A 'hotel room in the sky': New self-cleaning plane seats will give massages

The microbes lurking in airplane seats, hotbeds of infectious diseases, could soon be history.

Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH, whose customers include Cathay Pacific, says it's developing a seat infused with a disinfectant that destroys almost every germ on contact within seconds. It's a response to studies that consistently show almost everything inside an aircraft cabin is festering with bugs.

These business-class seats won't just cleanse themselves, but will also somehow inform each incoming passenger how well it has done the job, Recaro Chief Executive Officer Mark Hiller said in an interview. The seats may debut within a year or two.

The quest for germ-free travel is part of an industry effort to make flying less taxing on the body as non-stop 17-hour marathons become common. As the tube-like design of commercial jets has barely changed in decades, seating has become the focus of comfort and a key point of difference.

Tomorrow's airborne chairs - at least in business class - will be a digitised and customised living area, Hiller said by phone from Hong Kong. As well as being sanitised, Recaro's seats will give massages and predict backaches. Eventually, they might even have their own bar.

"Individualisation is really the key," said Hiller, 45. The goal, he said, is to create "a hotel room in the sky."

Spreading Disease

Recaro, which competes with Thompson Aero Seating, Zodiac Aerospace, and Rockwell Collins, makes about 120,000 plane seats a year. Boeing Dreamliners operated by Qantas on the recently started Perth-London direct route are fitted with seats made by the German manufacturer.

Rockwell Collins offers seats with an antimicrobial coating, though they're optional and not every airline chooses them, said Alex Pozzi, the company's vice president of technology and seating development.