Perceived and Recorded Temperature in Aircraft Cabins during 143 Flights

Authors

Matthew NichollsFollow
Peter Vink, Delft University of TechnologyFollow

Author Background

Matthew Nicholls was sales director at Tapis Corporation and continues to do research in the field of passenger experience.

Peter Vink is professor at the Delft University of Technology, doing research in aircraft interiors and has written more than 200 papers. He has written many books. One of them is Aircraft Interior Comfort and Design, co-authored by Klaus Brauer, one of the leading designers of the Boeing 787 interior (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2011). Peter is in the editorial board of scientific journals (e.g. Applied Ergonomics and Work), chaired the jury of the Crystal Cabin Award for three years (the most prestigious prize in aircraft interiors) and won the Hal W Hendrick Award in 2011, which is for a non-U.S. citizen who has made outstanding contributions to the human factors/ergonomics field.

Abstract

This essay reports on the perceived and recorded temperature in aircraft cabins during 143 flights. In each flight, passengers reported their experience. They recorded temperature and humidity after boarding and one hour later. The reports show that fewer than half of the passengers perceived the temperature as “good.” Most passengers (39%) perceived it as hot, and some (17%) perceived it as cold. Comparing the temperatures with guidelines shows that 18% of the recorded temperatures in the cabin were empirically too hot and 2% empirically too cold. The differences between passengers in what they perceive as a good temperature are large, indicating that a possibility to adapt aircraft temperature individually is important.

Recommended Citation

Nicholls, Matthew and Vink, Peter (2025) "Perceived and Recorded Temperature in Aircraft Cabins during 143 Flights," Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering: Vol. 14: Iss. 2, Article 1.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.7771/2159-6670.1338