Qantas has finally unveiled prototypes of the First and Business cabins on the aircraftthat will fly passengers non-stop from Australia to New York and London from late 2025 along with a detailed virtual reality fly-through render of the aircraft cabins. This comes shortly after news of a new First Class lounge that will open in…
Read MoreToday saw the official approval of Qantas’ long-awaited Project Sunrise, something that was postponed a few years due to COVID. With the announcement that the airline will order 12 A350-1000 aircraft capable of flying from Sydney direct to London and New York, which will see the longest and furthest flights in the world. But that…
Read MoreMost people will have flown on a Vantage product at some point if they’ve flown business class in the past decade, and the VantageXL is the flagship version, which has been adopted by the likes of Qantas, SAS, Delta and Philippine Airlines over the years. Understanding that passenger habits and needs have adapted in the…
Read MoreIn the second of our Flygge series, we turn our eyes to Qantas. ‘Flygge’, a wordplay on Hygge – the Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment – is TheDesignAir’s name for this new emerging airline trend where brands are now becoming a part…
Read MoreQantas has just released a gift packages that can be sent directly to the doors of people doing it tough in lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis. In something we predicted airlines would start to do in our Covid White Paper, the carrier is turning some of its excess stock of pyjamas, amenity kits and snacks in…
Read MoreOn the 2nd December, just over 2 weeks away, we will see the grand opening of the new Qantas first class lounge in Singapore’s Changi International Airport. The lounge follows a wave of ground and inflight product improvements that are helping positioning the carrier as a true luxury, design-led proposition. In the meantime, select passengers…
Read MoreThe first of Qantas’ upgraded A380s welcomed its first passengers yesterday on the London to Sydney route, delivering a radical new cabin enhancement for Australia’s national carrier’s largest aircraft. The multi-million dollar upgrade of their 12 superjumbo aircraft includes new seating across Business and larger Premium Economy cabins and a refresh of the aircraft’s First…
Read MoreThis month saw Qantas and Air New Zealand both launch new safety videos. While both have taken different approaches, the premise of celebrating their national heritage and importance in their market is what ties them together. Qantas Qantas, who is celebrating its centenary – no mean feat in the current aviation climate – takes a…
Read MoreAir France has just opened an exciting new lounge space dedicated to Business Class travellers and Flying Blue Elite Plus members travelling through the airline’s short and medium-haul Schengen network. It’s no small affair, as this lounge is one of the airline’s largest, with a surface area of no less than 3,000 sq. m. catering to 570 seats…
Read MoreHangar 22 is Air New Zealand‘s moniker for its research lab, which has been working on the future of ultra-long haul cabins for no less than 5 years in a mirror effort to Qantas’s Project Sunrise. There’s good reason for Air New Zealand to invest heavily in a new product, as the airline will start…
Read MoreI was lucky enough to be invited onboard Air New Zealand’s inaugural JFK-AKL flight in September, the 4th longest flight in the world. I’ve done similar trips such as Emirates A380 LAX-DXB flights, but there’s something more unfoundedly daunting about crossing swathes of Ocean. No human likes to be stuck in a confined space for…
Read MorePassenger seat rules and regulations regarding ergonomics haven’t really changed in decades. However, as a race, human’s have continued to evolve, and we’re getting larger and taller. This means economy seats and cabins once comfortable for passengers in the 1960’s are no longer viable for today’s traveller. In fact the CDC says between 1960 and…
Read MoreThe aviation landscape in Australia may have shifted quite dramatically over the past few months, with new regional entrant Rex looking to take on Qantas on the main Melbourne – Sydney shuttle route and Virgin Australia re-emerging as a mid market carrier, and there’s even talk that Qantas isn’t taking project Sunrise off the table…
Read MoreIt’s been a pretty big day for Australia, with international borders opened, Qantas starting the relaunch of its international network and also the day domestically Victoria-New South Wales borders have re-opened. To celebrate, rival Virgin Australia has given us a look at what its refurbished Melbourne Lounge will look like and unveiled a new and…
Read MoreQantas is using virtual reality in the development of its new First Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport, which is set to open at the end of 2019. Industrial designer David Caon and his team have created an immersive virtual reality representation of the design concept, providing a better way for Qantas to preview and fine…
Read MoreThe airline industry has a history of records from fastest flight to longest flight, the highest to the biggest, there’s a list as long as an A340-600 of impressive stats and figures that celebrate the innovation and scientific advancements in the airline industry. For a sector celebrating a centenary this year its amazing how far…
Read MoreFollowing the soft-opening of their Melbourne lounge earlier this year, Qantas has completed a major upgrade of its domestic lounges at the Airport, providing customers with more seats, an Asian spice bar and premium designs inspired by Melbourne’s landscape. The new Domestic Business Lounge and Qantas Club have been completely redesigned to use space more…
Read MoreBrands create identities to stand out, visually represent what they stand for and what they do. Simple brand images are the ones that work best, if we said golden arches, globally everyone would know we’re talking about McDonalds. A bitten apple, Apple. The list may be short, but iconic. Airlines also have to stand out…
Read MoreBritish Airways just celebrated its centenary year and as part of its new year’s resolutions (Happy New Year everyone!) the carrier has hinted at some much needed upgrades to its Heathrow lounge complexes. 2019 saw the carrier bring a host of new lounge designs to its network including San Francisco, Geneva, New York and Milan.…
Read MoreQantas is investing in its Melbourne lounges with a major upgrade program set to offer new designs, more seating and new dining options. The first phase of the new Business Lounge opens today, while the first phase of the new Qantas Club opened back in May. “Melbourne is one of the most frequented ports on our…
Read MoreCOVID-19 has certainly kept airlines on their toes, and while many airlines are frantically trying to get their operations off the ground once again, there’s been an unusual, yet somewhat expected side effect. For years airlines have strived to become lifestyle brands, as relevant in the home as they are in the skies. The problem…
Read MoreThroughout 2020, we’ve seen the great efforts airlines have made to quickly adapt the passenger experience from check-in all the way through to onboard. However, airports across the world have also had to play a part in enhancing social distancing and help space out the flow of passengers throughout terminals and gate areas. Luckily, both…
Read MoreTheDesignAir is thrilled to announce the 2019 award winners as voted for by our esteemed judging panel and our readers. Year after year, we see more improvements and enhancements across the passenger experience, from narrow to wide bodies to lounges and airports around the globe. We showcase the 2019 winners here.
Read MoreAviation is awash with blue. Approximately a decade ago, the skies were filled with blue liveries, interiors lined wall-to-wall with blue seats, carpets, and uniforms in every shade of navy. While design studios have gradually peeled airline brands away from such a strong design vertical, what caused such visual dominance in the industry?
Read MoreQantas, like British Airways, is synonymous with the Queen of the Skies. Most childhood memories of Qantas will involve sighting one of these majestic beasts. However, the airline has announced an order for six additional Boeing 787-9s to fly on its international network, bringing its fleet of Dreamliners to 14 by the end of 2020.…
Read MoreTheDesignAir is pleased to announce the shortlist for the DesignAir Awards 2019 and just like last couple of years, we’ve opened some of the categories to the public. The voting is now closed! Now is your chance to pick from our shortlisted categories for Best Design Airline, by region, across the globe. All it takes…
Read MoreIt seems the week before Christmas brought a challenge from LOT Polish Airlines to Lufthansa regarding the German flag carrier’s somewhat contentious new livery. The Polish carrier draws issue with the fact Lufthansa’s reimagined tail fin has an uncanny resemblance to theirs. While we agree there are similarities, to our our trained eye, they are…
Read MoreWhile no one has successfully modelled the complex commercial outlook of the airline industry over the coming months, some airlines are predicting it will take many years to return to pre-Covid19 levels of revenue, profitability and passenger numbers. When borders reopen there might be a small surge in passenger numbers, but to get to 2019…
Read MoreYesterday Qantas revealed a striking new special livery for a brand new 787-9 Dreamliner being delivered to the airline. Comprised of approximately 5,000 dots (get counting!), the new design is striking both from near and afar. The new livery features the work of the late Northern Territory artist and senior Anmatyerre woman, Emily Kame Kngwarreye.…
Read MoreA recent National Institute of Health report highlighted the length of time that different viral strains could possibly live on surfaces. Most of us have heard how a trace of Covid-19 can live on plastic and metal for up to three days (albeit ever reducing in strength), whereas copper and cardboard/paper are found to be…
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