The next iteration of Butterfly Flexible Seating Solutions’ prototype will debut at the 2020 Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) to be held between 31 March and 2 April in Hamburg, Germany. The Hong Kong-based start-up has joined forces with Sekisui SPI, Tapis and MGRFoamtex to bring a unique new aircraft seat to aviation interiors.

“We are excited to help innovative start-ups like Butterfly bring their disruptive ideas to the market,” says Ronn Cort, president and COO of Sekisui SPI, who was speaking at Red Cabin’s Aircraft Cabin Innovation Summit recently held in London. “That’s the mission of our appLab, an innovation centre where ‘what ifs?’ become fully-fledged projects.”

Sekisui SPI will collaborate with Butterfly to develop customer-centric material solutions using Kydex thermoplastics that are lighter, safer, stronger, and more recyclable than alternative materials.

Butterfly is a flexible aircraft seating solution that allows instant transformation between premium economy/regional business class and long-haul flatbed suites. The collaboration between the two companies culminated from discussions following last June’s Red Cabin Summit in Seattle, an event that brought together leading creators in the aviation interiors market.

“With our partners’ know-how, we can put Butterfly in the position to be competitive with both standard recliners, as well as business class lie-flat suites,” observes Butterfly’s co-founder and commercial director Lars Rinne.

“We are in the process of creating a seat that we are happy to sell, airlines are thrilled to buy, and passengers are delighted to sit in.”

Find out more at butterflyseating.com.