What kind of on-board experience do today’s private aviation users want? Simply put, it’s all about comfort and connectivity.
When it comes to their aircraft, clients want all the features of a high-end home—including modern décor, an ultra-fast internet connection, and a steaming hot espresso to sip while they work.
“That cigar lounge, man cave look is long gone,” explained Ben Shirazi, president of VIP Completions in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “It’s all about light earth tones, light woods and matte finishes—so a Zen vibe; no heavy woods or glossy surfaces.”
His company refurbishes “everything from the galley back,” including cabinetry, upholstery, fit and finish, audio visual, communications, and cabin amenities. While VIP Completions has worked on private aircraft of all sizes, Shirazi said the company specializes in large cabin and VIP airliner aircraft, including Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault and Boeing Business Jets. On average, VIP Completions refurbishes and/or modifies about 15 aircraft per year.
Many of his customers are younger, reported Shirazi, and they are looking to complete their aircraft in fabrics and finishes similar to their homes. White oak is popular, as are lighter carpets, muted finishes and earth-toned seats. Smooth, rounded edges are seen on tables and credenzas, while custom matte-finish stone veneer is popular for counters in lavatories and galleys.
“I find that most customers we deal with are trying to get the ‘living room at home’ experience in their aircraft,” he said. “A big request in the galley is an espresso machine—it’s a big-ticket item that everyone wants. They also want bar amenities with ice, cocktails, a proper area for mixing drinks, a small fridge.”
Shirazi said it’s not common for North American customers to cook on their aircraft—they usually order catering, unlike their European counterparts. Having said that, VIP Completions fits most aircraft with a microwave.
When it comes to passenger comfort, the company’s custom cabin management system (CMS) allows clients to control the lighting, window shades, audio, cabin temperature, and even play a movie—all through their iPad, smartphone, or a touch panel.
Customers often select multi-colored RGB LED lighting, which enables presets, dimming and mood setting.
“Audio and lighting are important to a young clientele,” said Shirazi.
Of course, internet connectivity is top-of-mind for clients of any age. “People expect full connectivity, as they would have at home. The most common is Gogo’s Avance L5 system; it delivers good value for the dollar in the U.S.,” he said. “Lately, everyone is talking about Starlink [internet connections] for business aviation, which is high-speed, satellite-based. That’s the future of connectivity, for sure. Everyone will want an international satellite-based system similar to Starlink; Gogo has its Galileo system.”
Shirazi said more than half of VIP Completions’ jobs also involve exterior paint, a process the company manages on behalf of its customers. “Younger entrepreneurs are looking to go all out. The days of white with three stripes are gone. Now, it’s two-tone dark colors, metallics, carbon fibre accents, air brushing.”
No connectivity? That’s an AOG item
Flying Colours Corp. operates from sites in Peterborough, Ont., and St. Louis, Mo. The former location is mainly geared to refurbishing aircraft, while St. Louis concentrates on providing maintenance services.
“Flying Colours has had extensive experience working on Gulfstream, Embraer, and Bombardier aircraft,” explained Eric Gillespie, Flying Colours’ VP of operations. “Each aircraft is individually styled, and Flying Colours is tasked with transforming those design plans into reality.
“We begin by removing existing elements, monuments, and avionics, and upgrading them with new upholstery, cabinetry, sidewalls and ledges, bulkheads, metalwork, connectivity, in-flight entertainment and CMS [cabin management systems],” he said.
Popular modern materials include leather, stone veneers, luxurious fabrics, and a variety of metal finishes.
Beginning at the front of the aircraft, all-glass cockpits with touchscreens are part of every avionics upgrade. Also in demand are synthetic vision systems that present a 3D representation of the outside world, autopilot features, and moving maps that depict real-time airport layouts.
“Compatibility with next-gen navigation systems is also essential to maintain asset value,” Gillespie pointed out.
Moving further back, a versatile galley that optimizes space is always in demand. Here, stone veneers are popular for countertops and one-piece sinks with milled drains. Gillespie, too, said espresso machines are now the norm rather than the exception, while mixed metal accents are coming into the galley, with brushed nickel being popular.
“Stone veneers are also used in entryways, and as the area with the most footfall, they add durability and are easy to clean,” he added.
As for staying connected, Gillespie explained non-functioning connectivity is considered an AOG (aircraft on ground) item. “Most passengers will travel with a minimum of two devices, which necessitates more charging areas—these are being built into tables and side ledges—as well as more stowage for devices and more redundancy, as passengers do more with their data.”
Aircraft must connect to high-speed Ka-band or Ku-band for reliable and consistent internet, said Gillespie. There is an increasing number of suppliers in this arena, including Viasat, Intelsat, Starlink, and Gogo ATG services. Newer entrants such as OneWeb and Kuiper (Amazon) have also joined the market.
He explained operators must have an antenna on the aircraft tail to receive satellite signals, and a router inside to receive and distribute the Wi-Fi signal throughout the cabin and back to the satellite.
“An airtime agreement will provide the data pipe from the satellite to the aircraft,” he continued. “Airtime agreements vary in terms of what they provide. Still, at a minimum, we recommend that an owner equip aircraft with the latest technology to future-proof their connectivity needs and choose a provider that offers excellent customer support around the globe.”
Passengers travelling in private aircraft expect to “live their terrestrial life at altitude,” and different cabin zones take them through the different stages of their day. Flying Colours’ Gillespie said wellness spaces are increasingly popular, for relaxation and private time.
“As aircraft range increases, so does the time passengers fly, which requires interiors to transform from workspaces to entertainment areas to relaxation zones.”
Flying Colours in Peterborough also boasts an on-site paint shop. Gillespie said a plane’s exterior is becoming a customized canvas, with more complicated paint schemes gaining popularity. Painted curls, flashes and stripes are regularly requested. Thankfully, as technology develops, these details are easier to add.
Big jobs or small, they do it all
In Huron Park, Ont., New United Goderich bills itself as a one-stop shop for all things aviation. From maintenance to avionics to custom exterior paint, the company’s 82,000-square-foot (7,618-square-metre) facility has completed projects for customers in the U.S., The Netherlands and Nigeria.
“It’s an advantage for us because clients don’t have to go elsewhere,” explained Curtis Brydges, deputy general manager. “There is less down time for them.”
Over the past few years, the company has found itself converting several regional jets (RJs) from airline duty to corporate configurations. A typical project might see this type of jet equipped with 16 to 20 business class seats, with USB outlets and Wi-Fi added.
“We have a couple of STCs [supplemental type certificates] for these types,” said Brydges. “I think we’ve made a name for ourselves in RJ conversions. We have STCs for Embraer ERJ-135/145 conversions and have done 14 of those so far. We also do a full CRJ-200 VIP conversion—a 15-pack VIP seating with full galley, full CMS system, and aux tanks for longer range. We’ve done four of those, with the STC covered by an agreement with our customer.”
In the last year and a half, New United Goderich has been installing light and dark grey interiors, according to sales manager Derek Campbell. “Fabric sidewalls are gone; we use leather now for easier cleaning. Likewise, divans are in leather and not fabric.”
He, too, reported older-style wood veneers have mostly disappeared. Now, hydrographics (water transfer printing) has become popular, although New United Goderich prefer to use 3M’s durable DI-NOC architectural finishes, a flexible vinyl that comes in thousands of patterns and colours. Applied with a heat gun, the material can be more easily moulded around sinks or other rounded edges.
“The faster we can get the job done, the happier our clients are,” said Campbell. “We can control the outcome on the delivery with DI-NOC; unlike hydrographics, we don’t have to use an outside vendor.”
Many of the jets being refurbished at New United Goderich are company aircraft, so corporate colours are always popular for exterior paint. The ubiquitous Matterhorn White is a perennial favourite base colour, but several customers last year selected lighter and darker greys, said Brydges.
“Metallics are popular, but if you need to do rework down the road, they are hard to match,” he explained. “It depends what the customer is doing with the aircraft. If it’s a workhorse, they may go with easier colours to fix down the road.”
While New United Goderich is always happy to take a custom job, it all comes down to budget and timeline.
“We want to get back into Gulfstreams, [Dassault] Falcons, get back to custom interiors,” said Brydges. “We love custom and we love new projects, but it’s also true that if you can get a contract where you’re doing the same thing, it becomes faster and more efficient—like a customer we have in the U.S. who will be operating up to 16 of our RJ conversions. Essentially, we want to be that company that does everything.”
Complex curves and COTS compartments
At AIRHAWKE in Montreal, the focus is on providing full-service engineering and design solutions for aircraft conversions and completions in the VIP, special mission and cargo markets.
“I would say the majority of our work at the moment is in the VIP space,” said CEO David Vanderzwaag. “Within that, there are three segments: Business jet reconfigurations, corporate conversions of primarily regional aircraft, and large and narrowbody completions.”
AIRHAWKE’s customers are aircraft completion and conversion centres or manufacturers of a product that supports a completion or conversion. Its customer base is global, although predominantly North American and European.
“Sometimes they contact us for overflow work; sometimes, it’s because we have a unique expertise,” said Vanderzwaag.
AIRHAWKE operates from a 3,000-square-foot (279-square-metre) facility in Saint-Laurent, Que., with a 25-member team made up of mostly engineers specializing in mechanical/structures, interiors, systems, and electrical. At the beginning of a project, a team travels to the aircraft with 3D scanning equipment to capture exact measurements, so accurate solutions can be engineered.
“Customers are pushing to incorporate the products and equipment that they might see at their home or business,” reported Vanderzwaag. “That creates unique challenges because often, this equipment is not aircraft grade. We entertain a lot of requests for COTS (commercial off the shelf) compartments that are essentially flame-proof compartments with a door and an outlet. People put their espresso maker, their coffee service, maybe a microwave, in these compartments. When the door is closed, it deactivates power to that compartment.”
Sometimes, the cost of bringing some of this equipment on-board can be prohibitive, especially considering the power requirements. In those cases, Vanderzwaag said, it’s up to the customer. Pretty much anything can be done—within weight limits, and within reason.
When it comes to the passenger cabin, he also mentioned connectivity is at the top of the must-have list. AIRHAWKE has participated in some Gogo installations and completed several Starlink installations in the past year. In the VVIP space, where aircraft are typically large, a two-antenna system is often recommended for redundancy.
“On the business jet side, we’ve definitely seen redundancy with a Starlink system paired with a Gogo system,” noted Vanderzwaag. “There is a huge buzz around Starlink right now. The challenge is them being able to support that demand. The other one we’re seeing is OneWeb, a direct competitor to Starlink.”
Some recent projects supported by AIRHAWKE include underlit countertops in lavatories, transparent bulkheads and partitions, side ledges with wireless charging, mood lighting, and even racetrack lighting in large VIP cabins—“kind of a casino look with the lighting in an oval shape.”
Vanderzwaag said business aviation seems to be busy in general, with a “ton of requests over the past three to six months to support new aircraft development, corporate conversions and VIP.”
For new aircraft development, he’s noticed a trend toward automotive-type design for the interiors, where everything is complex contours. “We are supporting that—the complexity of the curvature drives a lot of tooling. It’s a bit non-traditional in terms of aircraft interiors, which generally used flat panels in the past.”
He also reported an uptick in Bombardier CRJ200 and Embraer E145/E190 corporate conversions; in response, AIRHAWKE has spent a lot of time and effort coming up with seating options that make sense.
“Our role is really to integrate the seats. As part of that, there are always some unique things done to maximize the seating. We are now honing in on two or three options for the RJ; we modify the seats and roll that into the STC.”
At the time of writing in late August, AIRHAWKE was getting ready to debut a unique mixed reality experience to its customers.
“Mixed reality is where you can see your physical space, but overlaid on top of that is the virtual,” explained Vanderzwaag. “We’d like a customer to walk into a stripped green aircraft and be able to see their interior in that airplane before anything gets installed. We have demonstrated that it can be done.”
Earthly conveniences,
at any altitude
With significant delivery delays reported for most brand-new business jets, it’s no surprise that many customers are choosing to buy a pre-owned aircraft and make it their own with a custom refurbishment.
Softer colors, rounded edges, mood lighting and cabin automation figure strongly on a customer’s wish list, but lightning-fast connectivity is priority number one. Passengers want to feel at home in the sky, whether that means streaming a new release, calling a family member, or joining an online meeting. As the old saying goes, it seems that many of today’s private aviation users aim to enjoy the journey as much as their ultimate destination.
8 Trends in Private Aircraft Interiors
• Switchless cabins controlled by personal devices
• Stowage for digital devices
• Multi-purpose furniture
• Embedded tech, including charging ports
• Layered lighting/mood lighting
• Rounded edges and organic shapes
• Natural, neutral tones
• Customized exterior paint schemes