Now we aren’t saying AA’s existing lounges weren’t terrible, but apart from a handful, they weren’t much to write home about either. However the good news is that American Airlines has decided to up the ante with a redesign of its Admirals Club lounges across the United States. Customers will first experience the new look…
Read MoreBritish Airways and American Airlines reveal new JFK Terminal 8 offering
American Airlines and British Airways have now announced greater detail surrounding their plans to co-locate operations at JFK’s Terminal 8 from December this year. Together the two airlines co-location should offer a more seamless customer experience while also supporting the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s ambitious plan to transform JFK into a leading…
Read MoreAmerican’s First Class isn’t entirely dead. The new premium interiors may give hint to the future of its cabin strategy.
Yesterday saw American Airlines announce a relatively needed and long-awaited refresh to its interiors programme. Bringing its long-haul and premium narrow-body cabins a whole new look was expected, and after United and Delta had rolled out its own signature Polaris and One products, American needed to step up to the mark. While the new cabins…
Read MoreAmerican Express opens new Centurion Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3
With today’s announcement, American Express opens yet another Centurion Lounge this year, at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Located in Terminal 3. This will be the brand’s first Centurion Lounge in Europe but American Express’ third Centurion Lounge to open this year. It’s no small lounge either. Spanning over 7,000 square feet (650 square meters), the…
Read MoreAmerican Express opens 13th lounge in JFK’s Terminal 4
American Express has just opened its new lounge in JFK, and with more than 15,000 square feet behind its doors, the new space is the largest Centurion Lounge yet and the first with two floors to explore. Naturally, because of the current travel climate, it hasn’t opened quite as the designers had originally envisaged it,…
Read MoreAmerican unifies 787 Business Class product, with the 787-8 receiving an upgraded experience.
We’re starting to see some positive stories across the industry now, focussing on a return to service and a return to growth. From Wizz’s latest route announcements, to design agencies and airlines setting up their near-future solutions to Covid-19. However, American Airlines’ latest 787 deliveries re-energise a positive conversation about cabin releases on the horizon.…
Read MoreLATAM further elevates ground product in Santiago, Chile
LATAM took a fairly surprising (and welcome) decision to completely revamp its still fairly modern signature ground product in Santiago de Chile, which only opened back in 2015. The brand-new LATAM Lounge has just opened its doors for its preferred passengers and LATAM’s partner airline members, including while waiting for their flight. The new space,…
Read MoreAmerican Express opens new lounge in Sydney operated by Plaza Premium
Tomorrow will see the opening of a new and improved American Express lounge in Sydney Airport, replacing its smaller predecessor. Located near Gates 50-63 at Sydney Airport’s T1 International terminal, the new lounge now spans over 600 sq m. The lounge is operated by global premium airport hospitality specialists Plaza Premium Group and offers guests…
Read MoreAmerican Express and Escape open new lounges side-by-side in Phoenix Sky Harbor’s terminal 4
American Express and MAG USA (parent company of Escape) have just announced the opening of The Centurion and Escape Lounges at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). Located in the airport’s Terminal 4 the lounges will cater to passengers flying with Air Canada, American Airlines, British Airways, Condor, Southwest, Volaris and WestJet. The new lounge complex…
Read MoreVantage DUO looks to upgrade the regional First Class proposition
With some 6000+ narrow-body and regional jets in the US alone, there is a huge market for ‘domestic First Class’ still, and competition is heating up at the front of the plane. Delta has just shown off its new First Class product, first announced in 2020, and the MiQ seats are starting to become commonplace…
Read MoreLATAM’s new South American narrow body ‘Premium Economy’ is everyone else’s Business Class, and we love them for it…
If you’ve ever travelled within Europe (excluding on Turkish Airlines) you’ve probably flown what is dubbed Euro Business. It’s a fairly simple concept of the first few rows of an otherwise fairly normal narrow-body jet becoming the carrier’s Business Class, which comes with all the bells and whistles of a Business Class ticket, including priority…
Read MorePlaza Premium opens second lounge in South America, this time in Sao Paulo
Plaza Premium Group has announced its plans for its second foray in to the South American market, this time in Sao Paulo. The opening of Plaza Premium’s latest lounge in mid-September in Brazil’s Guarulhos International Airport Terminal 2 is apparently just one more step on the brand’s ambition to open more lounges in the future…
Read MoreAmerican Opens Flagship Lounge In Dallas Fort Worth Terminal D
American has just opened its latest lounge in the airline’s largest hub, in Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) where the airline is seeing continued growth. This follows the LAX Flagship lounge which opened earlier this year. The Flagship Lounge, located in Terminal D spans over 23,000 square feet, with seating for up to 350…
Read MoreCould seats get wider for long-haul any time soon? Lift Aero Design think there’s an opportunity
Passenger 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 MoreAvianca reveals innovative new seats for A320 fleet
During ALTA Airline Leaders Forum 2021, an event hosted by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association in Bogota, Avianca presented three new seats that will be retrofitted across the carrier’s short- and medium-haul A320 fleet. The Premium, Plus and Economy seats were all designed by Recaro Aircraft Seating, with an innovative approach to…
Read MoreAlaska Airlines launches new ‘Salmon’ Aircraft with a striking native design fit for the 21st Century.
Alaska Airlines has had a long-time relationship with the Alaskan Salmon, In fact, in 1932, the airline took its first flight between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, home of the world’s most extensive sockeye salmon run. Since then its constantly been a part of distributing salmon across the States, so celebrating this ironic Alaskan export makes…
Read MoreAmerican Express Reopens Larger And Enhanced Centurion Lounge In Miami
Yesterday saw the re-opening of American Express’ Centurion Lounge at Miami International Airport. The lounge was recently expanded and renovated to offer Platinum Card Members access to even more space and better food and beverage selections in one of the network’s most popular lounges. Featuring an extra 100 seats, the lounge encompasses 12,300 sq. ft,…
Read MoreStelia’s new Opera narrow body seat might not look a game changer, but it’s a clever evolution
Stelia’s new ‘Opera’ seat has just entered the market, specifically for narrow-body single-aisle cabins. This new “Full Flat, Full Access, Full Privacy” Business Class seat claims it offers the highest standard wide-body comfort on single-aisle. Now you might be like, ‘hang on, I’ve seen reverse herringbone seats on single-aisle aircraft before, such as American Airlines…
Read MoreAmerican Introduce New Stylish Amenity Kits, But Do They Hit The Mark?
American Airlines has just introduced a new wave of amenity kits for passengers in its International First & Business, Transcon First & Business and International Premium Economy cabins. As with most airlines, American has teamed up with leading up-and-coming lifestyle and skincare brands. Coming on line mid February, the kits are designed in collaboration with This…
Read MoreHot Hotel: Andaz Tokyo
Every time we visit Tokyo we’re struck by how charmingly low-rise it is. By contrast with other Asia capitals, there’s been no crazy arms race to build the tallest tower. But that also means that, where you can get up high, you’re rewarded with unbroken views. That’s certainly the case at Andaz Tokyo, on the…
Read MoreWhy so blue? The dominance of the colour in the industry
Aviation 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 MoreBritish Airways unveils new Ozwald Boateng Uniform
For the first time in two decades, British Airways has refreshed its uniform, and in following tradition, had selected British designer of Saville Row fame – Ozwald Boateng to shape the new look for the 30,000 front line crew who are customer facing. The collection was shaped by Boateng shadowing various crew members from engineering…
Read MoreTrip Report: JetBlue A321LR Mint ‘Studio’, April 2023
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that New York’s ‘hometown airline’ JetBlue has been operating across the Atlantic for almost two years, offering a value proposition to the full-service concept on the highly competitive route between JFK and London. Although it’s taken us a few months to sort a trip,…
Read MoreSpecial Trip Report: Etihad’s New A350 proposition breathes fresh life into the carrier
Etihad has always been a challenger brand in the Middle East, even if it’s not the youngest of the carriers. Often shadowed by its much larger, blingier cousin Emirates, and self-styled luxury carrier Qatar Airways, Etihad has had a bigger hill to climb, either winning market share, or the hearts and wallets of this lucrative…
Read MoreDelta welcomes first guests in Salt Lake City’s brand new Sky Club
With Salt Lake City International Airport recently opening its latest terminal, Delta – the largest of airlines operating from SLC – has also opened its largest Delta Sky Club with guests able to enjoy the new space from today. Covering just over 28,000 square feet, the new Club celebrates the area’s famous mountainous landscape while…
Read MoreJetBlue’s new A220 features a sleek new cabin, mirroring the carrier’s latest fleet
JetBlue has just revealed the all-new onboard experience which will soon greet customers aboard the airline’s Airbus A220-300. It is the first of no less than 70 A220’s that JetBlue has on order, that was delivered to the airline’s home at John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 5 in New York on New Year’s Eve.…
Read MoreUnited Airlines declares ‘Passenger Experience war’ against rivals with impressive new interiors
United Airlines, now profitable once again has firmly set its stall as a leading Passenger Experience airline, vying for market dominance through modern, comfortable cabins that give passengers what they want: more space, more entertainment and more choice. This is something we applaud and have been promoting as the right approach to winning over customer…
Read MoreThe need for space. Will airlines invest in social spaces once again?
Even non-aviation enthusiasts may have noticed that the skies look a little different today. As we head into another year since the pandemic first decimated commercial aviation, the large behemoth A380s and Queens of the skies – the Boeing 747 – are a rare sight at airports nowadays. Replaced by more economic and smaller long-haul…
Read MoreAbout face! Why British Airways might need to accelerate its Business Class retrofit
There’s quite a lot of commentary on Covid-19 right now, and the research is constantly evolving. There’s already some innovative designs on the drawing board for helping with the perception of social distancing, including Factorydesign’s Isolation Kit and Aviointeriors’ Janus seat concept. While Factorydesign’s concept actually is quite smart and has a post Covid-19 application,…
Read MoreBritish Airways adds doors to First, but is it enough?
British Airways’ recent upgrade to its Club World with the new Club World Suite has given the carrier a bit of a conundrum. As the airline has started the retrofit of its fleet with the new Business Class product, it’s left the First Class cabin, even the latest incarnation offering very little difference on paper.…
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