James Thompson (researcher)

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James Thompson (born 1966 in Newry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish patent holder known for his innovative research and development in airline seating. Thompson holds over twenty patents, most of which have been brought into production. He is best known for his staggered seating design which increases comfort and aircraft capacity.

1 Background
2 Work
3 Thompson Solutions customers
4 Further reading
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Background

Thompson lives and works in the small coastal town of Kilkeel in County Down. He is founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thompson Solutions, which specialises in the design and engineering of aircraft seating.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Work

In 2003 Thompson began developing a lie flat business class seat which is a fully horizontal flat bed. This design offers no loss of seats compared to the old "lie flat at an angle" style seating. The seating layout is staggered, row by row, and implements a wide console which is the footwell for the passenger behind.

In February 2008, Delta Air Lines announced that they would be installing a sleeper suite product designed by Thompson on their 767-400ER aircraft, engineered and manufactured by Contour Premium Aircraft Seating^[3] in a multi-million pound deal with Thompson Solutions.^[2]