Collins Aerospace is providing an update on its Prime Plus passenger accessibility solution as well as highlighting “modification and elevation” of previous products during AIX this year.
The Prime-Plus concept enables powered wheelchair access to the cabin, taking up a location at seat 1B without any need for the user to leave the chair.
“This lowers anxiety for the passenger,” noted Cynthia Muklevicz, vice-president of customer and business development during a media briefing on 8 April. “Additionally, 1B now becomes the first person off the aircraft, as opposed to previous scenarios where such passengers had to wait for perhaps half an hour or more. It provides dignity for the passenger in every way.”
Fixing the wheelchair in position can be done by ground crew, using the standard “roll on, lock down” tie-down system. This ensures user familiarity, personal safety and convenience. Moreover, there is no loss of seat count for the airline.
Incorporating direct feedback from passengers with reduced mobility (PRM), airlines and technical advisors, the enhanced solution utilises a custom transformable monument to provide modern passenger amenities when PRM usage is required or a flexible crew service station when not.
The monument therefore houses amenities including a height-adjustable tray table with integrated tablet holder, power outlets and PSU (passenger service unit) with reading light, attendant call button and public address speaker, among other features. When in service mode, the Prime solution deploys to provide crews with additional service space, room below to store a half-sized trolley cart and additional stowage space inside the monument itself.
While available for new aircraft, the solution has been designed to be easily retrofittable.
The second focus area involves aftermarket seating concepts to provide upgraded solutions for airline customers flying Collins’ Pinnacle B main cabin seats, which were first introduced in 2010.
The concept provides three pathways to transform existing in-service seats into ‘like-new’ solutions for ageing cabin interiors, extending product service life and maximising operator investment. “We’re doing this because there are more than 500,000 Pinnacle seats out there today,” says Sean Lyons, vice-president of business development, Interiors Services and Support.
The three paths include upgrading to Pinnacle Aspire, Pinnacle Aspire+ and Pinnacle MiQ – the latter concept involving stripping down the triple seat and transforming the frame to accommodate two passengers in a premium economy configuration.
Each of the options retains more than 50% of the original Pinnacle seat, with some retaining more than 80%, Lyons notes.
The novel approach reuses a significant portion of existing componentry to upgrade each seat, providing significant recyclability benefits, while also preserving the foundational integrity, longevity and investment in the new product.
Lyons expects the time from getting a go-ahead for any of the options to entry-into-service will be approximately 18 months.
