Members of AED Cluster Portugal, Almadesign won for the second time in its history an international Crystal Cabin award. The Portuguese company won in the Cabin Concepts category, with the design of the Alice, a regional, fully electric plane, manufactured by the Israeli company Eviation and with the cabin interior with “Alma” design.
Almadesign’s first victory was in 2012, with the LIFE Project in the Visionary Concepts category.
The Crystal Cabin Awards are the most prestigious in the aircraft cabin interiors industry and aim to promote the improvement of the passengers’ travel experience and congratulate innovation in these field.
The Alice plane presented an innovative interior, focused on the user, with an excellent compromise between aesthetics, comfort and functionality. This project is one of the first cabin interiors on a 100% electric airplane, which contributes to the electrification of aviation and to the fulfillment of CO2 reduction goals.
“This award praises our dedication and experience of all these years in the aeronautics industry. With this project we believe that we are on the right path to be able to travel safely and comfortably in the future, while reducing the environmental impact. This victory is important not only for Almadesign but also for the entire national aeronautics cluster. We hope that, with this international award, doors will open for the exceptional Portuguese industry”, says José Rui Marcelino, CEO and Design Manager of Almadesign and Vice-President of AED Cluster Portugal, in an exclusive interview to AED (click here to see the full interview).
The Alice prototype is set to take off later this year. Thus, the first prototype has already started to be tested, and a second version is currently being developed, which should fly in 2022. Since the aeronautical testing and certification process is always long, due to the tight safety criteria to be met, there is still no date for the first commercial flight.
“We are very proud to see our associates being distinguished for their work, especially in an international context. Almadesign’s winning project also reinforces our certainty that Portuguese work in these sectors has a lot of quality and is increasingly recognized abroad”, cocnludes Rui Santos, Managing Director of AED Cluster Portugal.
In this sense, it is also important to highlight that the award season started two months ago for the Portuguese industry, as in February the Flexcraft Project was awarded the “GOLD Design Award” in the Transport / Aerospace category at the International Design Awards, a cerimony aiming to recognize the best and most innovative designs in different areas and sectors. This project was developed in collaboration with Almadesign, Embraer, INEGI, IST and SETsa (Iberomoldes group), all members of AED Cluster Portugal, proving the reason why working within the Cluster environment is key to the development of innovative products.