Cathay Pacific – Gallery in the Skies
The Crystal Cabin Award has announced 22 finalists for 2025, with the winners to be announced on 8 April in Hamburg at Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX). The seven awards serve to recognize innovation and advancements in passenger experience, with entries from airlines, suppliers, manufacturers, and design firms.
Cabin Technologies
- Collins Aerospace for Galley.ai, an intelligence technological ecosystem that works with galley management and assists communication between the crew and passengers using AI.
- Diehl Aviation for eDecor, a customisable and energy efficient décor that can change the cabin’s design at whim.
- Technik for Hidden Touch Display, a touch panel that integrates into any cabin’s design with customisable designs.
Judges’ Choice: Airline Innovation
This is a new award for 2025 to recognise the role that airlines play in passenger experience.
- Air France with its new Embraer 190 cabins, featuring new leather Expliseat seats.
- Air India for Vista, an IFE system that focuses on the needs of the customer.
- Cathay Pacific with Gallery In The Skies, an initiative that places works of art into gallery spaces on its 777-300ER aircraft.
- United Airlines for United’s Onboard Digital Experience, a platform that delivers personalised experience and relevant information to customers.
Air India – Vista
Passenger Comfort
- Airbus with the A220 Airspace Cabin, an initiative that extended the Airspace cabin concept to the smallest aircraft in its airliner fleet with added XL overhead bins, Airspace lighting designs and improved power supply for personal devices.
- Cathay Pacific, JPA Design and Reactor for its Aria Suite with IFEC: In-Flight Entertainment & Control that gives passengers control over functions within the IFE interface.
- Comfort Motion Global’s Healthy Morion Seating, software that autonomously adjusts the seating position to reduce fatigue and promote physical wellbeing.
IFEC and Digital Services
- Lufthansa Technik, Satcom Direct, and IDAIR for the collaborative Triple Innovation for A Five Star Cabin Experience project that combines a low-drag, tailfin-mounted radome, an electronically steered LEO antenna solution and an integrated content delivery system designed to enhance operational effectiveness, project value and in-cabin experience for the VIPs.
- Safran Cabin for the Safran Connected Interiors, a system that captures and transfers data across cabin equipment to provide a digitalised maintenance solution.
- Thales Avionics with its 360Stream, providing access to live content, near-live updates, highlights of live events and Digital Video Recording (DVR) capability.
Collins Aerospace – Galley.ai
Sustainable Cabin
- Boeing, Adient Aerospace, Botany Weaving, and LanzaTech for the joint From Waste Carbon to Cabin Comfort: Bringing Circularity to Aircraft Textiles system, transforming carbon emissions into fabric for aircraft interiors.
- Diehl Aviation with its ECO bin, the first fully recyclable overhead stowage compartment.
- Unum Aircraft Seating for the Ecoprint Refoam, a lightweight, recyclable replace for polyurethane foam stacks in seating.
Accessibility
- Cathay Pacific for Seamless Accessibility, a concept that integrates a moveable door garage to make transitioning from a wheelchair to a seat easier for the Aria Suite business seats.
- Collins Aerospace with Prime+, a cabin platform system that enables wheelchair uses to stay in their wheelchairs for the duration of the flight.
- Diehl Aviation’s Space³, a design for flexible space in aircraft toilets for wheelchair users with foldable doors and sinks and weight savings of up to 80 kilogrammes.
University
- Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and Diehl Aviation’s Single Aisle Lavatory Door 1 – Accessibility for all, a lavatory concept that accommodates wheelchairs and space for a support person.
- Tongji University and Boeing for the Ultra-lightweight Display System, using miniature projectors and gesture recognition technology to create a new IFE experience by turning surfaces like seatbacks, tray tables, windows, and cabin partitions into displays.
- UDIT Universidad de Diseño, Innovación y Tecnología and Iberia for R.A.I.S.S, or Restroom Autonomous In-Flight Sanitising System, a robotic system that cleans the floor after each use, and integrates interactive screens, an island-format sink, and a self-cleaning toilet system.
Photos: Provided by Crystal Cabin Award
