Digitalization, Supply Chain Challenges Impact Cabin Upgrade Market

Several airlines are introducing newly retrofitted cabins as demand for refurbishment returns. However, as pressure mounts on suppliers, supply chain effectiveness is becoming increasingly vital.

Cabin specialists, parts suppliers and OEMs face pressure to deliver on airline expectations, including innovation in the cabin. Following a period of pandemic-induced stagnation for cabin upgrades, forward-looking airlines are once again rolling out new interiors—or at least planning to do so.

Emirates is extending its refurbished Boeing 777-300 fleet schedule to include Kuwait City, Kuwait, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia, in addition to current services to Brussels, Geneva, Tokyo-Haneda and Zurich, as well as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. So far, the airline has upgraded six 777s with its latest business-class and premium-economy cabins.

Cathay Pacific has also launched new business and premium-economy suites as well as a refreshed economy product on its freshly retrofitted 777-300ER aircraft. ​Additionally, Cathay plans to introduce a first-class experience on its 777-9s and flat-bed business class on its Airbus A330s.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand is refreshing its 14 Boeing 787-9s over the next two years; the first aircraft are due back early in 2025. ST Engineering is conducting the cabin retrofits at its Singapore facilities.

According to Aviation Week Network’s 2025 Commercial Fleet and MRO Forecast, the market for ATA Chapter 25 equipment and furnishings modifications is valued at $31.5 billion with a CAGR of 0.8%.

What's Trending

In the past year, specialists at cabin interior service provider J&C Aero in Lithuania have seen growing interest in “smart cabins”—flexible systems that enable multipurpose cabin changes and adaptations to seasonal demand shifts.

Maksim Jurkov, head of design at J&C Aero, cites the introduction of a three-class layout on narrowbodies, with an option to convert to a single class in under a few hours. Some of the changes include adding movable class dividers and upgrading the lighting system to create a unique cabin separation effect.

“Another trend comes from airlines that operate a fleet of different-generation aircraft,” Jurkov says. “Airlines aim to provide the same level of cabin quality and services, whether it’s a newly delivered aircraft or one that’s 20 years old.”

Cabin modification experts at Boeing are also noticing the drive for continuity and consistency across airlines’ fleets. While fresh onboard cabin products might debut on a new aircraft, Doug Backhus, vice president of cabin, modifications and maintenance, sees a desire in the market to develop a consistent onboard experience across the in-service fleet—regardless of aircraft type—that drives interior modifications in alignment with the new product.

“There is also an evolving expectation that the onboard experience created on a twin-aisle airplane can be replicated on a single-aisle airplane, particularly in premium cabins,” Backhus says.

Sustainability factors in the design of cabin interiors are also trending. “Increasingly, more airlines are interested in sustainability within cabin interiors, such as using recycled materials for new parts and recycling existing parts,” Backhus says.

Boeing says it is utilizing new technologies to help airlines achieve their sustainability goals while adopting improved, more environmentally efficient methods for modification engineering and parts.

Backhus also sees an uptick in demand for carry-on baggage space on single-aisle aircraft. “In response, we have added retrofit capacity to support fleet harmonization and bring 737 space bins to more airlines,” he says. Boeing states that this retrofit increases overhead bin storage by 50% on the 737s.

Leveraging New Technologies

AFI KLM E&M, meanwhile, is keen on incorporating 3D digital mockups. “We need to manage this 3D approach from design to aircraft implementation,” says Thomas Sonigo, vice president of aircraft modification. “We are still on the learning curve, but it is allowing faster, more robust developments.”

Considering new cabins incorporate more electronics, Sonigo says, AFI KLM E&M is leveraging its aircraft predictive maintenance models with the cabin line replaceable units.

Elsewhere, Diehl Aviation’s novel CANSAS High Performance Controller (HPC) enables the system to manage a connected cabin ecosystem securely. CANSAS—short for cabin area network system and services—provides the digital infrastructure to upgrade existing cabins and to implement upgrade packages.

“This allows the appearance of the cabin and the underlying infrastructure to be upgraded to provide valuable digital services to crew, passengers and MRO stakeholders alike,” says Stefan Mueller-Diveky, manager of technical projects at Diehl Aviation. He thinks CANSAS could incorporate artificial intelligence (AI)—for instance, with complex sensors, human-machine interaction or data-driven maintenance support.

As for the cabin upgrade planning, configuration management and attestation process itself, Mueller-Diveky sees opportunities to use data, including AI, to produce a comprehensive picture of the equipment, such as a holistic bill of materials to guide sustainability and recycling data.

Mueller-Diveky also envisions that one day, every cabin will have a digital twin as well as a complete, optimized and certified life-cycle presentation from the very beginning of the upgrade process.

Boeing continues to explore how best to utilize technology to accelerate planning and decision-making around cabin products and commercial modifications. One area of focus is growing the number of standard systems, including those available through the airframer’s modification marketplace.

“The modification marketplace is an online tool customers are using today to explore and purchase standard modification solutions,” Backhus explains. “This year, we’ve increased our standard solutions by more than 20%.”

Backhus also points to subsidiary Boeing EnCore Interiors’ virtual configuration studio. He says the studio offers customers a multitude of options and configurations, and supports an immersive product configuration experience for modular galleys, both for line-fit and retrofit applications.

“Those are examples of how we are helping customers consider their cabins holistically throughout an airplane’s life cycle, and at the pace set by our customers and the market,” he says.

In designing products, J&C Aero is using AI to explore a wider variety of configurations, improve visualizations and reduce time spent on design iterations, allowing the company to create innovative cabin solutions more efficiently, Jurkov notes.

“Looking ahead, we see strong potential in predictive maintenance technologies for cabin components,” Jurkov says, adding that such tools could enable real-time monitoring and proactively identify issues before they lead to failures. “While we’re in the early stages of exploring these technologies, they represent a promising opportunity to enhance operational efficiency and reduce downtime.”

Aftermarket Issues

The aftermarket supply chain for cabin upgrades appears to be improving, but challenges persist. Sonigo from AFI KLM E&M feels it is still very complicated for cabin upgrade program managers to synchronize design engineering, certification, parts and modification embodiment efficiently.

Certainly, the supply chain brings its own risks. “We have seen a bit more control recently, but the other OEMs are under pressure, too, from Airbus and Boeing, which need to ramp up their line-fit productions,” Sonigo says.

Air France has responded with different strategies, among them used serviceable materials. “These have proven to be most effective with legacy fleet projects,” Sonigo says. However, the use of these materials on newer aircraft such as the Airbus A220, A350 or Boeing 787 is more problematic, making supply even more difficult.

Parts manufacturer approval parts are another avenue to consider, but Sonigo says the lead time for development is often not compatible with upgrade projects, since these parts come later during life-cycle support.