Flight: FJ811 Aircraft Type: A330-200 Class: Business Class Route: LAX-NAN Date: 6th February 2014 http://www.fijiairways.com Best for: Savvy passengers who can afford to spend a little more to start their holiday early, and fight off the jetlag. Most likely to sit next to: Anyone from a seasoned traveller top-to-toe in Linen luxury, to a marine biologist connecting on to Sydney. Business or…
Read More
According to Flightglobal, Turkish Airlines is just finalising a deal to add 4 A380’s to its fleet as early as this summer. The International airline will be wet-leasing the aircraft from as of yet, an unnamed airline, according to the airline, Turkish plan on using the super-jumbos on services to China where slot availability is…
Read More
We are pleased to announce our Top 10 Cool Airline Brands 2014, the list features the ‘coolest’ airlines found around the world, as voted by our judging panel. This year brought a variety of new entrants, due to their work in 2013 in improving their brand image. There were also a host of airlines that…
Read More
Originally by Dominique Afacan, one of our DesignAir judges for forbes.com. She talks business, beds and Boeing with Roberto Abbondio, Head of Sales and Marketing UK/IR for Cathay Pacific. Cathay just won Best Business Class in the Airline Ratings.com awards – how does the cabin differ to the previous offering? It is a brand new concept. The thing we are very…
Read More
At thedesignair.net we are great fans of Cathay Pacific’s product. The seamless experience is effortless and well considered. From their onboard product to their lounges, attention to detail seems paramount, and it’s this design ethos that has put them at the top of the Lounges 2013. We take a closer look at their lounges, and…
Read More
Over the years, our dining experiences in the air has been a little bit mixed, even as children we probably have memories of eating shapeless mush as much as we have memories of our best dining experiences. Our bets are the best dining memories are recent memories. That’s because technology and science really have helped…
Read More
Welcome to our Top 10 destinations of 2014, the list of the best places to go for the year ahead. Here at TheDesignAir we’ve wrapped up the best 10 destinations, whether it be for the best in air travel, the best new routes or the hottest hotels to stay in. So without further ado, here’s the…
Read More
Flight: CX237 Aircraft Type: 777-300ER Class: Business Class Route: HKG-LHR Date: 1st December 2013 http://www.cathaypacific.co.uk Best for: Passengers wanting no-fuss elegant luxury, space and dining flying to and from Hong Kong. Most likely to sit next to: A mix of couples, suited business men and mainly passengers that keep themselves to themselves. Business or pleasure: Whilst there is no Wi-Fi on board, the…
Read More
This year there have been many new lounges appearing around the world. Each offering a unique level of luxury and identity that has meant a broad and interesting collection of spaces in a variety of spaces. Excellent spaces that didn’t make the list, but should still be commended, include Virgin America’s ‘The Loft‘ in LAX,…
Read More
Flight: CX254 Aircraft Type: 777-300ER Class: Premium Economy Route: LHR-HKG Date: 30th November 2013 http://www.cathaypacific.co.uk Best for: Savvy frequent travellers who are happy with a great reclining chair but don’t want to spend their money on business class. Most likely to sit next to: On our flight, I was next to business travellers, one of which was a Boeing Engineer, and most…
Read More
We recently covered the launch of the new LAN/TAM Lounges that have shown South America is an International destination to be reckoned with. Designed by Studio Putman, the lounges are going to be a super-chic haven for global travellers for years to come. We talk exclusively to the creator of the space, (daughter of the…
Read More
Continuing our comparison reports on some of the most popular and competitive routes in the world, we have taken a look at our Asian super-highway between Singapore and Tokyo-Narita. There are 5 main competitors (plus low-cost Scoot) that run the city pair, including ANA, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Delta and United. To make it easy we have…
Read More
When we announced the launch of the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class product on the A330 we mentioned how much we loved the new bar designed by VW+BS, and recently they created a cool time-lapse video showing the design process over the period of 3 years. It’s a fascinating video, showing a natural evolution of the…
Read More
We released just the other day the news of the new Cathay Lounge at Hong Kong International Airport. But for those unfortunate folks not travelling on Cathay or a OneWorld carrier shouldn’t dismay! Plaza Premium’s latest lounge in Hong Kong, which is a pay-as-you-go lounge is open to all travellers at the airport for a…
Read More
Cathay Pacific have really pushed their investment into the passenger experience by launching last week their new ‘Bridge’ lounge. The 6th lounge to grace Hong Kong International airport sits alongside The Cabin (launched in 2010), The Arrival (launched 2008), The Pier (2001) and the recently updated ‘Wing’ (first launched in 1998) and of course their…
Read More
We were very excited to receive a press release this morning from Air New Zealand, it showed in full glory the new 787-9 interiors, and their first routes. Initially flying on the Auckland – Perth route, as more aircraft join the fleet it will then start flying Auckland – Tokyo, Auckland – Shanghai, and also…
Read More
We do love a well designed terminal here at thedesignair.net. Whatsmore, one that manages to successfully combine passenger needs and beautiful design. So when we saw these renderings for the new Changi airport that were revealed today, we were thrilled! The airport has announced on the day of its groundbreaking that “with the construction of…
Read More
Back in the glamourous heyday of travel, airlines (believe it or not) fought for the attention of the travelers. With the recent invention of air travel, costs were relatively low. You could fairly easily get hold of a plane, fill it full of passengers and fly it to wonderful exotic destinations. OK, so it wasn’t…
Read More
The Wall Street Journal recently posted a brilliant article about the supposed ‘Shrinking’ Airline seat, where airlines have become savvy to squeezing in an extra seat per row to get extra revenue, whilst losing an inch per seat width in comfort. Interestingly the main airframes this applies to is the 777 (9 across comfortably, but…
Read More
Our newest writer to join TheDesignAir, Mel Kirk, über-successful blogger and owner of Tribal Media, has taken a trip that everyone in our office is green with envy of. With deep jealousy, we introduce you to her experience of one of our Hot Hotels, joining our very limited edition of hotels to take notice of…
Read More
This week marked the arrival of Air Serbia’s first A319 to Belgrade Airport. 49% owned by Etihad, the original national airline JAT was re-branded to become the new ‘Air Serbia’, introducing a brand new livery, planes uniforms and total visual identity. As we reported on EX-YU Aviation back in January, the airline (and it’s competitors) have…
Read More
With our return to our monthly Top 10’s, this month we celebrate the launch of several new First Class cabins around the world. Have they made our Top 10 though? Interestingly, as our judges went through the offerings, it became apparent that ‘International First Class’ cabins have changed over the past few years, turning from…
Read More
Time for a game of spot the difference! An authority in livery design (and a good friend of ours here at thedesignair.net), Remy Chevarin, has created a very elegant alternative solution to the new livery for Air New Zealand which we showcased (and liked) when it was released back in June. Perhaps it will take you…
Read More
Starting our series of competitive routes around the world, we are breaking down the details of what each airline has to offer to help you find the perfect airline for you for your trip. To start with, we are looking at Los Angeles to London Heathrow. In this post we are looking at the business…
Read More
British Airways Business Class Report Flight: BA2666 Aircraft Type: 737-400 Class: Business Class (Club Europe) Route: LGW – RAK Date: 02nd August 2013 Best for: Leisure Travellers who pick up a rash from low cost carriers. Most likely to sit next to: On this flight, most likely business executives using their airmiles to ship themselves and their entire family (including Nanny)…
Read More
Now at thedesignair we haven’t covered hotels before, but we are starting our reviews to create a small collection of hotels, as in our travels we get to stay for some of the best hotels, we think, in the world. Our first secret gem is our inclusion of Sir Richard Branson’s Kasbah Tamadot, situated in…
Read More
Here at Thedesignair we have been watching the recent trend over the past few months of new uniforms being launched around the world, from China Eastern to Virgin Atlantic, new threads have become the new norm, lifting the inflight product and refreshing the cabin look and feel, whilst also (hopefully) making the cabin crew a…
Read More
As it’s 4th of July, we thought we would bring you a little bit of Americana to the site today. We have highlighted 4 excellent reasons to book a ticket to the US right now. 1. British Airways & Los Angeles Why British Airways? British Airways accepted it’s first A380 today, with much media hype…
Read More
Cathay Pacific have recently managed to swell their schedule to a whopping 5 flights a day to London, UK. That additional daily return flight means that there will now be 35 flights a week between London and Hong Kong. Flown predominantly on their 777 fleet, the airline is fighting the middle eastern carrier supremacy at one of the world’s…
Read More
Thedesignair may have been a little quiet over the past few weeks, but we have been big in print this month, as well as our usual publications, we have featured in AUH magazine (for Abu Dhabi Airport) once again, and also a full feature in Airline retail news, read the full feature online here. We are…
Read More