Airbus / Zodiac Aerospace

From 2020, Airbus has announced that it will be giving airlines the option of adding even more sleeping areas to its A330 family of aircraft. But there's a catch: you'll have to sleep in the cargo hold.

These spaces will include pre-constructed beds and be separate to the main economy and business class seating areas in planes. There will also be bookable meeting rooms, lounges and areas for children to play. Instead of taking space from established seating spaces, Airbus and supplier Zodiac Aerospace will put the areas below the usual seating classes – in the cargo hold.


Each of the areas will be inside a container that can be slotted into the cargo hold in the same way as traditional cargo is. They will then need to be connected to the aircraft to allow for electricity, water and other services. In theory, it would be possible for an airline to remove or change individual modules when it needed them.

A spokesperson for Zodiac Aerospace, speaking at the Aircraft Interiors Exhibition (AIX) in Hamburg, said it expects them to be removed and changed in around a day. Depending on the size of the aircraft – the A330 comes in a few different lengths – it will be possible to fit three or four new cabins into each plane. In some aircraft, airline crew have similar spaces to the cabins in the cargo hold.

Read next The pandemic will bring about the end of cattle class flights The pandemic will bring about the end of cattle class flights

Zodiac says the decision has been made as it has seen the growth in passenger planes carrying cargo slowing, while there is a greater demand for passenger space. Ultimately, it will be up to airlines that buy the cabins to decide how much they will charge but Zodiac says it sees the space as add-ons to someone's ticket. The spaces won't be sold as standalone options – regulations state passengers have to be in seats during take-off, landing and taxiing – but are likely to fall between economy and premium economy prices.

Airbus / Zodiac Aerospace


"This approach to commercial air travel is a step change towards passenger comfort," Airbus' head of cabin and cargo programme Geoff Pinner said in a statement. "We have already received very positive feedback from several airlines on our first mock-ups."

Regardless of whether the idea is useful for passengers or another way for airlines to make money, these cabins won't be flying for some time yet. Zodiac and Airbus say they are currently creating full-size versions and testing will be required before they can be used by customers. At the earliest, they may be used in 2020 or 2021.

In recent years a number of adaptable systems for use inside planes have been announced. At AIX, Lufthansa Technik announced a way for airlines to customise the setups of their craft. The company said it will begin to offer cabin leases, where seats can be changed, added or removed, as and when an airline requires.

However, Lufthansa's offering isn't as flexible as the plans from Airbus and Zodiac. Instead of a one day turn around, Lufthansa's refits will take three months. Jeremy White, the transport director at London-based design firm Seymourpowell, says he expects more customisation and flexibility to come to aircraft in the future.


The best and worst economy airline seating concepts Design The best and worst economy airline seating concepts

"You're buying a standard thing that can effectively change and do different tasks depending on the desires and needs of different passengers," White explains. His firm has previously developed seating concepts called Flex and morph that allow individual seats to change size and move around a cabin.

But the emphasis on installing these new systems is placed on airlines who are kitting out their planes and attempting to make profit. "It takes brave airlines to try something new, different and disruptive," White says.