Please enjoy this Op-Ed contribution from Elina Kopola, Founder & Design Director – TrendWorks and Green Cabin Alliance
Today’s most successful cabin programs are curated experiences, where brand, environmental responsibility, engineering, and passenger insight converge into a unified vision.
Cabins are no longer just functional spaces. They are a platform for expression: of an airline’s brand, values, and passenger promise.
Cabin design is a creative, strategic process, one that connects problem-solving, operational performance, and environmental awareness to create experiences that are meaningful, memorable, and commercially relevant.
There are four pillars that define the cabin of the future:
Curated cabin experiences that reflect brand and passenger values
Every element of the cabin from colour, material, and finish (CMF) to lighting, industrial design, and digital touchpoints contributes to a coherent brand story. Thoughtful curation ensures that the cabin communicates an airline brand’s identity and values consistently, creating an emotional connection with passengers.
The cabin becomes more than a physical space; it becomes an expression of purpose.
Passenger expectations and responsible travel
Today’s travellers are making choices based on values. Globally, 61% of consumers say they would switch to brands that demonstrate environmental responsibility, and 73% report adjusting their consumption to reduce their impact. Airlines can translate these intentions into the cabin experience itself.
Traditional approaches, such as optional carbon offsets, fail to resonate. A cabin that visibly reflects responsible choices through materials, design cues, and storytelling engages passengers in a meaningful way.
Integration across design, procurement, and product lifecycle
Exceptional cabins are created when design and procurement work together from concept to end-of-service. Every choice, from sourcing to manufacturing, must consider operational performance, passenger experience, cost of weight, and the product lifecycle, including reuse, refurbishment, and recycling. This approach ensures innovation is practical, scalable, and aligned with long-term environmental responsibility.
Collaborative projects like MONOVA dress-cover, developed by TrendWorks, Studio ID, Sabeti Wain Aerospace, and Botany Weaving Mill, demonstrate how experimentation outside standard purchasing programmes can deliver products that are high-performing, beautiful, and circular-ready, influencing mainstream cabin design.a
Leading through expertise and industry collaboration
At agencies such as TrendWorks and Studio ID, we help airlines translate brand identity into cabin experiences that feel authentic, distinctive, and environmentally aware. By embedding responsible design thinking from the earliest stage, we ensure cabins communicate brand values while delivering operational and passenger benefits.
Complementing this work, the Green Cabin Alliance (GCA) fosters industry-wide collaboration, connecting airlines, suppliers, and designers to define practical pathways for responsible cabin interiors and share insights that accelerate innovation.
The cabins that will define the future are those that align brand, passenger experience, operational performance, and environmental responsibility from the first concept to end-of-service. They are not a collection of features; they are a coherent, curated experience that engages passengers emotionally while delivering tangible impact.
In this framework, design meets strategy. It shapes cabins that are efficient, environmentally aware, and emotionally resonant spaces that passengers remember and that authentically reflect the airline’s brand and values.
About the Author
Elina Kopola is Founder & Design Director – TrendWorks and Green Cabin Alliance .
She has a track record of defining consumer needs and developing colour, material and finish (CMF) strategy for some of the world’s leading brands, by focusing on discovering and tracking trends, then distilling their commercial value to differentiate products through design.
Her methodology blends real research, authentic discovery, and refined instinct, built on over 30 years of commercial experience. She specialises in market benchmarking, trend and CMF research, product portfolio analysis, consumer profiling, CMF innovation, and strategic marketing. Elina, is dedicated to driving sustainable transformation by leveraging her deep expertise in materials and processes. Fuelled by the urgency of the climate crisis, she works to accelerate the mind set shift required for the circular economy.
Elina is an alumna of Central Saint Martins and holds an MBA in Design Management from the University of Westminster.
Notable Customers and experience including: Air India A350 & 787; Virgin Atlantic (long term design partner (1997- 2025); American Airlines Strategy and CMF development; Singapore Airlines Strategy and CMF development; Panasonic Strategy and Design Research for NPD; Samsung Strategy and Design Research for NPD; and Herman Miller International Strategy and Design Research for NPD.
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