Skift Take
In aviation, change takes time and patience pays off. We might have once thought pigs would fly before Butterflies, but airlines could be ready to fly convertibles.
[gallery ids="141889,141891,141892,141893"]
Cabin wars pacifist, James SH Lee, of Paperclip Design, has won the top prize at IATA’s Passenger Innovation Awards for his metamorphosing Butterfly seat.
But is this prize enough for airlines to price it?
Lee is the same designer responsible for the armrest to end the battle of the armrests, and the Meerkat Economy Seat, which would eliminate the need to defend the knees. Yet, the Butterfly has been a bit of a pill for the Hong-Kong based designer. After featuring on Skift, Lee came to the world’s attention.
That world included a certain machinery company which complained of infringement on its claims to the earth, the air, and every other element in between. Non-plussed, Lee put the old name in a cocoon, applied his convertible thinking, and the seat emerged fresh, renamed Butterfly.
The new name suits a design which can adeptly convert and spread its wings. Seats becoming beds are hardly novel, but the combination of features of this design are entirely unique, benefiting both passengers aching for comfort and airlines hurting for cash.
So what airline will fly this award-winning seat?
So far, none.
A seat manufacturer would need to pick up interest in such a design and buy that first, based on customer interest, and then it would have to be sold, built, certified, manufactured and ultimately installed. It will be a while, if it happens at all.
E
