J&C Aero, an EASA-certified international cabin interior hub, has completed a full cabin modernisation of a Boeing 757-200 by developing, producing and installing brand-new, modern interiors. Two additional Boeing 757s operated by a Central Asian airline will be modernised by winter 2024.
Over the past nine months, J&C Aero designed, produced and installed new single-class cabin interiors that included new-generation seats, modern passenger service units (PSU), dynamic LED cabin lighting, as well as completely refurbished lavatories, cabin attendant stations and galleys. The renewal of seats and other systems decreased the overall weight of the aircraft by almost 1000 kg, providing the operator with extra fuel savings, in addition to an improved flight experience for passengers.
During the project, the company also provided new floor covering and PL floor path marking systems, refurbished sidewalls, overhead and ceiling panels, repaired and restored damaged cabin parts, developed a new emergency equipment layout and introduced a new cabin appearance quality programme for more efficient cabin interior maintenance.
Cabin interior elements were designed, refurbished and produced by J&C Aero at its cabin interior hub in Vilnius, Lithuania, while the installation works were completed by the company at the customer base. The modernisation of the remaining two aircraft will require no more than three months and is due to be completed by December 2024.
“The air travel is blooming again, but the market lacks the capacity. Considering the backlog for new aircraft and growing scarcity in the secondary aircraft market, airlines turn their glaze on older-generation aircraft. For instance, the Boeing 757 – it was designed more than 40 years ago, but it can still show efficiency in terms of capacity and range. However, it can hardly meet the expectations of today’s passengers when it comes to the comfort, technologies, and aesthetics of the cabin,” commented Maksim Jurkov, the Head of Design at J&C Aero.
“This was an extraordinary project for us – we needed to carefully design and integrate next-generation interiors into legacy cabins. We also required a solution that would minimise the production of OEM parts in order to avoid potential supply chain delays, particularly considering that historical Boeing 757 supply chains basically ceased to exist once the production of these aircraft ended. The solution was to design, produce and install almost all cabin elements in-house – something we were able to do thanks to our expanded capabilities. We are very pleased with the results and hope that the passengers will soon be able to enjoy comfortable and modernized Boeing 757s on their way to holiday destinations around the world.”
