Seems like The Telegraph is about a year late with this story. (Plus, they need an editor because they misspell the word "business" in the first sentence.) If you search "airline bunk beds" in your favorite search engine, you'll likely find a bunch of articles from April 2018 about this concept. They use the exact same images, too.
Originally Posted by
Cloudship
The idea is that you have a seat for takeoff and landing - in this case potentially tighter as you are in it for only short periods of time - and then move down to the beds once in the air. Obviously this is for real long haul flights.
That's how it's explained in this article:
Airbus says they’ll be aimed at economy-class passengers, who would still have to spend takeoff and landing in a regular seat—the sort that's been through extensive crash testing. But during a flight, fliers could rent a bunk, presumably for less than the price of a lie-flat business-class seat, and get some proper rest.
Source:
https://www.wired.com/story/airbus-beds-cargo-hold/
Originally Posted by
WHBM
Cargo holds carry revenue cargo, often at higher utilisation factors than the passenger cabin above. One of the key downsides of the A380, with two passenger decks and all their baggage in the hold, has been insufficient cargo space, the proportions are wrong. Airlines started using all their space, both ways, long ago (both ways because unlike passengers cargo invariably goes one way only, you need to find a different source of cargo for the return). Although you may see some freighters, and the big package express companies, the considerable majority of air freight goes by underfloor hold.
These passenger compartments can theoretically get swapped in/out depending upon needs of the airline according to the design firm (Zodiac):
What is clear is that airlines may swap the modules in and out depending on where a particular plane is headed. “The new passenger modules will be easily interchangeable with regular cargo containers during a typical turnaround,” Zodiac said in a statement, meaning the beds could be removed for short trips and installed for longer flights.
Source:
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/air...the-cargo-hold