Washed up

On widebody aircraft, the trend is clearly for fewer lavatories per passenger, demonstrated by most new or refurbished cabins offering a higher passenger to lavatory ratio than the previous generation of layout or aircraft. While the queues are longer in economy, it’s a business class problem for passengers in the pointy end as well, with airlines offering more sleepwear but fewer places to change into pajamas — and particularly out of them at the end of the flight. Moreover, it’s a greater issue for everyone if one of those fewer lavatories is taken out of order.

On shorthaul narrowbody aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families, the trend is to try to put more passenger seating where lavatories used to be on the seat-tracked areas of the aircraft, adding rows of seats by reducing the size of — or moving altogether — the two rear lavatories.

Boeing and Rockwell Collins Interior Systems (the former B/E Aerospace, which has held an exclusivity deal for lavatories on the 737 NG and MAX families since 2012) are continuing to develop the Spacewall design, which adds a full row of six seats by sculpting their backrest and recline space into the side of the lavatory.

In terms of floor footprint, that would seems sensible, but the constrained lavatories, which debuted on Delta Air Lines’ Boeing 737-900ER aircraft in 2013, have not won acclaim from passengers owing to their lack of manoeuvring space.

Airbus, for its part, has developed a series of combination galley-lavatory products with Zodiac Aerospace called Space-Flex, which make the most of the slightly larger A320 family cabin diameter by adding two smaller lavatories to the port side of the pressure bulkhead behind the rear doors. Six to twelve seats, depending on pitch and the configuration of the rest of the aircraft, can be added as a result.

The tradeoffs: Space-Flex takes storage and preparation space away from the galley at a time when many narrowbody operators have largely nixed full meal preparation, or are willing to exchange ancillary revenue opportunities from buy-on-board sales for six extra seats. Jetstar has selected the second-generation Space-Flex v2, which reduces the size of one of the bulkhead lavatories while mitigating the loss of galley storage space for its A320 family fleet refurbishment, adding six seats to the aircraft while refitting them with Recaro slimline seating.

Space-Flex also offers the ability to convert the two smaller lavatories into one larger facility for people with reduced mobility, similar to the convertible two-into-one lavatories on modern widebody aircraft. While lavatory size tends to be shrinking in order to maximise the amount of space available for seats, convertible lavatories for passengers with reduced mobility go some way to reducing the impact on travellers who are disabled.

The idea of a “galley-lavatory” certainly takes some getting used to, and indeed some airlines — like US carrier JetBlue — have decided that Space-Flex is a problem for flight attendants and passengers alike.

Overall, the shrinking of lavatory space is concerning. On some shorthaul flights this wouldn’t be a problem — passengers may not need to use the facilities on an hour-long hop — but narrowbody range is continually increasing.

A question for passengers and airlines is whether it wouldn’t be better to take a step back and look at other design options too.

Airlines are increasingly installing at-seat mirrors to enable passengers to touch up their hair and makeup without needing to visit the lavatory, reducing passenger throughput quite significantly.

Cabin designers could make the tradeoff between two mini-lavatories and one more spacious bulkhead sit-down bathroom, plus a smaller urinal cubicle, along the lines of the facilities on Japanese Shinkansen trains, which both improves cleanliness and reduces queueing.

In business class, a section of the door areas (potentially the section used for walk-up bars) could also be curtained off to provide a changing area for passengers who simply want to swap their suits for pajamas, similarly reducing pressure on the lavatories.

Thoughtful design could be the key to solving part of the lavatory problem before passengers even need to leave their seat.