Private jet interior designer reveals what the super rich who pay MILLIONS demand – including cashmere walls, silk carpets and industry-quality cinema screens

Designing bespoke private jet interiors for high-end clients is Aurora Saboir’s (fabulously named) day job.

Creativity is in the niche and often extremely challenging world of curating luxury spaces at 30,000ft.

Saboir, 35, who graduated as an industrial design engineer, entered the aviation design industry by chance after being given a private jet tour while working in Mallorca.

He was previously a furniture designer but explains: ‘The owner of the jet wanted some style advice and I went and visited the plane and it hit the spot.’

Austrian Saboir now runs his own company, Aurora Aero Design, offering boutique services for both cabin interior and exterior painting.

Private jet interior designed by Aurora, with elegant seats, stylish tables and stylish lamps

Its big-spending customers come mostly from the United States and the Middle East and range from single owners to large families looking for aircraft to suit their personal travel needs.

He told the Daily Mail that the price of a jet retrofit ‘depends on the model, size and age of the aircraft’.

‘For off-market jets in the mid-size range, refurbishment could cost anywhere between €1 million and €2.5 million.

‘Interiors on new aircraft typically account for around 30 per cent of the purchase price,’ explains the designer.

‘So if a new jet costs €80 million, then we’re really looking at around €15 to €20 million for customisation, because these are highly customized aircraft.’

The larger the aircraft, the higher the costs. For example, equipping Boeing Business Jets, which are often used by customers in the Middle East, can cost ‘anywhere between €40 million and €50-60 million, depending on how much extra it needs to be in the end’.

The talented designer tried his hand at aircraft exteriors for Qatar Airways last year

He has worked on various aircraft and has clients from all over the world who are willing to pay millions for his services.

Another design from Aurora, this time featuring brown seating and luxurious polished wood touches on the ceiling

How comfortable and luxurious can the interior of a jet really be when there is such limited space on the plane?

‘Perhaps the only limit is the size and geometry of the aircraft; But we can go very far in this,’ he says.

This is a bespoke job depending on what is important to each client.

If a customer truly values ​​’technology and innovation’ then Saboir He says he will ‘go beyond’ ‘researching the latest displays’ and how they can be integrated.

For another customer, sleeping in the sky might be ‘very important’: ‘So we’ll have custom-made, proper beds, full blackout options, advanced noise cancellation – everything about the end goal.’

And when a customer requests extra attention to ‘cabinet finishes and tactility’, Saboir makes sure to work with ‘high-end luxury brands for fabrics and raw materials’.

Finer details such as finishes and surfaces are given utmost consideration; designer looks for businesses that create ‘custom designed and made mother-of-pearl or gemstone inserts or inlays’.

Saboir says ‘the sky’s the limit’ on how comfortable and elegant a small jet can feel

The designer stays away from certain materials, especially those made of plastic and polymers

Saboir stays away from certain fabrics to create a truly opulent look on the plane’s interior.

‘We generally avoid materials that have a lot of plastic and polymers in them, or anything artificial,’ the designer explains.

There are several reasons why Aurora does not use these types of fabrics, the main one being safety.

‘They often fail the burn test; “They are extremely flammable compared to natural materials such as cashmere, cotton, wool, silk, real leather, real wood and stone,” he says.

But the feel of the fabric is important, too, especially when customers are paying millions for Aurora’s best work.

‘The other thing is the feeling itself, the tactility of the interior,’ he adds.

‘Imagine all the walls are so close to you that you actually see the fibers of the fabric because it’s next to your face.

‘Everything is of the highest quality,’ he says, explaining that the owners increasingly ‘want to avoid artificial ingredients as much as possible.’

‘We can have cashmere on the walls and 100 percent silk carpets on the sofas.’

Just last year, Aurora helped create a specially designed Boeing 777-300ER for Formula 1 partner Qatar Airways.

This was his first external project on a commercial aircraft. But his most luxurious design is a ‘multi-year project’ that he has yet to sign off on at the time of the interview.

“I started four years ago, it’s not even finished yet,” he says, explaining that the bespoke jet was for a client in the Middle East.

So how easy is it to please such wealthy customers?

He says expectations are often as high as the plane’s altitude… adding that his customers are used to getting exactly what they want, and it’s no different when looking for a luxury cabin interior.