Airbus Creates ACJ TwoTwenty Studio

Airbus has opened the ACJ TwoTwenty creative studio at its headquarters in Toulouse, France. Adjacent to the fuselage mock-ups for every other Airbus model in Toulouse, where airlines can select interior configurations and materials, the creative studio is designed to help buyers finalize the interior for their new ACJ TwoTwenty.

The development of the creative studio stemmed from discussions among Airbus Corporate Jets team members and customers as well as Comlux Group, which is the exclusive completion center for the first 15 ACJ TwoTwentys. These will be done at Comlux’s Indianapolis facility.

Because there are not yet any fully completed ACJ TwoTwenty demonstrators available, according to Chadi Saade, Airbus Corporate Jets vice president, commercial, the company needed a way to help customers visualize the airplane’s expansive cabin and decide how they want it outfitted. “This is extremely important,” he said. While the creative studio will always complement seeing the actual aircraft, he added, “This is a great first step while waiting for the [demonstrator] aircraft. This will be an efficient tool to finalize the design and selection of options.”

In Airbus’s creative studio, AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber tries out the virtual reality ACJ TwoTwenty interior, where materials, colors, and lighting effects can quickly be changed.

Airbus has taken a different approach with the interior design of the ACJ TwoTwenty. Where buyers of other ACJ models can customize their aircraft starting from a completely bare interior, TwoTwenty buyers begin by choosing a configuration for each of the six zones and then selecting from hundreds of fabric, carpet, wood veneer, and plated metal finishing options.

The online configurator allows buyers to click on various furniture layouts for each zone, including the full kitchen (galley). During their visit to the creative studio, buyers can see what their layout looks like in a full-size projection of the cabin on the floor of the studio. After donning a virtual reality (VR) headset, the customer can not only walk through and view the layout in 3D but also see and compare the materials choices, integrated into the VR view, as well as lighting effects. To help get started, customers can select one of three optional cabin designs or a special Cyril Kongo edition.

“Previously, we had a fully customized cabin on the ACJ319 and ACJ320," said Saade. "The customer needed lots of support. Now the customer goes in the integrator and decides what it looks like. It’s way different than what we were previously doing and like what others are doing. But it doesn’t mean they can’t customize their interior. There are 200 different colors and fabrics they can choose from. That’s fine-tuning. The bulk of the customization is done [with the configurator], then the customer gets into the general ambiance with their own designer or with the help of Sylvain.”

After choosing the configuration of their interior, ACJ TwoTwenty buyers select materials and colors as part of their visit to the Airbus creative studio in Toulouse, France.

Cabin width of the Airbus jet is 10 feet eight inches and height is six feet six inches. Volume is 5,210 cubic feet. Airbus compares the TwoTwenty’s cabin to the largest purpose-built business jets, the Dassault Falcon 10X, Bombardier Global 7500, and Gulfstream G700. The 10X’s cabin is nine feet one inch wide and six feet eight inches tall. The Global 7500’s cabin is eight feet wide and six feet two inches tall. The G700 cabin is eight feet two inches wide and six feet three inches tall.

The ACJ TwoTwenty can fly 5,650 nautical miles or 12 hours carrying eight passengers and has a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet. The typical cruise speed is Mach 0.78 and the maximum operating speed is Mach 0.82. This is slower than the ultra-long-range jets, which offer long-range cruise speeds of about Mach 0.85 and high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90, with maximum altitudes of 51,000 feet.

Another feature in the creative studio is a mock-up of a cabin section fitted with retractable size-comparison blade-like elements that illustrate the difference between the ACJ TwoTwenty and competitors’ cabins. With the blade elements retracted, the customer can see how movable demonstration chairs fit into the ACJ TwoTwenty cabin, then with the blades extended, compare that same seat layout and see how it fits in the smaller business jet cabin.

Retractable size-comparison blade-like elements help illustrate the difference in size between the ACJ TwoTwenty’s cabin and typical modern ultra-long-range business jets.

Compared to large business jets, the ground footprint of the ACJ TwoTwenty is only slightly larger. Overall length is 114 feet nine inches and wingspan 115 feet one inch. The Global 7500, by comparison, is 111 feet long and has a wingspan of 104 feet. Tail height may be an issue for ACJ buyers, however, as many business jet hangars are designed for sub-30-foot-high airplanes. The ACJ TwoTwenty’s tail height is 37 feet, eight inches.

Airbus has already seen commitments for five ACJ TwoTwentys this year and 10 total orders since the jet was launched.