What a trill! Birdsong for plane toilets

FOR most airline passengers, an extra inch or two of legroom, a decent movie and some edible food is the best they can hope for on a long flight.

But the firms are finding innovative ways to make journeys more bearable – including piping birdsong into toilets.

They showed off their latest ideas at the 2018 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

Others include toilets with a couple of urinals to speed up queues for male passengers, female-only loos and a larger toilet with wheelchair access.

Perhaps the quirkiest suggestion came from the French firm Airbus, which wants to make using an aircraft toilet more pleasant by playing a soundtrack of birds singing the dawn chorus in the cubicle.

One solution for passengers tired of waiting for the food trolley is a galley that doubles as a food kiosk, letting passengers grab snacks and drinks at any time.

A ‘butterfly’ berth has a lie-flat bed for corporate passengers that can turn into two premium-economy seats.

Airbus plans to offer sleeper compartments in the hold. Passengers would keep their seats for take-off and landing, but can use the sleeper in between.

The space could also be used as a meeting room or a children’s play area.