Flight: TK1984 & TK1981 Aircraft Type: A321 & 737-800 Class: Business Class Route: LHR-IST-LGW Date: April 2017 http://www.turkishairlines.com Turkish Airlines may be the most International airline, flying to more countries and destinations than any other carrier, both short and long-haul, but its not size that always counts. While the ME3 carriers get most of the attention, Turkish Airlines was certainly worth a…
Read More
Today saw the opening of reservations on Qantas’ much anticipated London-Perth-Melbourne route which will commence service 24th March 2018. Touting the airline’s most advanced aircraft the 787-9, the airline is boasting increased comfort on a cabin interior that’s been ‘designed with long-haul in mind’. Launched on the same day, Qantas revealed its new heart-warming campaign…
Read More
Acumen and Zodiac’s Optima seat at first glance, might seem familiar. There’s good reason. It was actually developed in tandem with United’s Polaris product. The seats are basically non-identical twin brothers in the seat manufacturing world. The product has been designed as a logical response to the demands and needs of airlines and passengers alike. The seat boasts…
Read More
Flight: CI063 Aircraft Type: A350-900 Class: Business Class Route: TPE-VIE Date: March 2017 http://www.china-airlines.com China Airlines last year won two awards from us for their formidable turn-around of their inflight and ground product, especially in business class. Their A350-900 is the latest aircraft to join the fleet and features their brand new Business Class product, based on Ray Chen’s design found…
Read More
First, let us start by saying, we welcome – nay applaud – investment into a new Club World product for British Airways. The past few months and steerage of new CEO Alex Cruz has seen consistent cuts to the product, at a time when it needed serious investment. Ticket prices have been constantly higher than…
Read More
Flight: AF1681 Aircraft Type: B787-9 Class: Business Class Route: LHR-CDG Date: March 2017 http://www.airfrance.com Air France started flying their 787-9 between CDG and LHR earlier this year, training staff on the aircraft before it commences its long haul duties. While only a short hop across the English Channel, it gives passengers a chance to experience the new product before committing…
Read More
For those who’ve been living under a rock over the last week, you may not know about the electronics ban that is effecting certain airlines from certain countries flying to the US and the UK. While this is for ‘security reasons’, it’s certainly going to effect passengers, especially those travelling in business, who can use…
Read More
There’s a lot of talk about the nostalgia of the “Golden Age of Travel”, glorified by shows like Pan Am where we see passengers sipping on whiskeys and Martinis as they jetted across the Atlantic, reclined in large recliner seats, dressed impeccably. The warm fuzzy memory of the JetSet era – with the likes of…
Read More
There is a lot of global attention on the new presidency in the US right now. While many have watched with their head in their hands recently and others have had their head in the sand, we’ve compiled some additional more reasons it might be good to book a flight sometime soon to escape the…
Read More
TheDesignAir was just given the opportunity to try out the new Qantas VR App, currently available on the Google Play and Apple App stores. The new app allows consumers to instantly transport themselves to Australia and explore a wide range of different environments in full virtual reality. This relatively new app for Qantas echoes the…
Read More
2017 will bring three much talked about products to the skies. While all eyes are currently on Qatar Airways new ‘super business class’ seat that will be revealed in a matter of weeks, two other carriers, Emirates and Singapore Airlines are jostling for the attention of the First Class passenger. Qatar Airways has very firmly…
Read More
From everyone at TheDesignAir, we want to wish you a very Happy New Year. As the new year rolls in, we take the time to celebrate 2016. It’s been yet another fantastic year in aviation with numerous new products rolled out and airlines once again investing heavily into brand, product and design. At the start of December, we…
Read More
Flying Internationally with Alitalia recently to London via Rome, we had the opportunity to experience the new Casa Alitalia Lounge situated in the heart of the airport’s G gates in Rome FCO’s Satellite Terminal. Taking place of the older Sala Giotto lounge, the new space is totally reimagined featuring the new bold colours of the…
Read More
If you haven’t seen SAS’s brand new look by Swedish brand agency Bold, then now is a great time to delve deep into a comprehensive look at Scandinavian Airlines multiple branded elements. “When we started working with SAS in early 2014 they were under tremendous pressure to accommodate changing customer habits and were targeting bargain hunters,” state…
Read More
Part three of TheDesignAir’s exclusive series on the making of Cathay Dragon. Read parts one and two. This week brought a brand new airline officially take to the skies, with Dragonair now becoming Cathay Dragon. The new airline now aligns itself with its big brother Cathay Pacific across many passenger experience touch-points while still maintaining…
Read More
The future is a little closer this month, with Boom taking a leap forward and presenting their XB-1 1/3rd-scale ‘little brother’ version of the ideal next generation supersonic passenger jet. ‘Baby Boom’ as it has been dubbed, may not be taking flight until next year, but it will pave the way for the new Concorde of the…
Read More
On a recent trip with SriLankan Airlines we were able to experience the lounge at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. Firstly, we would like to highlight how efficient and fantastic Colombo is as a connecting airport. With the airport being small enough to walk from one gate to another in just five minutes, this is one…
Read More
Aeromexico has taken delivery of it’s new 787-9 and with it, a brand new Clase Premier product designed for the long-haul routes the aircraft will fly. Adorned with the Quetzalcoatl one-off livery which we covered earlier this month, the aircraft will delight and surprise its passengers both outside and now inside too. With the airline currently offering…
Read More
Today brought a close to the long debate over the location of London’s next runway. The new government, and the same one that is leading the UK out of Europe has decided Heathrow will play host to a third runway in a bid to increase passenger traffic. While the decision will play out for the…
Read More
Turkmenistan’s new International Airport, built by Turkish construction company Polimeks opened to the public on the 17th September. The design of the new Ashgabat International Airport Complex was inspired from Oguz Khan and the falcon which is one of the national symbols of Turkmenistan. In fact, the falcon shaped building has been recognised by numerous authorities. The…
Read More
Part two of TheDesignAir’s exclusive series on the making of Cathay Dragon. Read Part One here. Cathay Pacific and newly branded Cathay Dragon’s synergies may seem completely obvious to passengers who have flown on both airlines. However to entice new customers to experience the two airlines, so similar and yet distinctly different brought a host of…
Read More
While all eyes are currently on Soneva Jani – the new prestigious overwater hotel – set to open in a couple of weeks time, the sister Maldivian property to to this new resort has been paving the way for barefoot luxury for two decades, and still continues to draw visitors from all around the world.…
Read More
Flight: UL504 Aircraft Type: A330-300 Class: Business Class Route: LHR-CMB Date: September 2016 http://www.srilankan.com SriLankan Airlines has passed by our radar for far too long, and their new business class product has now been flying for a few years on their A330-300 aircraft. Featuring all-aisle access, WiFi and quite frankly, amazing cuisine, it was time to take this Oneworld…
Read More
The rise of the low cost brand a decade ago challenged the legacy carriers to reconsider their business model. Passengers were able to pick between the privileges of a packet of nuts, or a bare bones charge-through-the-teeth model where even you seat choice was a privilege. However, through the natural evolution of business, the…
Read More
Part one of TheDesignAir’s exclusive series on the making of Cathay Dragon. The newly renamed Cathay Dragon has just started its life as an airline brand. Originally named ‘Dragonair’, the Cathay sibling has very clearly positioned itself alongside the internationally recognised Cathay Pacific. On first glance, the rebrand may just look like a red Cathay…
Read More
Flight: TG911 Aircraft Type: A380-800 Class: ‘Royal Silk’ Business Class Route: LHR-BKK Date: June 2016 http://www.thaiairways.com We were lucky enough to fly on Thai Airways almost twenty years ago, one of our first long haul flights as a kid, and since then, the airline has always stuck in our hearts. We remember orchid flowers being distributed to passengers and that…
Read More
Flight: AF457 Aircraft Type: B777-200 Class: Premium Economy Route: GRU-CDG Date: May 2016 http://www.airfrance.com We were very happy to return from our previous trip with Air France in Premium Economy to trial one of the world’s most applauded mid-cabin classes. Featuring a modern clean cabin, well appointed seats and above-standard amenities such as champagne on tap and enhanced amenity kits.…
Read More
Flight: AF456 Aircraft Type: B777-200 Class: Business Class Route: CDG-GRU Date: April 2016 http://www.airfrance.com Ever since our failed chance to experience Air France’s new business class last year, we’ve been keen for another opportunity to experience Air France’s latest and acclaimed new hard product, that has moved the carriers 2 x 3 x 2 seating to a 1 x 2…
Read More
TheDesignAir is proud to launch our Top 10 lists for 2016 starting with our Top 10 International First Classes. Competition this year is tough, with a lot of carriers around the world investing into the front of the plane. TheDesignAir has adopted a new judging matrix for 2016, which includes a variety of criteria including cabin design, seat design,…
Read More
Flight: BA073 Aircraft Type: B787-9 Class: ‘First’ First Class Route: LHR-AUH-MCT Date: January 2016 http://www.ba.com We were curious last year to see how British Airways new First product on their 787-9 were going to reinvent the first class experience, but when we had the chance to experience the product first-hand (forgive the pun) we jumped at the chance to see why…
Read More