These NEW Airplane Seats Could Change the Way You Fly

Airline travel can be very stressful for many people.

LaGuardia Airport

The Orlando Airport recently announced some changes and on any day you fly, you’re trying to make sure you’ve allowed enough time for security, that you packed everything, and that your vacation plans are all in order. But if you’re a wheelchair user, the airport may be a lot more stressful. Thanks to this new invention though, flying may just become easier for those travelers!

According to CBS, a new airplane seat that debuted at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Germany this year could make traveling with an electric wheelchair much easier. The design of the seat, which is being called the “first-of-its-kind,” was led by PriestmanGoode and “allows wheelchair users to still use a headrest, center console, tray tables and a cocktail table.”

©PRIESTMANGOODE

How does it work? Well “the cushions in the seat that would be used in standard seating can be detached from the rest of the seat that’s bolted in and stowed away. The seat base folds up to the back of the area and the headrest is raised allowing for people who use wheelchairs to back into the space comfortably.”

It’s travelling in your own wheelchair… but not as we know it Jim @Priestmangoode @WCTravelOrg pic.twitter.com/iKwLT2uL4H

— Christopher Wood MBE (@flyingdisabled) June 6, 2023

The seat was designed in collaboration between Delta Flight Products and the United Kingdom consortium Air4All. The seat will allow for “a more seamless boarding and disembarking experience” and “offers new possibilities for customers with disabilities to enjoy a travel experience they truly deserve.”

The seat will now begin going through the final stations for its design and validation, then will go through its testing and certification programs for installation, and finally be verified to meet U.S. and European standards. Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars, because we’ll be sure to keep you updated as we hear more about this design!