Crystal Cabin Award - international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation // Let your ideas take off. //

More travelers have smart phones, tablets, and e-readers. Power available at airports is often inadequate to charge all their devices and regional jets rarely have seat power. A promise for no more “battery anxiety”: “Solar Eclipse”, a mobile electronics solar charging system, integrated into a window shade.  With this system installed, a passenger can enjoy in-flight charging of their mobile devices, and allow a superior streaming IFE experience, leading to a less stressful airport connection. This sustainable idea led to the 2015 Crystal Cabin Award in the category “"Greener Cabin, Health, Safety & Environment".

Fun Fact: The Top 20 regional airlines have 66,100 window shades on aircraft without seat power. If each of those window shades was replaced by a solar eclipse shade, they would produce enough energy to watch the original “Star Wars” Trilogy 2176 times.

"Winning the Crystal Cabin Award in 2012 in the category “Visionary Concepts” represented a turning point for the aviation business at Almadesign and LIFE Design became a flag for us”

LIFE is a conceptual vision for the business jet of the future focusing on the use of natural and sustainable materials like leather and cork combined with state of the art technology and inspired by natural structures. Therefore LIFE presents a vision for a sophisticated, comfortable aircraft cabin with a low environmental footprint.

Profiteers of the rising attention of the Crystal Cabin Award for the Portuguese Design consultancy Almadesign were also their partners, including advanced cork materials producer Amorim Cork Composites (PT), leather specialist Couro Azul (PT), mechanical engineering research Centre INEGI (PT), engineering and tooling company SET (PT)  and aircraft manufacturer Embraer (BR) . The LIFE Project was issued in various media articles and was selected as an OECD case study for “Greener Products and Processes” as well as featured on different events such as the Business Jet Interiors Expo in Cannes (2012) and the SAE International Conference in Montreal. Since then Almadesign has been working as a consultancy for providing their visionary ideas for cabin interior to OEMs, suppliers and airlines.

“The ongoing progress of the product development is basically enabled by the CCA winner status. The impressive feedback at the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2015 and additional press releases concentrated the attention of leading decision makers to push the product forward. “

The Airbus’ supported university project for a mobile vacuum trash compactor,  developed by Marc Spille from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) was awarded with a Cabin Crystal Award in the Category University in 2015. The innovative concept provides significant weight reduction, better space utilisation and less system complexity by using the on-board vacuum toilet system or waste water system as pressure source for a compaction mechanism.

As a result of the great feedback, Airbus sped up the development of the Vacuum Trash Compactor with presenting it on the 41st MPCP Board Meeting in June 2015 and developing major tasks for the realization such as market research for waste handling in the cabin, conception of an interface for a movable solution of the compactor while implementing improved concepts of compacting trash.  A new mature demonstrator of the Vacuum Trash Compactor is planned to be delivered –  in cooperation with ALTEN Technology GmbH, where Marc Spille is meanwhile working as a test engineer –  in May 2016. It will provide improved waste handling features as well as a quick connect/ disconnect interface to the on-board vacuum system. The advanced demonstrator will be the base to continue the industrial development in co-operation with possible equipment supplier and the compactor is planned to be one component of a modular customizable waste management portfolio.

When seated next to a stranger, the narrow armrests shared between the seats are often a major source of frustration. James Lee’s “Paperclip concept” was a simple and yet groundbreaking mixture of practicability and design that aimed to solve this problem with an extremely simple geometry. Its transversely offset double arm-resting levels make use of the mobility of the elbows to allow two adjacent passengers to rest their arms simultaneously, without bumping into each other.

Already convincing the judging panel with the idea for the “Paperclip concept” and winning a Crystal Cabin Award in the category “Judges Commendation 2009”, James continued his success and received the CCA in 2014 in the category “Premium Class & VIP” for the convertible seating concept “Butterfly”. Designed for long haul flights, “Butterfly” can easily be transformed between premium economy and business class – offering extra width (economy) or the transformation into a private “suite” (business).

With “Butterfly”, Lee was able to join Airbus Bizlab in September 2015 and has received a lot more feedback from the industry since then. Right now, he is further refining the design, with an updated geometry to give even better seat density and adapts the concepts for the single-aisle market. Full size mockups are in construction now.  

In 2015 the Brazilian manufacturer Embrear won over the jury in the "Industrial Design & Visionary Concepts" category with the cabin for its E2 generation of regional jets, characterized by an innovative, easy maintenance design. The use of space is especially well thought-out. Normally when passengers transfer from intercontinental flights to regional flights, they are faced with the need to check in their carry-on due to significantly reduced space on the regional aircraft. This problem has been alleviated with the E2’s additional bin capacity as it caters for the same luggage allocation per person as a wide body. In addition a staggered seating concept provides more space in the aircraft. Thus, Embrear demonstrates how to gain maximum space out of a cabin of regional jets and prove -  with their innovative Passenger Service Units in the long run - that design and short flights fit together perfectly.

“The Crystal Cabin name and recognition has done wonders for our product. At the time of winning Crystal Cabin, we only had one committed customer. With the exposure we received from Crystal Cabin, airlines of all sizes accepted RAVE as a game changing product despite being such a new product in the IFE industry.”

The 2011 CCA for “Entertainment and Communication” went to Zodiac (IMS Company) for its RAVE concept – an embedded on-board entertainment system consisting of two parts: The Seat Display Unit (SDU) stores all content and has all of the system’s functionality built in. This makes it independent from the System Control Unit (SCU), which has the sole task of downloading the content for the coming month in the background and providing an interface to the aircraft. A localized system failure is no longer possible. And the installation is simpler, too.

Since winning the CCA in 2011, RAVE has become one of the most competitive IFE systems in the market. The success of the RAVE product lead to IMS Company being acquired by Zodiac Aerospace, and is now operating under the business unit of Zodiac Inflight Innovations. Right now, over 300 aircraft are equipped with RAVE(now titled RAVE Centric), and Zodiac is planning new developments including a second generation of displays, new service offerings, and enhanced features.

The Upper Deck First and Business Class experience on Etihad Airways winning concept of 2015 delivers an unprecedented level of luxury, space and privacy and depicts a new level for customized cabins. Designed from the ground up to redefine premium class and VIP air travel, Etihad Airways and its design partners acumen, factorydesign an Honour have reimagine the standard for the future of premium air travel. Cherry on the cake: The Etihad Residence as a whole new product category when it comes to First Class, including private butler, a living room, separate bedroom and ensuite shower room. It is the only three-room suite on a commercial airline, designed for two people travelling together.

The cabin functions including the galleys and the Environmental Control System (ECS) represent among others the main energy consumer in today’s aircraft. Since the on-board power supply systems in actual aircrafts are reaching their performance limits, the introduction of new energy concepts is needed. DACAPO (Distributed Autonomous CAbin Power) enables an autonomous energy supply for the cabin system by using rechargeable and replaceable battery trolleys. The trolleys can simply be swapped and the battery systems recharged during aircraft ground time.

After winning the Crystal Cabin Award in 2014 in the category “Greener Cabin, Health, Safety & Environment” DACAPO was presented on the ILA and even got the attention of Chancelor Angela Merkel and Germany’s Federal Parliamentary State Secretary for Aerospace Policy, Brigitte Zypries. Right now, DACAPO will use the possibility of collaborative research at the news ZAL TechCenter in Hamburg Finkenwerder for further developments and realization of the Power Cell.

“Lufthansa Technik AG’s niceview moving map system received an additional marketing boost when it was honored with the Crystal Cabin Award in 2009. Today the moving map is being used by eight airlines, hundreds of business jets, and numerous VIP aircraft.”

Want to know where you’re flying? In 2009, “niceview” was the first and only moving map system that provided worldwide virtual flights, photo-realistic 3D topographical maps and oceanographic data in real time with high resolution satellite imagery. New features like the approach views allowed a unique infotainment experience.

Since the Crystal Cabin Award in 2009 “niceview” has been continually updated. For example all maps are now available in HD, new languages are available, and many points of interest have been added with corresponding information. The launch of a mobile version for PEDs will be released in Q2 2016.

“Especially in the field of aircraft interiors, the Crystal Cabin Award is one of the most prestigious prizes worldwide. Being honored with such a coveted and well-known award directly contributes to product awareness and positive image”

Three seats or a couch? The choice is yours. Whether you’re a couple who’d like a bit of extra room, parents with a child, or a parent with two restless kids, the Air New Zealand SkyCouch, developed and produced by RECARO, has been designed to respond to everyone’s needs. The seat is a trio of three economy seats that together create a flexible space as the legrest can be raised to 60 degrees as well as vertical – to relax and stretch out in, to sleep, or for the kids to use as a play area. The foot-net is like a hammock for your feet and allows the feet to be gently cradled without hard pressure points. This cozy concept convinced the judging panel in 2011 to award RECARO in the category “Passenger Comfort”. Air New Zealand is already offering its award winning Skycouch seat to other airlines ... just as long as they don't compete for the same routes.

ViaSat’s satellite-powered "Exede in the Air" solution brings a 12 Mbps internet

connection to every seat, allowing passengers to stream films or shop online above the clouds without difficulty.

Since winning the Crystal Cabin Award in the category “Passenger Comfort System”, ViaSat has experienced an explosion of airline interest in its in-flight internet service.  In a time, where the ability to stream videos has become the indicator for high quality in-flight internet and entertainment ViaSat beats the competition. The concept “Exede in the Air” offers online rich media streaming for all passengers, not just a few, regardless of the number of aircraft flying.  As a result, ViaSat operates already on Jet Blue and Virgin America flights, passenger engagement is four times that of alternates and new business models are emerging, providing additional value to the airlines by attracting content sponsorship deals that are feasible only with the superior performance of the service. More to come!

After washing their hands, neither passengers nor crew members are eager to touch the waste flaps of aircraft lavatories. Elektro-Metall Export has found the answer to this requirements and developed a non touch waste flab which opens and closes automatically. In contrast to normal sensors, which tend to react to scattered light and nearly every kind of movement the capacitor of the waste bin reacts to human body only. This implies no response of the flab to inert objects such as bags or bottles placed on it. This innovative yet very “hands on” idea led to the Crystal Cabin Award victory 2011 in “Environment, Health and Safety”.