It scarcely need be mentioned that the airline industry is going through a tumultuous period, perhaps unprecedented in its history. 9-11, SARS, war, international instability and a faltering U.S. economy have all conspired to throw the industry into a tailspin.

In addition to all of this, the supersonic Concorde, which many considered the future of air travel, is now part of the past.

The airlines' responses to the prevailing confusion are almost as varied as the causes. Some are cutting costs dramatically to stave off bankruptcy or placing their hopes in discount airlines and low-cost offshoots of the majors - the market for which remains relatively strong.

Others are installing new, more technologically advanced seating in business and first class to lure desirable premium customers away from the competition. But one airline, Virgin Atlantic, has decided that investing heavily in an integrated design program is the way forward.

Rather than focusing attention, as some competitors have, on the veritable arms race of complex new chair design, Virgin has opted for a holistic redesign of its first-class cabin. The new cabin - cheekily named, the "Upper Class Suite" - incorporates a completely new take on airplane seating at a cost of $80 million. The redesign goes against the recent first-class trend toward increasingly cocoon-like environments as evident on Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

First-class seats typically face away from other passengers, but at Virgin the future of luxury is in a sense social - perhaps even communal. Though cubicle-like partitions divide the cabin into individual suites, the seats themselves face inward in herringbone pattern. Ottomans in every suite allow for visiting, and a self-serve bar encourages interaction.

The design's new flip-down chairs, developed by Virgin's in-house design team and manufactured by Pearson Lloyd, are perhaps the biggest innovation. "Traditional designs of business class seats, where the seat extends into a bed, ultimately result in a compromise in comfort for both products," says Joe Ferry, head of design at Virgin Atlantic. The new suite features a leather seat on one side and a proper flat mattress - the largest in the air at 79.5 inches long and 33 inches wide at the shoulder - when the seat back is folded forward. Passengers can even be in recline position during takeoff and landing, which could mean as much as an extra hour of sleep. But the chair is only part of the new suite.

The commission for overall design went to London-based Softroom, whose body of work - from architecture and interiors to virtual-environment and television-studio design - tends toward the futuristic and super deluxe.

True to its name, Softroom has created a space defined by smooth curves and gleaming, expertly lit surfaces, minimizing the typical plastic and steel airplane aesthetic.

"We selected a base of rich neutrals, with eye-catching top notes," Softroom director Oliver Salway explains. "Drawing on our research into the fascination of atmospheric effects, we sought finishes that would have an unusual interaction with light."

Virgin has been given a glamorous, high-gloss space based partly on the analogy of a relaxed and convivial poolside lounge, partly on an upscale martini bar. "Like a poolside lounge, the space had to make people feel comfortable performing a multitude of tasks - eating, resting, reading, relaxing, even stripping to bikinis," Ferry describes.

Given both space and safety constraints in airplane interior design, success depends on a sophisticated manipulation of perception, including consideration of sight lines, light, color choice, materials, and space configuration.

Virgin Atlantic is one of the few airlines which employ an in-house design team, rather than entirely out-sourcing, but they still hire design talent to complement the existing design culture. "We chose Softroom because they pushed us," Ferry explains. "They are not constrained by the limitations of designing for air travel. We know the business market will return, so we want to invest in research and development to meet that future demand. People associate our brand with innovation" Ferry continues.

But how does this innovation impact on those of us without the $12,000 for an Upper Class ticket? "Like Formula One race teams, which are sponsored by companies like Ford and Toyota, we expect the systems and lessons we learn at the high end to eventually improve the production model".