Story ID: 353 Stelia Aerospace
Stelia Showcases Bespoke Seats and Aerostructures Specialties
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: French company touts new Airbus Passenger Experience demonstrator and Turkish Airlines lie flat business class offering.
Word Count: 505
Bespoke first class and business class seats—developed for Airbus and Turkish Airlines—are among the aerostructure products and specialties Stelia Aerospace (Hall 2a, A252) is highlighting at the 53rd International Paris Air Show. Stelia unveiled in April a connected passenger seat demonstrator for the Airbus Connected Cabin at AIX (Aircraft Interiors Expo), which followed the February announcement of its selection by Turkish Airlines to provide bespoke business class seats for the carrier’s newly ordered B787-9 and A350-900 airliners.

A follow-on to the connected pilot seat Stelia introduced two years ago, the connected passenger seat offers operational efficiency, an enhanced customer experience, and improved services, according to the Toulouse, France-based Airbus subsidiary. “This new connected passenger seat demonstrator again displays Stelia’s capacity to develop state-of-the-art products, integrating the best technology and latest innovations to continuously improve passenger comfort experience as well as airline operations,” said Stelia Aerospace v-p, cabin interior, Thierry Kanengieser.

The connected passenger seat allows real-time monitoring of hardware performance and big data analytics, enabling improved maintenance cycles and scheduling, and boosting operational efficiency. The possibility of offering frequent fliers pre-sets for the seat environment promises an improved onboard experience. Meanwhile, data monitoring and processing can help airlines better understand passenger needs, providing a pathway for service enhancements. Kanengieser pointed out these service improvements help build loyalty and relationships while increasing revenue opportunities.

For Turkish Airlines, which claims to fly to more countries than any other in the world, Stelia is developing “Full Flat, Full Access, Full Privacy” seats tailored for the carrier. The seats provide real full-flat long beds; a 44-inch seat pitch and generous footwell; and adjustable dividers between alternate rows of center seats to customize the privacy level. All seats provide direct aisle access. They also offer more stowage space, integrated reading lights, and a large meal table, while the interior trimmings of each are being given a touch of luxury with Alcantara padding, a material used to fit the interiors of sports cars. Stelia promises a more “personalized and interactive” inflight entertainment experience via an 18-inch full high-definition touchscreen monitor. Turkish Airlines has ordered 25 each of the widebody B787-9s and A350-900s.

With engineering and offices in Rochefort & Salaunes, France, and Casablanca, Morocco, Stelia delivers some 2,000 passenger seats annually, all with FAA and EASA approvals and qualified for their relevant Boeing and Airbus platforms. Its passenger seat product lines include Celeste, Equinox, Opal, Symphony, Solstys, and Ultimate.

Stelia also specializes in more substantial aerostructures, designing and manufacturing the front fuselage sections for the entire Airbus family, as well as fuselage sections and specific sub-assemblies for Airbus, and fully equipped wings for ATR, fully equipped central fuselages for Bombardier’s Global 7500, and complex metallic and composite aerostructure parts for Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer, Northrop-Grumman and others.

Stelia was formed in 2014 by the merger of Aerolia (Toulouse, France) and Sogerma (Mérignac, France), wholly owned subsidiaries of the Airbus Group.