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Flashback Fridays: Interior Photos From The Archive Vault

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Aviator C

First a bit of housekeeping:  Regular Nuts About Southwest readers will know that I posted some photos last Friday from our archives.  We are planning to make this a regular feature, and we are going to call these posts “Flashback Fridays” and tag them accordingly.

 

 

This week, I got the shovel out again to dig in the archives. I found some interesting photos that look at the aircraft feature that airline passengers are most familiar with—the cabin.  These photos are a quick guide to the evolution of our cabins, and they take us up to the introduction of our current Spirit interiors with all-leather seats.  The first photo below is the interior of one of our earliest 737s, and this photo dates from the early 1970s.  Note the open racks and the PSUs (Passenger Service Units) with the reading lights and air nozzles.  Overhead racks like this had been a feature of every airliner going back to the DC-3, and only blankets, pillows, and coats could be stowed there.  Any carryon bags had to be stowed under the seats.  We see the Aircraft Cleaners placing the paper headrests on the backs of each seats.  Until looking at the photo, I had forgotten that the paper headrest was a feature of almost all coach cabins in the 1970s.  They became crushed and wrinkled after only a few minutes of use.  The bright colors of the seats are also typical of this era.

Next we have a slightly newer interior that dates from the mid to late-1970s.  With the introduction of the 747, aircraft began to have enclosed overheads with doors.  This style of interior was called the "wide-body" look.  The PSUs have been placed flush with the bottom of the overheads, and the bins now follow the contour of the ceilings instead of being just racks.  The enclosed bins allowed hard items to be placed above the seats, but the small size of the compartments limited these items to a briefcase size.  We still have the mutli-colored upholstery and paper headrests in this view.

Many of you will recognize the next picture as our standard furnishings prior to the introduction of the all-leather Spirit interiors a few years ago.  Several differences with the earlier photos are obvious.  The overheads now have compartments that will handle larger carryons, although the “swap-off” when compared to the wide-body look interiors, is that there is less standing room at the seats.  The paper headrests are now history, and the seating in the cabin presents a uniform appearance.

And finally, we have our current Spirit interior that provides a bright open cabin.  Paper headrests are just a memory with the all-leather seats.  What's next in cabin interiors?  Check this out.

 

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