STELIA Aerospace is a seat manufacturer for aircraft that is owned by Airbus. At the Airlines Interiors Expo, where I am right now, I witnessed the launch of a new flat bed product yesterday, which offers a flat bed with direct aisle access. The seatmaker billed it as a sustainable seat, but they might be on to something.

STELIA Aerospace’s OPERA Essential seat

STELIA Aerospace’s OPERA family of seats is a reverse herringbone product designed for use on Airbus narrowbody aircraft, such as the A321neo/LR and the upcoming A321XLR. STELIA started to work on this product in 2019.

Yesterday, STELIA launched a new version of the seat, which removed most of the electronics. In the words of STELIA Aerospace, the seatmaker is presenting a revolutionary concept—a sustainable, entirely autonomous seat responsive to the passenger’s movements.

As you can see, there is no IFE screen included as well. You just get an iPad holder.

In the words of Thierry Kanengieser, VP Cabin Interior at STELIA Aerospace,

At STELIA Aerospace, we are not only engineers but also stewards of the environment. Our ambition with OPERA ESSENTIAL is to offer a sustainable Premium seating solution that exceeds both passenger expectations and industry standards. By prioritising environmental responsibility and passenger comfort, we are redefining the future of air travel.”

This new product is designed around four pillars: mass optimisation, streamlined electrical components, and the incorporation of recycled and recyclable materials. It also upholds the luxurious comfort of a business-class seat.

The biggest change here is that the seat includes the removal of the electrical actuator and ECU. So seat movement isn’t controlled by anything electronic; rather, it moves based on the passenger’s movement.

With the elimination of most of the seat’s electronic components, it has become one of the lightest business-class seats in the market. It currently weighs 65 kilogrammes, but the manufacturer is trying to get it to weigh 60 kilogrammes. On the aircraft, this directly translates into a slightly higher range and lesser fuel burn, not to mention reduced maintenance costs.

STELIA says an A321 with 16 current generation Opera seats would be approximately 400 kilos lighter with the new seat, aided by a 40% reduction in the part count.

Could this be of interest to IndiGo?

There is only one other product in the market, which went the way of knocking off the motors from the business class seat. It is from Finnair. However, this product is for narrowbody aircraft, and there are only about 500 or so XLRs on order at the moment (besides all the A321LRs and neos out there). Could this be of potential interest to carriers such as IndiGo, who are fanatic about not having excess weight on the aircraft, but also are now in the deep throes of redesigning their product, as they want to go further away from India.

Bottomline

STELIA Aerospace has unveiled its newest narrow-body business-class product, the OPERA ESSENTIAL seat. This is based on the standard OPERA product, except it’s much lighter, has close to no electronic components and perhaps lesser maintenance costs as well.

What do you think of the STELIA Aerospace OPERA ESSENTIAL product?

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