By Melissa Alonso | March 10, 2026 - Atlanta, GA
When you board a plane, you probably think about your seat, your snack, or whether the flight will be on time. Behind the scenes, however, an enormous amount of design and data work goes into making that experience smoother, more sustainable, and more efficient.
That’s where Georgia Tech comes in.
This year, Georgia Tech School of Industrial Design graduate students have been named finalists — twice — for the 2026 Crystal Cabin Award, one of the most prestigious honors in the aircraft interiors industry. Selected from 85 submissions worldwide, the two Georgia Tech projects were recognized in the University category, which highlights forward-looking ideas from academic research and student teams. The awards will be presented in April in Hamburg, Germany, during the Aircraft Interiors Expo, the world’s leading event focused on airplane cabin innovation.
Faster Cleaning, Fewer Delays
The second finalist project tackles another common frustration: flight delays.
The SMARTrack | Optimized Cabin Cleaning Dispatching System, developed with Airbus and Delta Air Lines, focuses on improving the time between when a plane lands and when it’s ready for its next departure.
Instead of relying on fragmented communication, the system centralizes information and gives cleaning crews, dispatchers, and flight teams real-time updates through filters, color coding, and shared dashboards.
The result? Faster, more organized cabin cleaning. And when turnaround time improves, planes spend less time idling on the ground — which means less fuel burn, lower CO₂ emissions, and more on-time departures.