Boeing Company, the Chicago based multinational aircraft manufacturer, has announced on Monday that they are picking a new seat supplier for its most popular and flagship carrier, 737. Industry experts consider the move an escalating competition among the leading seat makers, including Zodiac Aerospace and B/E Aerospace.
Boeing has confirmed buying seats directly from the new supplier, Lift by EnCore of Huntington Beach, California. The American aircraft manufacturer has put to an end to the previous practice of allowing airlines to purchase seats causing costly delays in finishing the aircraft due to late delivery. Boeing and Lift have planned announcing the agreement on Tuesday during the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg of Germany, reports Reuters.
Boeing acknowledges Lift as the first and lone supplier selling directly to Boeing for the current 737NG and 737 Max aircraft in addition to previously approved 11-seat suppliers. The other suppliers sell to airlines allowing carriers to customize their respective cabins.
Suppliers have been facing increasing problems in delivering seats in time following soaring of plane productions in recent years. The delay in delivery has fouled production at Boeing and Airbus. The annoyed aircraft manufacturers came down heavily over Zodiac after missing deadlines causing delay in plane deliveries, according to a report published in Business Insider. Zodiac, the France based aircraft interior developer, has faced several profit warnings last year following its failure in maintaining delivery schedules. Boeing's shift towards Lift is believed to affect Zodiac and B/E Aerospace. Both the interior manufacturers supply around two-thirds of the global seat market, worth $4.6 billion a year, reports Sun Times quoting AlixPartners, a consulting firm. Boeing is probably warning the two main incumbents and expressing dissatisfaction over their current performances, cites Phil Toy, managing director at AlixPartners. On the contrary, Lift by EnCore is a new venture which has not yet delivered a single sit. However, Lift founders, Tom McFaeland and Jim Downey, are the familiar industry veterans who have sold their previous seat and interior company, C&D Aerospace to Zodiac in 2005. Lift has planned delivering new seats entitling 'tourist class' in mid 2017. It has designed the seats in consultation with Boeing. However, the consultation allows Boeing to adjust the seat dimensions, structure and weight with the 737 and new 'Sky Interior' cabin design. Boeing expects that the Lift seats will offer customers the stability and reliability, which are predicted from the 737.
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