Cabin interiors specialist Lantal is probably best known for its carpets and upholstery, but the Swiss company also has just launched its new Pneumatic Comfort System, which it says makes seats more passenger-friendly. The system’s pressure-adjustable cushions have been in service with Swiss International Airline’s business and first-class long-haul aircraft for the two years and are now available for more widespread use. According to Lantal, the design not only gives greater comfort but is also lightweight, meaning less impact on fuel burn and the operator’s carbon footprint.
Lantal has recently been awarded design organization approval status, allowing it to develop, test, and certify ready-to-install products for aircraft interiors. The company is certified to the Part 21 Subpart G of the European Aviation Safety Agency and can provide the necessary EASA Form One with each delivery of ready-made products.
The company’s in-house engineering services cover the approval of minor changes to aircraft interiors as well as the 3D design and development of complex low-pressure pneumatic comfort systems, seat covers, curtain systems, and textile floor covering parts.
Here in Geneva, Lantal (Stand 955) is also displaying its portfolio of fabrics, leathers, and carpets, which for 2011 feature nature, webs, and honeycombs as dominant themes. According to Lantal, Climatex Lifeguard seat upholstery fabrics and weight-saving carpets are hard-wearing, biologically degradable and feature natural hues in combination with refractive patterns.
The materials used in Lantal’s products range in color from warm oriental tones and gray-gold-beige blends to deep blues and dark reds. The company can also create matching structures for class divider and galley curtains.
In its efforts to stay at the cutting edge of style, each year Lantal’s design team conducts what it calls its Conceptional Forecast to explore “the key touch points of contemporary megatrends.” According to its 2011 forecast, today’s dominant design themes are “nature”, “webs” and “honeycombs” and Lantal has incorporated these factors into the hard-wearing, bio-degradable materials it uses, giving them a three-dimensional appearance.
The latest Conceptional Forecast also has revealed a consumer taste for natural hues and refractive patterns. In color terms, Lantal’s designers are now favoring “warm and seductive oriental tones” as well as blends of grey, gold and beige and deep blues and dark reds.