Transportation

Airbus has another wacky patent for airlines

Airbus is full of ideas for its planes
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Airbus is full of ideas for its planes

Source: Airbus/US Patent and Trademark Office

Airbus is at it again. The aircraft manufacturer has filed yet another unusual patent for passenger seating.

The patent details several designs of stacked seating, reminiscent of bunk-beds, wherein one row of seats is perched on top of the other in order to optimize space in transport cabins of planes, buses and trains.

"In modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space in a passenger cabin," Airbus wrote in the filed patent.

Consumers my rebuff plans for cramming more seats into an aircraft, especially with airline seats reportedly shrinking more and more each year, but the company hopes to provide a high level of comfort for passengers by designing some seats that can recline 130 to 180 degrees.

Source: Airbus/US Patent and Trademark Office

These tiered seats appear to be situated in the middle of the plane, allowing for space in the central region of the aircraft to be optimized for space, but still providing overhead luggage bins on the sides of the cabin.

However, there are varying designs presented in the patent that suggest several other formations are plausible using the stacked seating arrangement.

Every year Airbus files hundreds of patents in order to protect its intellectual property, including one last October for a "flying saucer" plane.