Unum Aircraft Seating is one of the world’s foremost designers and manufacturers of premium lie-flat business class seats for both wide body and increasingly capable single aisle aircraft. Customers include airlines, aircraft leasing companies and private jet operators. The company received CAA regulatory approval last year before launching its new specialist facility near London Gatwick Airport.

Seeking to disrupt the aircraft seating market, Unum’s collaboration with Dash allows it to quickly design, engineer, develop, and manufacture novel seating solutions thereby reducing project lead times. The partnership leverages Dash’s well-established experience in lightweighting, composites, and the rapid development and employment of robotic 3D-printed tooling.

The current projects – Unum One (herringbone) and Unum Two (staggered) – have both benefitted from Dash’s performance engineering experience. The shrouds will be manufactured in specialist epoxy-glass fibre and comply with all aerospace design requirements, including fire resistance, smoke production, and 16G dynamic tests. From cable runs to inserts, the Dash team engineered creative solutions to many design and manufacturing challenges.

With Unum seat families requiring adaption across multiple aircraft fleet types, Dash needed to develop a number of different configurations. This complexity will increase further with Unum customer orders, as specifications – including hardware location and position – can be customised for each. From a production perspective, this translates to a high volume of tooling that will be required at short notice – perfect for Dash’s approach.

The seats will be on display as part of Unum’s stand at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) from 28-30 May at the Unum stand at, Hall B6, Stand 6B30.