“Standing places”, seats on two levels and luggage under the seat to eliminate the hatks: between claustrophobia and doubts about safety here’s how the planes of the future will be.
Taking a plane between five or ten years could be a totally different experience. Some low cost companies – including Ryanair and Vivolombia – have in fact recently announced that they have started the process of Evaluation for the introduction of “standing places”: the bike-style seats, presented in experimental form already in 2010, are increasingly concrete and would allow passengers to travel in a semi-pointed positionresting on a thin and padded back. They could arrive already in 2026, meanwhile Airbus and the Spanish startup Chaise Longue are exploring, fortunately, less radical ideas: like the seats on two alternating levels in order to make the most of the height of the cabin and optimize the available space without completely sacrificing comfort.
More space for legs. The idea of double level It arises from concrete needs, that is contain costs for companies, increase the number of passengers And improve – at least in part – the flight experience. The prototype involves a raised row, alternating with a lower one, so as to create a sort of checkerboard. The passengers of the lower floor would have more space for the legs, being able to extend them under the structure of the sopreciated front seat. Also Hand luggage would find their seat under their seatsas it is with the removal of the hats that would earn volume in height. Those who sit above, on the other hand, would have the advantage of being able to reclinate without fear of invading the space of others, given that there would be no one behind it. In short, all fantastic? Not exactly.
Between smelly and turbulence. Despite the technical advantages, the public is divided. Some users ironize that the lower floor can turn into the so -called “Fart zone“, That is, the area below the back of another passenger. A joke that hides a small truth: comfort is also a psychological question, and the idea of being under another person can evoke Claustrophobia rather than comfortgiven that the upper seat projected above the head could accentuate the sensation of closed space.
To these perplexities are added much more serious questions: how sure such a structure is In case of strong shocks or emergency landings? Problems on which the civil aviation bodies will have to express themselves. However, according to Alejandro Núñez Vicente – industrial engineer and founder of Chaise Longue – This structure can even improve privacy, offering a sort of individual “niche”.
His project, which began in 2021 with a wooden prototype, has attracted the interest of Airbus and Emirates, and provides a mixed configuration: double central seats and traditional files on the sides. Airbus confirmed the collaboration, calling it “an exploratory phase of concepts of two -level seat“.
Unbridled luxury. While working to make the spaces for the economic class more efficient, the airlines do not neglect passengers willing to pay more. United Airlines, for example, has just revealed a new configuration of its business class: the “Polaris Studio Suite”, available from 2025 on Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Each passenger will have a single armchair placed inside a compartment, more personal space and oneIllumination designed to reduce the jet lag. It is an answer to the growing desire for privacy and comfort, but accessible only to a few. The real leap in quality, for the majority, could instead come precisely from the innovative solutions of the session: less space wasted, more order on board and, perhaps, air travel a little more sustainable and accessible.
