Japan Airlines 'Shell Flat Seat' Wins Top Japan Design Award

Japan Airlines' business class "Shell Flat Seat" has won Japan's "Good Design Award" for 2003. The award is in the product design category of the top Japanese design award program sponsored annually by the Japan Industrial Design Council (JIDC).

Designed by B/E Aerospace Design Studio and the Japanese G-K Industrial Design Group, the JAL "Shell Flat Seat" was introduced in 2002 in "JAL Executive Class - SEASONS", the airline's own branded business class.

The new seat made its debut on JAL's Tokyo-London and Tokyo-New York routes in 2002. From November 2003 the JAL Shell Flat Seat will be introduced on the airline's Tokyo-Paris route (flight JL405/406) on alternate days, with full installation from January 2004. Also from November the Shell Flat Seat will be standard equipment in business class on JAL's double daily flights on the Tokyo-London route. 

This is the second major design award for the JAL "Shell Flat Seat". In December 2002 The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design awarded its coveted Good Design Award for 2002 to the JAL Shell Flat Seat.

Last year, JAL's new first class seat, the "Skysleeper Solo", created by leading British designer Ross Lovegrove, won the 2002 JIDC "Good Design Award" in the product category.

Designed in a stylish shell-shape, the JAL Shell Flat Seat arrangement has a maximum 62-inch seat pitch and a full recline of 170 degrees for better sleeping comfort when in bed mode. The shell form enhances passenger relaxation and privacy.

In addition the seat is equipped with an adjustable flat footrest that folds up to extend the length of the seat in recline. The armrests fold down to create a total width in bed mode of 23.5 inches for greater comfort. When fully extended the Shell Flat Seat is 190 cm (75 in.) long. A unique seat adjustment system incorporates four independent motors and gear systems ensuring a soft, smooth seat movement at the touch of a button on the seat control panel.

JAL is installing the seat in a total of 21 aircraft serving long-haul routes from Japan to North America and Europe.