According to its CEO, Dr Mark Hiller, RECARO’s outlook for the next year is bright following the unveiling of its newly customised R2 fixed-back seats on Southwest’s 737 fleet at AIX in May.
Originally announced back in February, the R2 seat will feature a multi-adjustable headrest cushion, a backrest with lumbar support, and a new armrest design that maximises seat width.
Dr Mark Hiller, CEO of RECARO Aircraft Seating, proudly revealed to LARA that this recent event was the culmination of an epic 25-year journey by the manufacturer to score the US low-fare giant as a customer.
“We have a good market share in the Americas, but Southwest was never a customer for us. It was always our target to win them for RECARO,” he said.
Hiller added that testing the seat and discussion between the pair was rigorous, taking place over two years with over 100,000 people evaluating the practicality and maintenance ‘friendliness’ of the seat. In the end, it was the seat’s reliability and manoeuvrability that won out.
“It’s a robust seat because they [Southwest] are flying to many destinations where they don’t have a maintenance base. So, they really depend on having very reliable seats,” he elaborated.
New Seat Names
Southwest becoming a customer is not the only new discussion point for RECARO, as it also debuted a new simplified seat naming concept for its collection of seating solutions. The so-called ‘R Sphere’, with names ranging from R1 to R7, reflect the various classes and complexities of the seat, from the short- to medium-range economy class seats R1 and R2 to R7, its lie-flat business class product. Hiller explained that the reason for this change was partly influenced by customer feedback.
“[Many customers] were questioning why it [the seating names] were so complicated,” he said. “However, it more or less came from the foundation of the company. […] We said it would be good to have a product name which is somehow linked to the brand and to a hierarchy order.”
Whilst the name change was worked out “before Covid”, different priorities for the company since then put this change on hold until its announcement in 2024.
Photo: RECARO
Meeting Demand and Future Plans
As a manufacturer with a roster of different airline customers in its portfolio, from the recently announced airBaltic’s A220 fleet to Southwest, easyJet, Indigo, Condor, and Malaysia Airlines, in the last six months alone, RECARO has welcomed a lot of business.
With two sites in Europe, two in the United States, and one in Asia, despite the ramp-up by airframe OEMs and bumper orders from airlines, Hiller is confident that RECARO has more than enough capacity to meet demand – particularly having kept its capacity during Covid.
“Now it’s about really ramping up all the sites and filling [them] again. […] The structure, the infrastructure, the knowledge, the experience is already there. And now it’s about the ramp-up.”
He added: “We’re also looking into capacities for the next five to 10 years. But overall, we’re very confident that we have the right setup with our sites in Europe and Asia, and in the US.”
RECARO has made its name solidly in the economy class market, with three of its seven newly renamed seats placed in economy cabins across the world. It currently has a 35% market share in the economy class seating sector and 10% in business class. But looking ahead, Hiller offered LARA a hint at what might be next for the company.
“Our plan is to become the market leader in business class. We’re thinking long term, and step by step, with our investments, we see that our market share will definitely increase.”
“Many more announcements” are in the pipeline, he confirmed, focusing on “business class programmes” that it will soon deliver on. Watch this space.
