“For decades, people with disabilities have been fighting for more accessible air travel, and this feels like a huge step (or a giant roll) toward real inclusivity,” Lee told CNN Travel via email.

It’s hoped that the concept could enter commercial use within 18 months if it passes testing and is adopted by airlines. Though still only a prototype, the design is already generating significant buzz among wheelchair users who could be among potential customers. Rick Salanitri, DFP president, told CNN Travel at AIX that the goal is to make the conversion seamless. When the seat’s in wheelchair mode, flyers are still able to use the tray table – the center console that houses the tray table rises to the appropriate height when the seat conversion takes place.

The seat would be installed into pre-existing aircraft seat track systems, so would not involve any structural change to the airplane. The built-in seat folds up to allow a wheelchair to be docked into place. “Unbelievably excited,” is how power wheelchair user and avid traveler Cory Lee described his reaction after a working prototype of the design was demonstrated by Delta Flight Products (DFP) at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany, a symposium spotlighting airplane cabin innovations.ĭFP’s concept seamlessly converts to and from a traditional airplane seat. A new airplane seat concept that allows wheelchair users to stay in their own chair throughout a flight was revealed this week by a subsidiary of US airline Delta, a move welcomed as a “huge step” by potential customers.

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