with the challenge of making crammed passengers more comfortable and making the economy cabin feel roomier while keeping the seat as light and strong as its predecessors.

The Eco Seat is designed around a thin shell and has a contoured spine that follows an ergonomic curve all the way up to the headrest. The company says this design allows for more comfortable upright sitting. A key improvement, according to PearsonLloyd, is the headrest which has been separated from the rest of the chair to improve sight lines for passengers.

The seat includes two storage compartments and a newly designed tray table that is not only much thinner, but it will also fold out and have extra leaves that extend it to the width of the chair. The elastic pouch typically found at the base on the rear of seats will be removed with this design.

Each seat will be covered with recycled plastic partially made from sunflower seeds, and the aluminum elements will be made from recycled aircraft. There will also be a space for a video screen.

"For long-haul some of these proposals make sense," Luke Pearson, director of PearsonLloyd, told fastcodesign.com. "For short haul, we may see similar more radical options. It's very hard to predict, though, how long cheap fuel will facilitate cheap travel."

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In 2017, PearsonLloyd's economy class seating launched in Lufthansa's A350. They've also created business class seating for the airline's B747. TPG reached out to PearsonLloyd to see if they have spoken with any airlines about installing the new economy seat but has not received a response.

Images courtesy of Neutral Digital via Facebook.