Airline profit margins are very small. In a highly competitive market, the challenge is to differentiate from other airlines. Differentiation within an airplane is difficult, because of the rigidity of an airplane and the strict regulations. The economy is in a lift, businesses allow their employees to fly business class more often. First class and business class only represent 10-15% of the total number of seats globally but is responsible for 50% of the revenue. This makes business class travel very relevant to major airliners

Seat comfort is a tool used by the airlines to differentiate themselves. Within a review of three business class seats, the participants were asked if there was something comfortable or uncomfortable about their sitting position. 30% of their answers mentioned shoulder, arm and hand comfort of which 65% was negative and 35% positive. 46% of this 30% explicitly mentioned the armrests.

The assignment was to improve the comfort of a business class armrest in order to improve the comfort of the entire seat. This project was done together with RECARO Aircraft Seating. The focus was on improving their current armrest (of their long-haul business class seat) in physical comfort and privacy. Furthermore, facilitating the activities reading and watching IFE (In Flight Entertainment) were selected to focus on.

During the analysis phase, general aspects that could be improved about the armrest and aspects of specific activities were identified. Some of these general aspects were, the asymmetric position of the armrests leading to skewed sitting positions, hard and slippery materials, the lack of space to place the arms and the lack of adjustability options. A specific opportunity for improvement for the activity reading was the conflict between getting tired arms from holding the reading device on eye level or feeling the tension in neck and shoulder when looking down to the reading device. Another area for improvement was observed specifically for the RECARO business class seat. When the seat moves forward to a more relaxed position, the armrests stay at the same place reducing the length available for the arms to rest on and reducing the width.

The final proposed design is an armrest which can be integrated into the current RECARO long-haul business class seat. The top part of the armrest can automatically move forward together with the seat so the space available for arm support while watching IFE is optimized. Both armrests have the same adjustability options to improve the symmetry of the sitting position. the up/down movement of the armrest can also be adjusted automatically with the same control panel as the seat adjustments.

The reading position is improved by the added function of upwards rotation and inwards rotation. When the armrests are placed under an angle the reading device is brought closer to eye height while supporting the arms. Participants experienced the new design as more comfortable for reading than the current armrest positioning during a user test.

An option for a privacy screen was designed to be added to the armrest. This involved a screen that rotates down originating from the current privacy panel. Although the panel improves the privacy significantly for sleeping, the effect only works if the armrests are moved fully up, which takes away moving space and does not improve the privacy for other sitting positions. Therefore a different solution for this needs to be sought.

Further improvement to the armrests can be made by searching for a way to make the inner armrest longer for reading. And the usability of the armrest design should be evaluated to check if the use is understood by the passengers.