An angled herriingbone layout also offers privacy.Safran Doors obviously help to avoid that.But while these mini-suites with doors are more private than many first class seats, the word “mini” is in their name for a reason: the space for each passenger is, while massive compared with economy, still smaller than first class.Adding an inch or two to incorporate a door can really impact the amount of space that’s available for your seat.That sure is a nice problem to have, you and I might think from our 17-inch-narrow seat in row 54, but every fraction of an inch of the cabin’s width is used, and on some medium-sized planes like the Boeing 767 or 787 and the Airbus A330 or A330neo, that can make a real difference to how spacious a seat feels.So why do airlines choose doors, even on some of those medium-sized planes? “There is undoubtedly a movement towards increased privacy on aircraft, flowing down from first class where the Emirates full height suite set a new standard, into business class,” Collins Aerospace’s vice president of aircraft seating sales and marketing, Alastair Hamilton, tells CNN.
“Most business class seats have had privacy shells for a number of years now, which take other passengers out of your eye line when everyone is seated.The addition of doors further enhances this sense of seclusion, closing you off the aisle, especially when lying flat in the bed position.
“So are doors necessary? Obviously not.But they are a passenger benefit which improves privacy and critically, rest and sleep on a long flight.” Related content Weight and space vs.
revenue Business class doors help passengers avoid “brush past” bumps from people walking down the aisle.Unum Aircraft Seating Hamilton adds that doors might add cost, weight and complexity to a seat, but can bring in more revenue.
“From a passenger perspective, the ability to close the door and have ‘my space’ will always be perceived as a benefit,” he says.”The more the aisle is in the eye line the greater that benefit, particularly as the passenger sleeps.
Airlines are trending towards doors and increased privacy generally as they continue to enhance the passenger experience.” Some airlines are saying no.Quentin Munier, executive vice president for strategy and innovation at Safran Seats tells CNN that demand for doors will often be on a case-by-case basis, depending on comfort requirements or seat layout.Nevertheless, Munier’s colleague Jean-Christophe Gaudeau, vice president of marketing, says demand seems to be increasing.”Doors have been out for a few years now, and year after year we have seen a constant rise of the share of airlines asking for doors in our surveys or in actual requests for quotations — up to a point where a large majority of airlines are now asking for it.”The question is increasingly going to be less about whether or not to have a door but more about how to deliver in a smart and effective manner.” The question will also be about whether non-door options can meet the need for privacy as well as saving on weight and space.Safran has an option that is essentially like a thick, horizontal, magnetically attached, spring-loaded roller blind that stretches across the door space.Other options include a curtain like Air France uses in its first class seats, dividers that expand and retract like a hand fan, or slide-out panels that don’t entirely replicate the door but do add substantial privacy.
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