Airbus has confirmed that it will be exhibiting at Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas from October 1-3 2013 in Seattle, the largest dedicated aircraft interiors event in the Americas region, organised by Reed Exhibitions. Airbus will be inviting visitors to its stand to explore its Passenger Comfort Zone and to test and feel the space of its economy class offering with Airbus’ standard 18 inch wide seats. Passenger comfort has always been an important differentiator for the airline industry - especially on long-range routes - and in the future, it will become a fundamental deciding factor driving passenger choice and business success. This is why Airbus has always championed passenger comfort with wider cross-sections for wider seats - especially in economy.

Showcasing airline interior design and airline cabin management systems, other leading exhibitors will include AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings, Diehl Aerosystems, Lufthansa Technik, AmSafe Inc, Geven SpA, Supracor, Skandia Inc, STG Aerospace and Zodiac Aerospace.

AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatingsmanufacture, develop and supply coatings for the OEM and MRO sectors of the commercial aviation market and their Base Coat/Clear Coat systems are now increasingly selected to paint first editions of customer aircraft.  Jérôme Mancy, EADS Global Key Account Manager at AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings, said, “Our colours decorate the first flying A350. The aircraft was painted in Toulouse and we have a very good relationship with Airbus - and many of their aircraft are painted with AkzoNobel coatings.”

Airbus, focusing largely on sustainability, made the decision to utilise the new paint system as it requires less paint and less solvent. AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings are dedicated industry partners, providing support services including, training, technical advice and coatings consultancy.

Diehl Aerosystems’ integrated product portfolio in the field of aircraft interiors includes interior lighting systems, air distribution systems and solutions for cabin electronics. As an innovative system supplier of cabin lighting, the company understands that passenger comfort and the associated sense of well-being and cost-effectiveness are essential priorities in all lighting designs.The latest cabin designs are marked by a clear trend in cabin lighting, moving away from conventional fluorescent tubes towards a greater use of LEDs, which require lower maintenance and are more energy efficient. Airbus relies completely on LEDs for the A350XWB and, more recently, the A380 and A320.

Lufthansa Technik develops tailored and innovative products in the fields of cabin management, aircraft and cabin equipment and IFE systems and will be showcasing two key product systems at Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas - GuideU and nicemood.

GuideU is a next-generation non-electrical floor path marking system, exclusively produced by Lufthansa Technik. It has a significantly lower level of complexity, requires no maintenance and has 100 percent reliability compared to the standard electrically operated systems. GuideU requires no power supply and can be integrated in every non-textile type of aircraft flooring. It uses photoluminescence technology to guide passengers to the aircraft’s emergency exits in the event that cabin lighting fails. The system needs only 15-30 minutes of normal cabin lighting to store enough energy for a 15-hour flight, and is currently available in 15 different colours that can be optimally integrated into any cabin design.

nicemood is a completely new development in cabin lighting systems for aircraft, jointly produced by Lufthansa Technik and SCHOTT. For the first time, aircraft owners can take advantage of LED technology while avoiding the colour changes that occur when LEDs age. The new system, which has already been qualified for use in aircraft, mixes and regulates the light output of different diodes and thus enables significant cost savings compared with traditional lighting while dramatically improving lighting quality.

Katie Murphy, Exhibition Director for Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas, said: “The inclusion of Airbus to this year’s exhibition will no doubt see huge interest from both visitors and symposium delegates in visiting its Passenger Comfort Zone. The unique appeal of this event is that it offers unrivalled networking opportunities where buyers and airline decision makers from around the world can come together under one roof to see the latest products. By attracting a wide variety of companies across a range of supply chains, the business opportunities and networking on the show floor look set to make this a very successful exhibition in October.”

Co-located with Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas, CompositesWorld’s 2013 High Performance Composites for Aircraft Interiors takes place on October 2-3 and is the only conference dedicated to high-performance composites for aircraft interiors. Presentations at the conference will address new developments in the fields of high-temperature and fire-resistant applications, including recent changes in FAA FST requirements for materials of construction.