Aviation

Airbus patents economy-class ‘sleep pods’

One of the world’s leading aeroplane manufacturers has come up with a radical new seat design -with split-level seating inside the cabin.

The arrangement proposed by Airbus designers would be used in a premium cabin such as business class with rows in the middle section alternating between floor level and an elevated level that is several feet higher.

Every seat would recline into a lying position, and those at the lower level would have an ottoman with stairs or a ladder mounted on the side to allow passengers to climb into their mezzanine seats.

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The new design will maximize seating capacity on planes that have yet to reach their full potential, according to the plane manufacturer.

“In modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space in a passenger cabin,” Airbus wrote in the patent application.

“In order to still more efficiently use the space in a passenger cabin of an aircraft, [the patent] proposes to position an elevated deck structure on a main deck floor in the passenger cabin of a wide-body aircraft for providing a mezzanine seating area in a substantially unused upper lobe of the aircraft fuselage.”

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As for comfort, the pods are equipped with a “reclining cushion” which can be elevated so that occupants can view the television suspended from the ceiling.

If done right, the pods may represent a significant step forward for comfort in economy, especially on overnight flights. Certainly questions remain, particularly how passengers will get in and out of these, especially if they’re arranged in stacks of three, as the patent describes—economy boarding is usually a patience-trying game of Tetris as it is.

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Aviation

No More Jet Airways. Supreme Court Says “No Choice”, Orders Liquidation

Jet Airways was once one of India’s leading airlines, known for its service and extensive network. Founded in 1993, it served millions of passengers, connecting cities across India and international destinations.

However, since grounding its flights in April 2019, Jet Airways has struggled to navigate financial turbulence, leading to years of efforts to revive the airline and return it to the skies.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of Jet Airways, citing “no choice” but to take this decisive step after the resolution plan failed to meet creditor obligations. The court invoked its extraordinary powers under Article 142, which allows it to make orders for “complete justice” in any case, overriding previous tribunal rulings.

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The Jalan-Kalrock Consortium (JKC), which had won the bid to revive Jet, faced criticism for not fulfilling payment commitments to creditors, which included major banks like the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

The Supreme Court’s ruling pointed to “peculiar and alarming” issues surrounding the resolution plan’s implementation, leading to its conclusion that liquidation was the only feasible outcome.

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Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, emphasized that while liquidation should be a last resort, it was necessary as the resolution plan was “no longer capable of implementation.”

In line with this decision, the court ordered that the ₹200 crore already infused by JKC be forfeited and directed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Mumbai to appoint a liquidator to oversee the process.

JKC, a partnership between Murari Jalan, a UAE-based Indian entrepreneur, and Florian Fritsch, a Jet shareholder through Kalrock Capital Partners Limited, had taken ownership of Jet Airways two years after it was grounded. The consortium’s inability to fulfill its financial obligations has now led to this final verdict, marking the end of an era for Jet Airways in India.