Skift Take
While we have no faith in trickle-down economics, there is a real correlation between design improvements in first class and life getting a little better in economy.
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The majority of passengers may be baffled by recent introductions of apartments in the sky, major luxury hotel chains buying planes, and other premium offerings introduced at the same time that news spreads of nightmarishly lean economy seats and tight seating configurations.
It's reasonable to think a class war is underway; that the separation between the affluent 1% and the rest of us has reached sky-high proportions.
But, as Adam White of Factorydesign explains, things may not be as bad as they appear.
In fact, the Creative Director of this London-based design firm, responsible for recent innovations like the Four Seasons Jet and Etihad's Residence, gives us some good reasons why all passengers might want to celebrate these and other Premium interiors innovations about to take off.
"British Airways broke the mould for airline seating when they launched a flat bed variant in the nineties," White tells us, "and the industry spent the next decade catching up."
Today's unique market conditions foster change at a faster rate than we've previously seen in the industry. As White points out, "Nothing stands still when there is a commercial imperative so the future just got brighter for the air traveller."
If it isn't imm
