Future of flying? Dining booths, shops, sports bars coming to planes

Plane cabins resembling a cross between a restaurant, sports bar, living room and a shop could be coming to a flight path near you in the near future.

Ross Burns is the lead designer of cabin interiors at Bournemouth-based Aim Altitude, the company behind the bar areas on Emirates and Virgin Atlantic. Now they've created a social space concept called 'Ultraflex', reminiscent of Virgin's sofa-clad 'loft' area for the A350 - but even more radical. 

The aim is to create the ultimate communal space at 38,000ft, where passengers can stretch their legs, move around and socialise.

With health and wellness at the forefront of many passengers' minds, especially on flights over 12 hours, Mr Burns says spaces such as these could become more and more important on aircraft.