Learning Materials Airline seat - Storyline Designers Richard Seymour and Dick Powell are quickly confronted with the constraints of this design challenge. The passengers they interview in a typically cramped cabin are forthright in their complaints about lack of comfort and heath threats. But Swiss Air’s European Marketing Manager Kirk Albrow, who is currently overseeing a cabin revamp of 70 of his aircraft, reminds viewers that "it is a pretty tight environment around an airline seat". And taking out seats to create more legroom would be financial suicide for any airline. The action switches to Rome where Tanya Sarancino, European Sales Manager for Avio Interiors, describes the process of certification that any new seat design would have to go through, given the safety issues involved. Perhaps that explains why aircraft seats have been largely unchanged for 25 years, with lots of lightweight aluminium components covered with slabs of bulky foam. Seymour Powell convene a meeting of specialists to brainstorm the problem. An ergonomist, a professor of air transport, an engineer from Avio Interiors, and an aviation health expert are in the group. Issues are raised, ideas are sketched. One concept is to stagger the seats, but this doesn’t create more legroom. The medical expert, Faral Khan, says that up to 30,000 people a year could develop a dangerous blood clot in the lower leg as a result of sitting cramped for more than five hours. He calls this "economy class syndrome" and suggests an exercise footrest under the seat in front. Richard and Dick look more closely at the seat itself. The thick foam is doing little for passenger comfort, so what if it was replaced by a network of thin fibre threads to create a more slender seat profile and make more legroom? The experts approve, but what will Swiss Air think of the idea? In their London studio, the designers play with materials and with ways to enable more recline in the same amount of space. This depends on the seat’s pivot point, but finding the right geometry to support the body in a cradle system proves elusive. The riddle continues. Avio Interiors builds a working model to test the cradling mechanism. An office chair using a similar thin fabric to that evisaged on the new airline seat is cannibalised to make the prototype. The result is shown to Tanya Sarancino who approves of the comfort and cradle movement of the new design but has reservations about the appearance of a very thin seat. It just doesn’t look comfortable. It lacks visual impact. With a presentation to Swiss Air’s Kirk Albrow looming, the pressure is on to come up with something more stylish. Seymour Powell renew their efforts. To the ultra-thin mesh that forms the main back and seat sections is added a padded headrest and cushioned front edge. A hard shell on the back encases the seat. Inflatable cushions - adjustable using a small pump - are located at the front edge of the seat to give alternative seating positions. The new design also incorporates a tip-up mechanism to give more room for extra storage and to get in and out. The model-making hits problems when the cinema-style tip-up seat won’t budge, but eventually everyone is happy. Even Kirk Albrow of Swiss Air, who gives the design the thumbs up and pronounces himself "pleasantly surprised" with its level of innovation and its light weight. There is still a long way to go before the new seat will find its way onto a commercial airline, but while Swiss Air deliberates over whether or not to develop the concept, another airline shows interest in the idea.