Function
AirGo is a low-cost yet highly ergonomic approach to economy class cabin design. In AirGo, while the design is minimal and economically viable, the problem with reclining seats is addressed by designing an independent space for each row of seats. The seats, even though offer the same features as in first class in terms of comfortableness, occupy smaller floor space and are cheaper to manufacture and maintain. In short, AirGo due to its low cost allows for departure from current design of cabins which dates back to 1960’s.
Inspiration
As a student, I travel a lot over long distances and obviously like majority of travelers I cannot afford to pay for premium class seats. I think that the current designs are far from being in sync with today’s technology and after reading a dozen of reviews I can say that many others share this idea with me. Ergonomic features in economy class seats nowadays are limited to a mere reclining ability while in long flights, passengers mostly complain about neck pain, inadequate blood circulation in legs and uncomfortable back support out of which none is solved by reclining the seat. It gets worse when the person in front decides to recline his/ her seat and the screen as well as the tray is then no more in your control. With AirGo, I try to solve these problems.
Development
In developing AirGo, the most important design factor was to account for the fact that passengers essentially pay for a consistent experience, i.e. no matter what other passengers do, a passenger should receive the very same services he/ she was promised. Therefore in an AirGo cabin, you have an independent space for your seat and for your carry-on bag as well. The back support is made of flexible, but strong nylon mesh which readily takes the shape of your body to avoid fatigue and additionally prevents sweating. Unlike older designs, keeping such seats clean is as easy as replacing this recyclable net. A set of 3 motors gives you the ability to customize the seat based on your posture to avoid neck and back pain. Instead of having a footrest on someone else’s seat, the footrest is now part of your seat and can be controlled to maximize comfort. The touch-screen through which this system is controlled is also meant for entertainment and is fixed independently from the seats, so you can easily move the arms to configure its position. The tray has a similar mechanism.