Coming to an airplane drink cart near you: PLASTICS

摘要

Airlines have long been removing nonessential weight from their airplanes to save on fuel expenses or add paying passengers. So it may be surprising that the trolleys carrying drinks, meals, and packets of pretzels or peanuts are made the same way they have been for years -- out of aluminum. AeroCat B.V., Tilburg, the Netherlands, a company that builds these trolleys, designed a totally new catering trolley made almost entirely of injection-molded and extruded plastic. The result the Tigris trolley, a 4-ft-long x 14-in.-wide rolling cart, weighs 37 lb. A half-size, 22-lb trolley is also available. In comparison, most current trolleys weigh about 46 lb. The hollow, multilayer, ribbed structures join to each other using a proprietary fastener-free technology for further weight reduction. The new trolley also incorporates four RFID tags to streamline identification, loading, delivery, and recovery of catering products.