No two airline seats are the same, and quite rightly so. An airline prides itself on carrying its brand identity, its messaging and even its colours through to every part of that flight – and the seats are an integral part of that.
Passengers spend nearly all of their interaction with an airline sat in those seats, so they have to be immediately recognisable as being part of that airline – and thanks to Josh Harvey, Matt Oakley and Adam D’Souza, Acro’s airline customers achieve just that.
One of Acro’s USPs is its agility in customising and tailoring its seats to the exacting specifications of airline customers, and Josh, Matt and Adam are the team that make that happen.
In this instalment of our Q&A series, we’ve been chatting to the trio about their work at Acro, and what they are looking forward to most about attending AIX 2024:
What is your current role at Acro and what do you enjoy most about it?
Josh Harvey (Senior Manager Programmes)
I am the Head of Programmes, a diverse role overseeing the team that leads Acro’s New Product Development and Customer Programmes, including OEM account management. My role is managing the full Programme lifecycle ensuring our customers’ requirements are captured and met.
What I really enjoy about my job is the opportunity to meet new and existing customers from around the globe and lead the team that delivers their products. Working with airlines to get the seats right for them and their specifications is also a great part of the job. It always puts a smile on my face when a customer receives their first seats and loves the results of our hard work.
Matt Oakley (Senior Manager New Product Development)
I am the Senior Manager for New Product Development at Acro, which means I have full responsibility for the design, development and testing of all new seating products.
The thing I enjoy most is being given the opportunity to lead a talented and passionate team in delivering market-leading, innovative products. There is nothing more satisfying than creating a product that is warmly welcomed by our customers and that I then see used on flights around the world. It is a very satisfying part of the job.
Adam D’Souza (Senior Manager Customer Programmes Engineering)
As Senior Manager for Customer Programmes Engineering at Acro, my role is at the centre of working with our airline customers, discussing their needs with them, and translating those requirements into Acro’s seats.
My team of skilled engineers work with airlines on their seating programmes, developing features and integrating the seat into the aircraft platform selected. I work closely with OEMs to ensure the highest of technical delivery standards to ensure that an airline’s seating programme is a success. I enjoy working with a wide variety of airlines in designing the perfect seats for their customers and seeing the final product roll off the production line.
What are you most looking forward to about attending AIX?
Josh Harvey
With over a decade of experience within the aircraft interiors industry in multiple roles and capacities, there are a lot of customers and suppliers that I have had the pleasure of working with and have known for a long time. So, it’s always great to catch up at events like this and chat to them about business and life in general. It is an event that everyone in the aircraft interiors industry attends and so there are lots of people to catch up with, making it both enjoyable and beneficial for business purposes.
What I also enjoy about AIX is seeing all of the new innovations in the aircraft interiors sector and not just in seating. It is always exciting to see what’s new, what companies have joined the market and what are they producing, which is always exciting. I particularly enjoy thinking about how those innovations and ideas could be used here at Acro, to continue our market-leading position in comfort and weight, as well as being a leader ourselves in revolutionising aircraft seating.
Matt Oakley
This will be my first-time attending AIX and I cannot wait to experience the buzz and excitement of showing our products to airline customers, seeing what else is being developed in the aircraft interiors industry and just taking the whole event in and learning new things.
It is not often in this industry that you get the opportunity to meet and speak to so many airlines and industry experts from around the world in such a short space of time. I plan to take full advantage of this and gain as much insight as possible, to guide our future products to be even better.
Adam D’Souza
This is my first AIX and so I’m looking forward to it all, but I’m particularly looking forward to getting immersed in the latest aircraft interiors innovations and being able to see what’s new in the market. The opportunity to bring the whole industry together for three days really has the potential to drive new technologies forward.
I’m also looking forward to connecting with airlines and partners to discuss how we can turn their vision for their future cabin interiors into reality. It’s the new programmes which really motivate my team and we are excited to show potential customers what we have to offer.
