Colin Mahoney, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Collins Aerospace Interiors gives us a tour of one of his favourite places – an Emirates’ first class suite.

Emirates and Collins Aerospace took a collaborative approach to the airline’s first class suites which enable passengers to enjoy complete privacy for the duration of their flight. The suite includes a number of unique features within first class aviation suites including lie flat wide seat, large scale monitor and a lighting system that offers up to 70 different programmes.

Virtual windows give a clearer view

Mahoney explained how the design approach between Collins and Emirates worked: “For example, we’re sitting in an office, or a side suite right now with the middle suite, for example, has the same look of these windows, we call them virtual windows.”

“So there’s a camera set up, and so actually passengers, I hear, want to actually sit in the middle suite because the actual image of the virtual window is clearer than actual looking out the window. So that’s one example of how we collaborated to create something special.”

Connectivity is key

As well as sleek design features, connectivity is key for the modern luxury traveller.

Mahoney explained: “Connectivity in airplanes is something that you’re going to see a lot of growth in coming forward. So everything in an airplane and an interior of an airplane is a node on a network. So the ability to understand what’s happening in a suite, what’s happening with a seat, what’s happening in a galleyand doing that in a connected way that really helps the crew manage, so crew workload is reduced from that.”

Mahoney added that CEOs were heavily involved in designing luxury suites. “We’ve seen CEOs actually sleep in the seats to make sure that their passengers are going to get the right experience and the brand is all mented by the design of a suite like this,” he said.