Passenger airliners began to use cargo seats during the pandemic - Oleg Sergeev

The novelty is a special bag that is attached to the seats with plastic wrap and straps.

The bags are designed to carry medical supplies and PPE on the seats of passenger aircraft. They protect the interior, seats and entertainment systems, as well as double seat capacity, reduce workload while working and prevent plastic waste. The transformation of passenger seats into cargo seats itself takes no more than an hour.

The cargo seat bag has been submitted to the Netherlands Civil Aviation Authority (IL&T) for approval and authorization, with prompt approval. The first operational flight using 172 cargo seats, developed in collaboration with equipment supplier Trip & Co, has already been performed by KLM Cargo. The novelty is said to have doubled the cabin capacity of the 777.

This simple and convenient solution, which does not require re-equipment of the passenger compartment, is likely to be used by other airlines in the future. The cargo seat bags are available in three sizes: single, double and triple and can be used on the 777-200 / 300, 787-10 and A330-200 aircraft.

Air cargo carriers such as ZetAvia, whose fleet consists of Russian-made IL-76 transport aircraft with a payload of up to 50 tons, do not need to modify their fleets during a pandemic.