Aeroméxico has revealed new interiors for its 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft characterised by modern comforts, a design focus on passenger well-being, and a breath-taking in-flight bar you’ll want to frequent from take-off to landing.
Working with transport architecture and design firm New Territory, London, the airline created an open and welcoming social space onboard while maintaining continuity of experience between classes.
A Better Space
The aircraft’s new approach to organising social space challenges existing cabin lay-outs and sets a new standard of how airlines should use the space onboard their aircraft in the future.
“We’ve thought about aircraft architecture with a view to the future, looking beyond branded interior design and style that so often feels alien to aircraft interiors, as well as to the passenger. Instead we’ve been more sensitive to the airframe to create a space that feels more open, accessible, and more natural for passengers to move around,” said Luke Miles, director at New Territory.
At Home in the Clouds
The onboard social space bar known as ‘Espacio Premier’ features limited seating and welcoming clean environment, seamlessly integrated into the architecture of the aircraft.
“The term ‘Beneficio Colectivo’ (collective benefit) helped to frame the design narrative for the social space, as it needed to communicate a sense of openness and of casual, convivial equality,” says Luke Miles. “We observed that not everyone feels relaxed enough to talk when they’re at a bar, so we designed the social space to feel and work less like a traditional bar and more like a beautiful domestic space. Here passengers feel relaxed enough to help themselves to drinks and refreshments, choosing if and how they interact with fellow passengers.”
The faceted ‘Espacio Plural’ (multiple spaces) frames a new geometry of the space. It encourages the natural flow of people wth smooth, unbroken lines and shifting perspectives that reveal different elements of the bar as passengers walk through it. Asymmetric forms frame the cabin crew and create a more inviting space.
The bar area is haloed by a prime-feature ‘skylight’, a large panel overhead which emits flat light to imbue the space with warmth.
Natural Light
New Territory applied ‘Fisonomía Ambiental’ (environmental character) in their approach to lighting for the aicraft, to improve passenger well-being. The light plays-off the sensory and atmospheric experience of a space, in how people interact with their environment.
The designers avoided “synthetic coloured lighting” in favour of warmer, more natural light which fosters a sense of well-being. The lighting is programmed for various activity stages of the journey.
For example, a ‘moment of revitalisation’ gently wakes passengers up before landing with a soft transition from wake to sleep, similar to the experience of being awakened by the sunrise: a subtle peach-coloured light takes its hue from the colour of the sky at daybreak.
Hugo Jamson, associate director at New Territory commented, “We’ve used white light throughout the whole cabin because it feels the most natural, allowing the interior to feel less synthetic and for people to feel as healthy and well within the space as possible. Our sensitively phased lighting scheme complements the rhythm of the flight and how people fit into it.”
Continuous Design Flow
A more consistent, high level of craftsmanship in the elaboration of cabin soft decor throughout the aircraft ensures a continuity of brand and cabin feel. New Territory developed a unique surface treatment pattern, and used different scales and variations of this pattern on seat fabrics and surfaces throughout the aircraft.
New Lay-Out
The Dreamliner introduces a new cabin lay-out, with 274 seats in two cabins.
Clase Premier, Aeromexico’s business class cabin, features 36 true 180-degree flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The individual 18-inch touchscreens are two inches larger than those featured on the Boeing 787-8. Entertainment content includes two live television channels, movies, TV series, and music albums, for more than 200 total hours of entertainment.
The Economy cabin has 238 ergonomic seats, with individual 11-inch touchscreens, two inches larger than those featured on the carrier’s other aircraft. The airline offers a variety of movies, TV series, music, real-time flight information, and a seat-to-seat chat system.
All aircraft on Aeroméxico’s fleet offer WiFi connections onboard.
Here’s the full video tour inside Aeroméxico’s new 787-9
Aeroméxico will start to serve the Amsterdam, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Santiago, Shanghai, and Tokyo routes with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in the coming weeks.