Thompson Aero Seating have recently added another seat design to its famous and well-established Vantage range. Based on an original concept from Factorydesign, the seat was designed specifically for the single-aisle market, the new seat. Called the Vantage Solo, manages to provide all-aisle access fully-flat beds at a competitive 33″ seat pitch.
The seat uses the herringbone format, angling all passengers into the aisle, rather than to the window, which is more commonly adopted by airlines. The most famous airlines that uses the same configuration are Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, however these seats are more tightly configured.
They actually are closer to the previous generation angled ‘coffin’ seats found on Cathay Pacific, however, Thompson Aero have used the LOPA in a few ingenious ways to increase the feeling of space. Firstly, seat dividers can be dropped for passengers travelling together, a common complain of Virgin Atlantic passengers.
Secondly, the TV unit also acts as a storage unit for the passenger in front. Tables fold out from above the aft passenger’s footwell and elements such as the perfectly aligned literature pocket still works when the bed is fully flat or in a seat configuration. By the window, a small storage shelf sits perfectly behind the seat in front, making use all available space.
The seats fill a perfectly shaped hole in the current business class offering, whereby all passengers are able to enjoy all-aisle access, fully flat beds and equal LOPA (unlike the forward facing Thompson Vantage seats which include the throne seats) making for a more unified experience, all at the expense of not having a perfect view out of the window. It will be interesting to see how airlines adopt to the seat, especially with the advent of the long-range, single aisle aircraft that are starting to take shape.
TheDesignAir 