The next time you settle into your seat before take-off, take a moment to look around the cabin. That shade of blue surrounding you is not an accident. Aircraft interiors go through a process that considers the passenger at every stage, and the colour of the seats plays a bigger part than most people realise.
Boeing builds hundreds of aircraft a year for airlines around the world and has more than 14,000 planes in service globally. When each aircraft is fitted out, the company looks closely at every element inside and out, and it has previously shared the thinking behind its choice of interior colours.
Blue turns up again and again on aircraft seats, though shades differ from carrier to carrier, and this comes down to colour psychology. Boeing has explained that blue and green carry associations with peace, while blue and purple can suggest nobility.
Rishi Kapoor, chief executive of Nanak Flights, said blue works as a calming choice for nervous flyers.
‘Even though travelling by plane is statistically the safest way to travel, many passengers are still prone to stress while travelling on an airplane,’ he told Reader’s Digest.
He added: ‘It might seem like an insignificant detail, but it’s one that helps make flying the best way to travel.’
Aviation designer Nigel Goode told The Telegraph that the exact shade an airline chooses often reflects its position in the market.
‘While some of the more budget airlines might use brasher, bolder shades, most others go with muted tones,’ he said.
He explained the reasoning behind this approach: ‘The overarching aim is to create a home-like relaxing feel, so airlines tend to use muted colours that feel domestic, natural and earthy for that reason.’
Goode also traced the origins of blue as the standard choice for cabin seating, linking it to trust rather than fashion.
‘Blue became the colour of choice because it’s a conservative, non-contentious, corporate shade that symbolises being trustworthy and safe, so you see it used in all of the older airlines like British Airways,’ he said.
Beyond the choice of colour itself, the shade used can change how a cabin feels to sit in. Lighter shades tend to make a space feel taller and wider, while darker shades can make the same space feel smaller and narrower. This is one reason cabin designers weigh up not just which colour to use, but how light or dark that colour should be.
Colour can shape more than mood and space, according to Teague designer Virginia Tripp, who spoke to Boeing about the wider effects of interior design choices.
‘Colours also can influence a person’s perception of humidity, temperature and aroma,’ she said.
Blue can give a cabin a fresh, clean quality, and combined with green it can make passengers feel cooler than the actual temperature. Orange, by contrast, can create a sense of warmth, while pink has been linked to a perception of sweetness in the air.
None of this happens by chance. From the shade of blue on a headrest to the tone of the carpet underfoot, every choice is made with the traveller’s comfort in mind. For passengers who feel anxious before a flight, that quiet, familiar blue may be doing more work than they ever imagined.