AirGo’s Supernova Cabin Turns Every Seat Into a Flatbed on Business Jets

From travel restrictions that grounded entire fleets and sent smaller airlines over the brink, into bankruptcy, to limited seating and all kinds of unnecessary drama about necessary safety precautions, and diminished sales, the aviation industry will take years to recover from the effects of the still ongoing crisis. As it does, airlines are also considering improving cabins to reflect the reality of the “new normal.”

The big elephant in the room is, of course, the need for social distancing. AirGo, a design company that aims to make aircraft cabins more sustainable and efficient and more comfortable and luxurious when they need to be, introduced the Supernova cabin at the beginning of 2020. Back then, the world still hoped to continue as it had, so the focus was on luxury.

The Supernova is back in the spotlight today, but with a slightly different highlight: this could very well work in the post-2020 world as a solution that both maximizes comfort and offers social distancing.

The Supernova cabin is designed for midsize and super-midsize business jets, so AirGo thinks it would best work on aircraft like the Embraer Praetor 500, the Gulfstream G280, the Bombardier Challenger 350, the Textron Cessna Longitude, and Dassault Falcon 2000S. Other possibilities are the Embraer Legacy 450, Textron Cessna Latitude, Gulfstream G500, Dassault Falcon 6X, and Bombardier Global 5000. As Alireza Yaghoubi of AirGo Design explained in an older interview with BusinessJetInteriors, the cabin would be perfect for flights longer than 5 hours.

“The seats are bulky and floor space is used lavishly,” Yaghoubi says of the current offer on business jets, where you have up to ten seats but only as few as four flatbeds. “Today, more than ever, there is a need for space-efficient solutions,” he says. Adding a luxury component to business flying is also a must, so they came up with Supernova.

The idea behind this is to up the level of comfort on board and also to increase the number of passengers. Both are possible by rearranging the seats and opting for a more minimalist design. This allows AirGo to turn every seat into a flatbed, something that is not currently available on this type of business jets.

Yaghoubi says that this cabin could effectively double the number of passengers onboard each flight. Each module would offer “individual living zones,” with sleeping accommodation, in-flight entertainment systems, in-seat power, tray table, and built-in drink cooler. Each module would include everything you need to make a long flight not just passable but also pleasurable and relaxing.

And then there’s the sustainable aspect, which should please frequent fliers from this particular category. Obviously, there’s no sense in not flying at full capacity, particularly not when it’s been said countless times that we need to cut down on unnecessary air travel if we still want to have breathable air decades from now. Supernova would increase the number of passengers, so it would do its part in reducing carbon emissions from planes. A small part, but still.

AirGo says that the new cabin would also benefit from the proprietary composite microfiber technology, which is “as affordable as aluminum but some 50% lighter due to its chemistry.” The company wants to work with OEMs to bring this business cabin to the private sector.