It is a great challenge to airlines around the world to offer passengers a comfortable way of traveling, yet staying profitable at the same time. The Basic Line 3520 seat model was developed specifically for short-range and medium-range flights. These new seats were intended to offer higher passenger comfort in economy class than previous seat models and, at the same time, present airlines a solution that reduces costs. The design solves this task by following an impressive formal and functional logic. The seats are elegant in appearance and feature ergonomics that integrate findings from recent scientific research.

The use of innovative materials and a novel construction concept also helped reduce the weight of the Basic Line 3520 substantially to the extent that the specific fuel consumption is lowered, thus making the operation of aircraft fleets more economical and more environment-friendly. Compact in design, the seats have a slim backrest so that each passenger can be offered an additional 4 cm of legroom on average. Nevertheless, airlines can add up to two extra rows in the passenger cabin of each plane – launch customer Lufthansa thus has a total of 2,000 additional seats in its European fleet, equivalent to the capacity of twelve Airbus A320 aircraft.

producer: recaro
award: red dot 2012
period: 2011