Fresh Air: Why Improving Air Quality Creates A More Comfortable Passenger Experience

Gaston Sandoval< Gaston Sandoval
03/27/19 3 MIN READ

We may not think about it often, but on a deeply primal level, our sense of smell plays a huge role in our daily lives. In fact, new research out of Norway suggests that of our five traditional senses—hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch—smell is perhaps our most vitally important sense of all.

Not only does our sense of smell instantly evoke memories of people, places, and emotions, but it also helps determine how food tastes and where to find it. A study published in 2014 even found that our sense of smell helps keep us alive.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of smells, from a wellness perspective, is how they make us feel—whether we’re in a garden, at the doctor’s office, or even on a crowded airplane.

That’s why when we first started developing our Wellness Solution, our patented nanoe™ air cleansing technology was one of the key pillars from the get-go.

What is nanoe™?

Our health and beauty division was the first to develop and use nanoe™. It’s been featured in a number of Panasonic products over the years, including hair dryers, flat irons, facial steamers, humidifiers, and air conditioners. But when we started to see its potential applications on the automotive front, we decided that bringing nanoe™ into the airplane cabin was not only possible, but essential to offering passengers an optimal wellness experience.

nanoe™ uses the humidity present in air to produce very small, non-toxic, electrostatic-charged water particles (nanoparticles) that are about 15,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. nanoe™ doesn’t mask bad odors; it encapsulates them and suppresses them—similar to products like Febreze—to stop the odor-causing contaminants from smelling.

Since the nanoe™ particles are so small, they easily permeate fabrics used in the passenger’s seat and clothing, and are useful for suppressing mold, bacteria and pet-related allergens.

“nanoe™ uses the humidity present in air to produce very small, non-toxic, electrostatic-charged water particles (nanoparticles) that are about 15,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.”
-Gaston Sandoval
VP of Product Management and Marketing

The great french-fry experiment

At the recent APEX EXPO in Boston, we put nanoe™ to the test with a unique, powerful demonstration. Every night, we would purchase french fries from a popular fast-food chain and place strips of cloth in a paper bag along with the fries to absorb their smell. The next day we brought the french fry-scented strips of cloth to the show for customers to smell. Then we would place the strips in the nanoe™ device and 90 seconds later, the smell was gone.

Aside from generating a lot of interest from potential customers on the showroom floor, the demonstration proved to be a simple yet very effective way of communicating to airlines the value of a wellness solution like nanoe™.

nanoe™ takes flight

Looking to transform the inflight wellness narrative for travelers everywhere, nanoe™ is set to launch soon in conjunction with our other key Wellness solutions, Active Noise Control and Premium Seat Lighting.

And though nanoe™ is initially set to debut in first- and business-class cabins, the potential future uses for nanoe™ throughout the cabin—including the galley, lavatories, and even that dreaded middle seat in coach—are definitely something we’re open to exploring. For now, our primary focus is on bringing a mindful, multidimensional wellness experience to our launch airline partner and their passengers through our Wellness suite.

When we first started developing Wellness, we kept coming back to the core concepts of care and comfort, and that’s really how all of the components fit together for us. Because, deep down, Wellness is about developing solutions that engage all of our senses to make passengers feel more comfortable and cared for when they fly. And our sense of smell is a huge part of that equation.

Subscribe to the
Panasonic Avionics Newsletter
for the latest updates!

Subscribe