Press Release

Issued by Lufthansa Technik.

May 18, 2015

At EBACE 2015, Lufthansa Technik is presenting its chair™ family of seats for VIP and business jet aircraft. Its ground-breaking new technology has now completed and passed all 9g ETSO (European Technical Standard Orders) maximum payload tests required for airworthiness certification.

The test campaign for the entire family of seats has been intensive and much more complex than testing traditional "one-size-fits-all" seats. Sixteen (16g) dynamic tests are currently ongoing and are scheduled to be completed within the next weeks. The first critical dynamic tests have been successfully completed. Upon successful completion of the 16g tests, all test reports will be presented to the European airworthiness authority EASA for approval. It is planned that the 9g and 16g certifications will be granted in late summer 2015. The chair™ product will be available not only as ETSO equipment but also with a complete Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) to minimize the risk and work for customers.

With chair™, designers of aircraft interiors can adapt seat style, structure and functionality to the specific purposes and requirements of airline, business jet and VIP customers. The seating concept runs the gamut from basic office chairs to fully reclining lounge, and dining chairs , with considerable savings in space and weight.

"On board an airplane, the seats are the central interface between the passengers and the cabin," says Andrew Muirhead, head of the Original Equipment Innovation unit at Lufthansa Technik. "For decades, seats have mostly changed only in shape and color. Today's passengers have much higher expectations at every level, from the most basic to top-of-the-line seats. They expect the comfort and convenience of an innovative cabin along with the diversity they're accustomed to from home furnishings, and more freedom of movement in the cabin."

The chair™ concept was developed in cooperation with the renowned cabin interior designer Jacques Pierrejean, founder of Pierrejean Design Studios. He describes chair™ with this analogy: "This seat is my friend. It dresses differently depending on the comfort I need, the situation I'm in and the culture I'm living in. The concept of chair™ gives cabin interior designers an unequaled degree of freedom."

"chair™ makes it possible to rethink cabin design," says Oliver Thomaschewski, chair™ product manager. "It's a completely new design approach intended to give designers unprecedented flexibility in choosing the perfect chair configuration and arrangement for any cabin floor plan. The chair™ family concept offers thousands of configuration options."

The new seats are made in Germany in cooperation with the premium automotive supplier Dräxlmaier. All chair™ configurations are based on a primary seat structure perfectly adapted to the human body. Seat backs in different heights and with custom-contoured ribs, customized upholstery in any desired thickness, ergonomic features in arm rests and seat backs, and a wide variety of other flexible add-on elements allow hitherto undreamed-of versatility.