First customer confirmed for new crew rest seat 

Hamburg, Germany | April 3, 2017–

Airline Services Interiors (ASI), part of Airline Services Ltd Group, returns to the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg (Hall 6 Stand B61) hard on the heels of developing a new crew rest seat in cooperation with SWS Certification Services (Hall 6 A15) and Blue Sky Designers Ltd.  The seat is designed to comply with Class 2 EASA regulations and first customer is Milan based charter airline Neos.

In July 2016 Neos approached SWS Certification Services, an EASA Part 21J DOA, based in South Wales to support the certification for a new crew rest programme for delivery in the first quarter of 2017. SWS introduced the airline to their long-standing POA partner, Airline Services Interiors and together with conceptual designers, Blue Sky, the team is launching the Neos crew seat on schedule this Spring. The Italian airline has ordered 25 seats in total, which will be installed onboard its Boeing 737-800s and 767-300s.

To comply with Class 2 EASA regulations, the seat has a 20-inch width as well as providing a 45° degree recline and leg and foot support. It benefits from Supracor’s Stimulite® Honeycomb technology, which increases crew comfort and seat cushion durability while maximising space utilisation and reducing the overall weight.

The 9G seat is currently being tested by SWS Certification in Port Talbot, Wales, marking the continuation of successful multi-year relationship between SWS and ASI.

‘The 16G seat will begin testing shortly at one of SWS’ approved dynamic test partners in the UK.  ASI will manufacture the seat at its Manchester, UK headquarters and is also responsible for POA.’

With the seat entering the test phase after a mere six months in development, ASI continues to pride itself on its agility in the cabin interiors market. “Time and time again, organisations and airlines come to us for our ability to turn around an engineering project in record time,” said Aircraft Interiors newly appointed Managing Director Richard Dobson, who will be leading Airline Services Interiors’ participation in Hamburg.

“The Neos crew rest development was a very challenging programme from a certification and testing point of view, involving new seat design involving new materials in a very aggressive timescale. SWS are delighted that through our continued partnership with ASI we have delivered yet another successful programme, commented Claire Demarquet, SWS’ Head of Engineering.

Manchester, UK | November 28, 2016– Airline Services Interiors, part of the Airline Services Ltd Group, has appointed Richard Dobson to the role of Managing Director. An internal promotion, Richard was formerly Commercial Director, joining the business originally in January 2013 as Supply Chain and Financial Reporting Manager. Richard comes from a strong airline background, having enjoyed a 16-year career with BMI British Midland, holding senior positions within engineering, including Head of Supply Chain, Contracts and Supply Chain Manager, Purchasing Manager and Materials Manager.

In his new role Richard will be based at the company’s HQ in Manchester, leading a team of six UK-based sales representatives who between them look after clients in key international territories.

Richard’s appointment comes hard on the heels of a solid year for the business. Airline Services Interiors completed a year-long contract for British Airways at the end of June, which involved the integration of Panasonic Avionics eX3 IFE systems on 18 Boeing 747-400 aircraft, together with new fitted seat covers to bring the interior into line with the airline’s new Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 aircraft. ASI took responsibility for the design, certification and manufacture of the modification kits to integrate the new IFE system in each cabin, working alongside Panasonic and Zodiac NAT, which certified the installation.

Other projects included a long term programme to convert business class seats from Etihad for Air Berlin’s A330 fleet with 14 ship sets completed to date. ASI also supported Lufthansa with an IFE retrofit programme for Economy class seats on 13 of its Boeing 747s and 18 Airbus A340s and for Aer Lingus/ASL Ireland providing IFE installation and cabin upgrades on four B757s. It has also performed a variety of smaller cabin fitments including A380 replacement mirrors for a number of customers.

“Our business is dedicated to providing high quality cabin retrofits and IFE seat refurbishments, working with high quality replacement parts. We find we can do this in a more cost-effective and speedier manner than the OEMs,” says Dobson, maintaining consistently high standards of service.

To ensure that the business continues to offer excellent value for money to their customers Airline Services’ EASA Part 21G manufacturing, Part 21J design and Part 145 repair approval activities are now housed exclusively at their three Facilities in Sharston, Manchester.

Airline Services Interiors is one of two distinct divisions under Manchester, UK based parent company Airline Services. The Airline Services Interiors’ portfolio comprises three market focused capabilities – Through Life Support, Engineered Products and Managed Solutions.

The latter brings together Airline Services Interiors’ design proficiency, extensive manufacturing capability and MRO experience to enable it to deliver customised solutions for airlines wishing to redesign, refurbish or upgrade their cabin interiors seating and IFE.

March 23, 2016– Airline Services Interiors has won a significant contract from IAG member airline, Aer Lingus for a major enhancement on three of its Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Modifications cover work on integrating a new cabin arrangement with the installation of new lie-flat Thompson Aero Vantage business class seating, monuments, the fitting of Zodiac Inflight Innovations IFE and Astronics In-Seat Power. This is the first time the Thompson Aero Vantage seat will be certified on a B757.

Design work was agreed for the three B757s in October last year. The first aircraft entered service on routes operated for Aer Lingus by partner ASL Airlines, on its own commercial AOC, in February.

Due to the success of the 757-200, a fourth aircraft, commissioned in January, after the first three, will be complete by May this year. In addition to installing the business class seats, Airline Services Interiors will supply fully refurbished economy class seats, fitted with Zodiac’s RAVE IFE, mirroring the offering of its three sister aircraft. RAVE™ Centric IFE is an embedded modular inflight entertainment system offering a range of choices for different cabins including wireless 2nd screen, display size, customizable peripherals, integrated USB charging and all of the latest features including harmonization with airline mobile applications. Airline Services Interiors is managing the design and certification efforts, to perform the cabin reconfiguration. Its activity will include the full refurbishment of economy class seats, with new plastics, soft furnishings and IFE integration; introduction of in-seat power, using Astronics hardware; development of new forward monuments in Business Class, incorporating the Thomson footwell surround, Zii IFE, emergency equipment and coat storage. This will be completed to compliment the carrier’s Airbus A330 with the Aer Lingus Shamrock.

In addition, Airline Services Interiors will provide a newly designed class divider arrangement, producing new windbreaks and curtains. It will also provide parts to support the aircraft installation including infill panels, threshold strips, tedlar trim, raceways, PSU and PSU infill panels and hoses along with the backbone cabling and shipside wiring changes.

This is the second contract win from Aer Lingus for the Airline Services Group. It was previously contracted during 2013/2014 to enhance those same three aircraft – E1-LBR/LBS and E1-LBT – equipping them with new economy class Recaro 3510 seating and RAVE IFE. Work extended to monuments, cabin dividers and soft furnishings.

“We are very pleased to have been selected to work with Aer Lingus/ASL Airlines, on their tried and trusted B757 aircraft,” said Mark Stevens, Director Sales and Marketing, Airline Services Interiors. “Being entrusted with this important programme, reaffirms our reputation for developing timely, innovative solutions to meet our customers’ cabin refurbishment requirements. It comes hot on the heels of our success with One World partner and International Airlines Group sister company, British Airways where we are engaged in a B747-400 seat IFE modification upgrade programme involving 18 aircraft, through to summer 2016.”

“We are seeing increased opportunities for aircraft enhancement work for older aircraft which are proving popular owing to residual values and relatively low oil prices. This makes extending the life of an aircraft a more viable proposition and a niche we are capitalising on,” added Mike Humphreys, Chief Executive Officer, Airline Services Group.

Airline Services Interiors is one of two distinct divisions under Manchester, UK based parent company Airline Services. The Airline Services Interiors’ portfolio comprises three market focused capabilities – Through Life Support, Engineered Products and Managed Solutions.

The latter brings together Airline Services Interiors’ design proficiency, extensive manufacturing capability and MRO experience to enable it to deliver customised solutions for airlines wishing to redesign, refurbish or upgrade their cabin interiors seating and IFE.

Airline Services Interiors will exhibit at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg in April 6-8th (Stand 5C66)

Aircraft Interiors Expo, Hamburg | April 15, 2015– The new dedicated Airline Services Interiors business, one of three distinct divisions under a new streamlined structure announced by Airline Services Ltd this week at Aircraft Interiors Expo (Hall 6 Stand B78), has been awarded a contract to integrate a new In-Flight Entertainment system on 18 Boeing 747 aircraft operated by British Airways.

Airline Services Interiors is responsible for the design, certification and manufacture of the modification kits to integrate the new IFE system on all classes of passenger seating from World Traveller (economy) though to First Class. It is working with IFE provider Panasonic and aircraft integrator, Zodiac NAT, to fit Panasonic’s next generation eX3 IFE system, which will be installed from September 2015. The lightweight design of the system helps to save fuel, while offering customers over 1500 hours of entertainment programming on larger, hi-resolution screens featuring tablet style touch and swipe controls.

As part of the upgrade, Airline Services Interiors has also integrated new universal power sockets at every seat in World Traveller Plus (premium economy) together with individual USB sockets to allow customers to power their phones and tablets.

The cabin interiors of the British Airways 747s are also being refreshed so they match those on the airline’s new A380 and 787 aircraft and Airline Services Interiors has developed new fitted seat covers to improve comfort and appearance.

Headed by Managing Director Martin Barnes, Airline Services Interiors’ portfolio comprises three market focused capabilities -Through Life Services, Engineered Products and Managed Solutions, which is responsible for the British Airways IFE upgrade.

Managed Solutions brings together Airline Services Interiors’ in-house design, manufacturing and turnkey modification with its EASA Part 21G design and manufacturing production capability. This enables it to deliver customised solutions for airlines to redesign, refurbish or upgrade their cabin interiors seating and IFE.

Trial integration and First Article seat build is being carried out at Airline Services Interiors Passenger Seating Centre of Excellence, which is co-located with the design and manufacturing teams in Manchester, UK. Certification of the three seat types is complete with First Article Inspection of the seat modification design phase nearing completion. Airline Services Interiors will support the seat modification programme by British Airways Interiors Engineering at its facility in Blackwood, Wales where the first aircraft is due to be refurbished by British Airways in Summer 2015.

April 10, 2015– The new dedicated Airline Services Interiors business, one of three distinct divisions under a new streamlined structure to be unveiled by Airline Services Ltd next week at Aircraft Interiors Expo (Hall 6 Stand B78), has completed the in-flight entertainment system retrofit programme for Economy class seats on 13 Boeing 747 and 18 Airbus A340 aircraft operated by Lufthansa.

Airline Services Interiors has been responsible for the design, certification, and manufacture of modification kits to install the Zodiac Zii RAVE system on Recaro 3520 seats. As part of the seat upgrade, Airline Services Interiors has also integrated a universal power socket at every seat.

Zodiac Zii RAVE is a touch screen tablet based IFE system and provides high resolution Audio and Video on Demand (AVOD). Its unique system architecture means each seat is independent so that a failure in one seat will not impact another and any failed displays can be replaced by the crew in-flight.

Contract award was in 2012 with kit delivery starting in 2013 and completed in March 2015. Physical integration was performed by Lufthansa at designated sites in Germany, Malta and China. Airline Services Interiors’ Passenger Seating Centre of Excellence in Manchester contributed to the successful programme supporting Lufthansa on the repair and modification of seats.

Headed by Managing Director Martin Barnes, Airline Services Interiors’ portfolio comprises three market focused capabilities – Through Life Services, Engineered Products and Managed Solutions, which was responsible for the Lufthansa programme.

Managed Solutions brings together Airline Services Interiors’ in-house design, manufacturing and turnkey modification with its EASA Part 21G design and manufacturing production capability. This enables it to deliver customised solutions for airlines to redesign, refurbish or upgrade their cabin interiors seating and IFE.