BA first-class seat in development

South London luxury product design group Forpeople is creating a first class seat for British Airways, launching in September.

The new seat is Forpeople’s first for the airline, though it claims to have worked with BA on several previous projects.

Last year, the group began a collaboration with Tangerine and BA’s in-house team to redesign BA’s first class cabins (www.designweek.co.uk, 15 August 2008). BA appointed Forpeople to lead the project, following a three-month creative pitch. The cabin is due to roll out in about two years. However, Forpeople regards the airline seat as ‘the biggest project we have ever done for the airline’, according to a spokesman for the group.

Airline seats require specialised knowledge to design and undergo extensive safety testing. Experienced airline seat designers include Tangerine, which created BA’s flat-bed seat for the £100m relaunch of its business-class service Club World (DW 23 March 2006).

In February, Priestman Goode designed the new first class suite for Swiss, due to enter service this month (www. designweek.co.uk, 11 February).