Is every surface of your seat wiped down before flight? The answer might be yes, but is the seat itself made of antimicrobial surfaces, which can kill up to 99% of bacteria on contact, on their own? The answer is probably no.
That’s where JAMCO, a leading airline seat manufacturer is shaking things up. Not only are all surfaces easy to clean, each business class seat surface can be customized with antimicrobial materials. It’s literally a business class seat that fights viruses.
New ‘Venture Pristine’ Business Class
One day, the global health situation will improve, but its impact will linger. People are more aware of their actions, the things they touch and also more curious about what’s been done with any surfaces they may encounter. Airlines were already a hot topic on that front, and even before the pandemic, the advice was “touch nothing”.
So, JAMCO took one of their more famous seat designs, versions of which appear on major airlines including KLM and Air Europa, and gave the concept a big health and wellness makeover. KLM uses the JAMCO Venture on its Boeing 787-10 fleet, and it’s quite nice.
But on the newly unveiled Venture Pristine, all surfaces are either antimicrobial or antiviral, and yes, apparently you can totally do that thanks to technology.
Even the paint on stylish seat accents has been laced with antimicrobial particles! Additionally, angles of the seat have been designed to make it easier for cleaners to reach low touch surfaces.
Do Antimicrobial Surfaces Make A Difference?
Imperial College London has an extensive research paper on the health powers of antimicrobial surfaces, and how they can massively reduce transmission. Surfaces that are antimicrobial, or woven with antimicrobial fibers like copper can kill 99.9999% of all bacteria within minutes.
In the simplest sense, even though you never want to imagine it. If someone wipes their nose and touches the seat, an antimicrobial surface could kill up to 99.9999% of the active bacteria from the area the person just touched, within minutes. If you touch it minutes later, you’re far less likely to pick up something horrible.
All surfaces are also made to be ‘chemical proof’, which means airlines can use super powerful cleaning agents during deep cleans when the aircraft is taken out of service, without damaging elements of the seat.
So, Will It Fly On An Airline?
Is the JAMCO Venture Pristine seat amazing? Qatar and ANA somewhat redefined amazing in business class over recent years, but it’s really good – at a minimum.
GSTP has flown KLM’s 787-10 with the Venture Pristine and found the seat plenty spacious and comfortable, and probably somewhere in the top 10 of current business class seats out there.
Add in more touch free technology for things like handsets or seat controls, and it’s already climbing the ranks. Tell me it’s naturally going to help kill bacteria and viral particles which might give me a cold, or much worse, and I’m really starting to like this thing.
In the end, only one thing matters: orders.
The good news is that this isn’t a wild concept seat without customers. It’s a new iteration of a seat that’s already in the wild, which has proven to be a success for a major airline. This alone means its much more likely to receive orders than some of the more far flung ideas, like bicycle seats for the economy cabin.
The bad news: airlines are in dire financial situations, and new seats aren’t likely the focus. But as travel recovers, and customer preferences change, there’s no reason that airlines which planned to introduce the previous version won’t upgrade. Everyone loves an upgrade.
Will seat touches like this factor into your future airline preferences?
