In this episode of our ‘Sustainability in the Air’ podcast, Amaury Barberot, CEO of Expliseat, speaks with SimpliFlying’s CEO Shashank Nigam about how the company’s innovative lightweight seating technology is transforming aviation sustainability through immediate CO2 reductions.
France-based Expliseat is the designer and manufacturer of the world’s lightest aircraft seat, the TiSeat, which is made from carbon fibre and titanium rather than traditional aluminium frames, and is 30% lighter than comparable products. With over 20 customers, including Air France and Air Canada, Expliseat is proving that sustainability can be achieved without sacrificing comfort or profitability.
Here are the key highlights of the conversation:
Balancing passenger comfort with weight reduction (3:41)
Life cycle assessment and sustainable manufacturing (6:22)
Airline sustainability priorities across different markets (9:39)
Expanding technology into the rail industry (12:39)
Line-fit certification with Airbus and market expansion (15:49)
Patent protection and technology advantages (19:36)
Future vision for aviation sustainability (25:48)
Rapid Fire! (28:34)
Keep reading for a detailed overview of the episode.
Why lightweight seating matters for aviation
While sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and new propulsion technologies often take the spotlight, the cabin and its operations also contribute significantly to an aircraft's environmental footprint. Expliseat’s innovative seating solution targets this critical yet often overlooked aspect of aviation’s carbon footprint – the weight carried on every flight. This presents a valuable opportunity for quicker sustainability improvements.
“Our seat is 30% lighter than other similar alternatives on the market, resulting in a 6% reduction in CO2 emissions per passenger. That’s a massive saving,” explains Barberot. This weight reduction translates to approximately 1,200 kilograms saved per narrowbody aircraft, leading to significant fuel savings and emissions reductions across an airline’s fleet.
What makes Expliseat’s technology particularly valuable is its immediate impact. “Many sustainability initiatives will have an impact in the long term but our lightweight seat generates CO2 saving right away – not tomorrow, but today,” Barberot emphasises. This stands in contrast to many other aviation sustainability measures that require years or decades of development and implementation.
Perhaps most remarkably, this sustainability achievement aligns well with both financial and environmental interests. “I’m not sure if there’s any other solution where the Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Finance Officer aren’t in conflict,” notes Barberot, highlighting the rare harmony between sustainability initiatives (usually expensive) and financial optimisation pursuing cost savings.
With weight having both environmental and monetary value in aviation, lightweight seating delivers a compelling dual benefit that few other technologies can match, argues Barberot.
5 takeaways from the conversation
1. Maintaining passenger comfort while reducing environmental impact
A common concern with lightweight seating is whether passenger comfort is compromised. Expliseat has addressed this by focusing weight reduction efforts on structural components rather than comfort-facing elements.
“The beauty of our seats is that we have reduced weight in areas that are mostly unnoticed, without compromising on safety,” explains Barberot. “Our seats have passed the same crash tests as any other seat, but the weight savings come from the frame, not from the cushion, armrest, tray table, or other features that are important to the passenger during their journey.”
This approach allows airlines to allocate the weight savings strategically, either toward enhanced passenger comfort or additional sustainability efforts. “For example, with Air France’s Embraer retrofit, we provided 600 kilos [of weight savings], which they split between improving passenger experience and supporting sustainability efforts,” explains Barberot. “This approach works for any airline. For a low-cost carrier, they might use the full 1,200 kilos for fuel efficiency and CO2 reduction. A legacy carrier, on the other hand, might split it—600 kilos for comfort and 600 kilos for fuel and weight savings. We’re flexible and align with their needs.”
This flexibility has enabled Expliseat to work with both premium-focused carriers like Air France, where passenger experience is paramount, and ultra-low-cost carriers like Jazeera Airways in Kuwait which prioritises operational efficiency.
2. Innovative materials and circular manufacturing processes
Expliseat’s breakthrough comes primarily from its use of materials not traditionally found in aircraft seating. The company’s seats feature frames made of carbon fibre and titanium rather than the aluminium that has dominated the industry for decades.
Expliseat has also taken the environmental impact of its production phase into account and made efforts to minimise it. The company has developed a circular economy approach to manufacturing, particularly addressing the waste typically generated in composite material production.
“We’ve adopted a circular economy approach by recycling industrial waste to create new parts,” Barberot explains. “For instance, we can make our seat tray tables from the waste generated during seat frame production.”
The company has also taken a strong stance against plastics, which typically constitute about 20% of traditional seat weight. “As a company, we’ve decided to eliminate plastics. For example, the armrests are made of aluminum instead of plastic, and the tray table latch is also aluminum, not plastic. We’re able to do this because the significant weight savings from the seat frame give us more flexibility to make these kinds of modifications.”
3. Bridging the divide between sustainability and economics
Expliseat’s ability to align environmental and economic objectives for airlines has proven effective across different carrier types and regions, from European flag carriers to Middle Eastern low-cost operators.
Barberot emphasises the growing importance of sustainability: “Most individuals and organisations now care about sustainability, but when we started the company in 2011, we pitched our seat by highlighting that it was the lightest, offering savings in both cost and CO2 emissions. To be honest, very few people even asked about CO2 back then.”
However, the landscape has changed significantly since then, he adds, with airlines now placing tangible value on carbon reductions. “Now, that doesn’t happen anymore. In fact, many of the airlines we’re speaking to have gone a step further, placing a value on CO2 – either a financial or a ‘care’ value,” notes Barberot.
He cites Jazeera Airways as an example of this shift. Despite being based in oil-rich Kuwait, where fuel efficiency might not seem like a top priority, Barberot observes that Jazeera has “the most robust fuel efficiency approach.” For instance, the airline even increases aircraft repainting frequency to reduce drag, which leads to fuel savings that offset the cost of painting.
This evolution in industry thinking supports Expliseat’s core proposition of “sustainability as an investment, not a cost,” demonstrating that environmental improvements can boost an airline’s financial performance rather than disrupt it, says Barberot.
4. Expanding beyond aviation: Technology transfer to rail transport
Expliseat has expanded its lightweight seating technology into rail transport, albeit with different motivations and benefits. While aviation primarily values weight reduction for fuel savings and emissions cuts, rail – already a relatively sustainable transport mode – seeks weight reduction for different advantages.
“We’re not in the [railway] market to make mobility more sustainable; we’re here to help make it more profitable because sustainability drives that profitability. If we want more people to use it, it has to be competitive, and that's where we come in,” explains Barberot.
For rail operators, weight limits on train axles pose operational challenges. “[Railway operators] currently face issues with the maximum axle weight. If they want to improve the passenger experience by adding Wi-Fi or USB ports, they can’t because of the weight limit. And if they want to increase capacity, they’re also restricted by the weight,” Barberot explains. By offering lightweight seating, Expliseat helps rail operators add passenger amenities or increase capacity, without exceeding safety limits.
This expansion has fostered a valuable technology exchange. The railway sector’s unique needs – such as resistance to vandalism and longer service intervals – have driven Expliseat to develop more robust and durable seats.
“We’ve learned a great deal from this process, which has helped us make our seats more resilient. Unlike aircraft, trains aren’t retrofitted as often, so we need seats with better longevity,” explains Barberot. He describes this undertaking as “a win-win,” where aviation technology benefits the rail sector, while rail requirements help enhance aviation products.
5. Future innovations and the path to net-zero aviation
Expliseat recently reached a significant milestone by entering Airbus’s BFE (Buyer Furnished Equipment) catalogue, allowing airlines to select its seats directly when ordering new A320-family aircraft. This “line-fit” capability marks industry recognition of the technology’s maturity and value.
Protected by over 100 patents, Expliseat continues to lead technologically, but Barberot recognises that competition will eventually follow. Rather than seeing this as a threat, he welcomes wider industry adoption of lightweight seating: “I’m happy we’ve opened the path for more suppliers to enter the market. It shows we made the right choice... Let’s get as many lightweight seats in the market as possible.”
Looking towards aviation’s net-zero future, Barberot sees lightweight interiors playing multiple roles. In the short term, they offer immediate emissions reductions. In the medium term, they could help “cancel the SAF premium” by offsetting the higher costs of SAF. In the long term, lightweight components could be “an enabler” for emerging technologies like electric and hybrid aircraft, he shares.
As aviation works toward its goal of net zero emissions, Expliseat’s approach highlights how sustainability improvements can be implemented now, offering potential pathways for reducing environmental impact in the industry.
‘Sustainability in the Air’ is the world’s leading podcast dedicated to sustainable aviation. Through in-depth conversations with top aviation leaders, we break through the clutter and provide a clear roadmap for a net-zero future.
