EADS Sogerma expects to find a launch customer for its "Ultimate Sleeper" premium first class bed as it puts it up for sale at the Aircraft Interiors Expo this week.
The Ultimate Sleeper is being marketed as offering "the comfort of a real bed", which EADS Sogerma cabin interior vice-president sales and marketing Jeffrey Forsbrey is confident will lure in "at least one launch customer here this week".
Boasting a minimum seat pitch of 81in, the product offers a "real bed environment" in a contained cubicle, shielded from the rest of the cabin by an automatic sliding door. The cubicle has its own mini bar, built-in wardrobe and 30in television screen.
EADS Sogerma is in the process of transferring the Ultimate Sleeper from concept to production, and Forsbrey says he "fully expects" the product to be able to launch "within two years". Weight is a serious issue and the company is looking at using lighter weight materials, such as carbon fibre, for the surround rather than the composite material it currently uses.
Forsbrey's predictions for the future of the high-end market are that "first class will become more exclusive and business class will become better than it is".
INTERIORS EXPO 2010
Source: Flight Daily News
