HAMBURG – As an airline or passenger, if you liked Recaro’s snappy, long-haul premium economy recliner PL3530 with the snappy moniker, you’ll love its successor, the equally catchy name PL3810, which is about ten percent lighter and just as comfortable, if not even more so.
Runway Girl Network tested the seat at a special demonstration at Recaro’s Aircraft Interiors Expo booth and the comfort – at least on the non-production prototype – was at least as good as, and in some respects superior to, the PL3530.
PL3810 is an update of PL3530. Image: John Walton
The thematic driver behind the seat’s development, CEO Mark Hiller told Runway Girl Network, is “the use of premium space,” and the seat certainly achieves that.
According to Recaro, the 10 percent weight reduction compared to the previous generation of seats is due to the use of composites – Recaro has an in-house center for composites production at its AAT Composites manufacturing site near Cape Town in South Africa – and an optimized design.
According to Hiller, selling points for the seat include “lightweight design with reduced seat weight, improved privacy and living space, additional storage options, ease of adjustment, [and a] large single top table.”
He points out that this customization can include “the use of decorative foils on multiple surfaces, bespoke colors for foils and metal parts, bespoke storage spaces, and bespoke privacy panel designs.”
The new off-white CMF of Recaro seats is extended to PL3810. Image: Recaro-1.png
The PL3810’s kinematics use manual seat actuation rather than automatic, and Recaro is targeting use on widebody aircraft: the Boeing 787 and 777, as well as the Airbus A330, A350 and, notably on the seat maker’s list, the A380.
The PL3810 is the successor to the previous generation PL3530, which is used by a variety of airlines in different guises: the older seat is used by airlines such as Emirates, Air China and Vistara, while Recaro says it has three customers for the PL3810.
According to Hiller, the development from PL3530 to PL3810 is driven by “high growth potential and increasing interest in premium-class customized seating products”.
In fact, Emirates’ extensive customization of the previous generation PL3530 suggests that there are airlines looking to exploit the full spectrum of passenger experiences that the lounger form can offer.
In its standard form, the PL3810 can be tilted from 37 inches, with the upper end of the usual limit being 40 inches, although there is no theoretical tilt limit – presumably there is once the test dummy passenger’s head has left the front seat no certification limit at the upper end. The seat features a 15.6-inch inflight entertainment screen.
“Wings” are installed in the head area to protect privacy, and this has caused some debate among airlines as well as airlines. Some of them have chosen smaller wings on the sides of the seat right next to the aisle and window and larger wings on the sides of the seat right next to a neighbor – and by wheelchair users.
Wing size and positioning is optional. Image: Recaro
When these wings are present adjacent to the aisle, they cause problems in the level transfer of passengers from aisle wheelchairs to the aisle seats, even if the side armrest panel is pivoted up, meaning that level transfer would otherwise be possible. Currently the wings cannot be removed.
Overall, this is a smart product development for Recaro: PL3530 was a useful element in Recaro’s all-aircraft and three-cabin strategy, and a lighter deck chair with the same or better level of comfort will certainly be welcome. However, it is interesting to hear that Recaro is referring to this as “premium class” rather than “premium economy”, with an updated look and feel to match. Airlines are increasingly using opaque marketing to market this mid-cabin at a higher level than premium economy, and seat manufacturers are taking notice.
PL3810 corresponds to the naming of Recaro’s current CL3810 full-featured economy seat. Image: Recaro
The featured image is by John Walton
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