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Passengers at San Jose’s airport in California can get a first glimpse of what Airbus hopes will be the future of commercial flying.
A3, the Silicon Valley-based innovation arm of Airbus, has stationed a full-sized module cabin gym outside San Jose’s Gate 18. Throughout May, travelers are welcome to go into the module and to try out the exercise bikes, yoga mats and resistance bands.
The module, which A3 produced in partnership with Reebok and Peloton, is the first public display for A3’s Transpose project, which is developing an aircraft with interchangeable modular interiors.
A3 plans to make use of existing Airbus cargo planes for Transpose. On such aircraft, components such as pallets and containers are already offloaded and loaded in less than an hour.
Under the vision of the project, airlines that operate Transpose modular planes would be able to reconfigure an interior in the time that an aircraft is turned around between flights. For example, a carrier could exchange a module with seating aisles for one with a dining cabin or turn first-class seats into coach seats.
Transpose project executive Jason Chua said the company chose to demonstrate an exercise module first because the sedentary nature of flying is a pain point for many travelers.
“People are more attuned than ever to health and wellness when they travel,” Chua said.
The module on display in San Jose is 15-feet wide and 12-feet long–dimensions that cover the width of a widebody aircraft and the approximate length of four rows of economy seats.
Chua said that A3 has prepared a modular aircraft mock-up at its Silicon Valley warehouse with several fully engineered prototype modules. Demonstrations of the mock-up will be available as soon as late May. In December, Chua said A3 hopes to have a passenger modular aircraft ready within a few years.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
