Tonight saw Virgin Atlantic peel back the curtain on their exclusive new A350 cabin. The aircraft, which will enter the fleet this summer will initially fly on the prestigious Heathrow – New York JFK route, followed by Atlanta, and the rest of the existing 747 routes as the new aircraft starts to take over from…
Read MoreAs ‘Project Sunrise’ research flight takes to the skies, we ask is ultra-long travel really just pushing passengers too far?
The 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 MorePlaza Premium Opens New Lounge In Heathrow Terminal 5
A new Plaza Premium Lounge has opened for travellers in London Heathrow Terminal 5 this week. It is the first lounge in the terminal for Plaza Premium Group offering spectacular views across the runway. This now means that Plaza Premium Lounges can be found in all Heathrow terminals – with lounges already operational in Terminals…
Read MoreBritish Airways New Business Class Suite Product Leaves Us Feeling Mixed Emotions
Unless you have been living under a rock today you will already have seen the new business class product for British Airways, dubbed the ‘Club Suite.’ The new suite brings a range of improvements to the passenger experience including all-aisle access, more storage, larger IFE screens and even doors, offering even more privacy, similar to…
Read MoreQantas Opens Long-Awaited New London Heathrow Lounge
Qantas will finally welcome customers into a new spacious Qantas London Lounge at Heathrow Airport as of tomorrow, as the airline counts down to its non-stop 787 Dreamliner flights between London and Australia. Qantas has invested on one of its most prestigious routes, spending the past 12 months creating a dedicated lounge at Heathrow as…
Read MoreTrip Report: Gulf Air B787-9 Business Class October 2018
Flight: GF2 Aircraft Type: 787-9 Class: Business Class (Flacon Gold) Route: LHR-BAH Date: October 2018 http://www.gulfair.com Gulf Air used to be one of the leading carriers in the Gulf region, however, bold upstarts like Emirates quickly stole the crown, with heavy investment in new aircraft and a fairly courageous growth plan, leaving Gulf Air with a lacklustre, dated product that…
Read MoreBritish Airways’ New Club Europe Dining Signals Airline’s Continued Desire To Improve Business Class Passenger Experience
British Airways is making a multi-million pound investment in its short haul business class cabin, Club Europe as part of the airline’s existing £4.5bn investment plan that has already seen a range of improvements to BA’s passenger experience. Starting September 12th the airline will introduce what seem to be delicious new menus with improved recipes and…
Read MoreAirline cabins and hotels that are giving us wanderlust right now
While the team are doing their bit to help fight this pandemic and staying indoors, it’s also making us a little stir crazy as our wings have been clipped, at least for the coming weeks or months. Like many others out there, we’ve been finding ourselves going through our archives, going online and longing for…
Read MoreVirgin Atlantic And Onefinestay Join Forces To Launch Impressive Pop-Up Bedroom
Virgin Atlantic has recently partnered with Onefinestay to create a limited edition pop-up boutique bedroom in the corner of its award-winning Clubhouse in Heathrow Airport. Partnering with the New York based company, the British airline has reinforced its deep East Coast roots by bridging the pond with a US based partner. Available for rental through…
Read MoreMalaysia Airlines Brings Great Fares To The Skies… And Yes, That Means Another TheDesignAir Giveaway! (Maybe our best one yet!)
Yes, its certainly that time of the year. Another great carrier, Malaysia Airlines is offering some fantastic bargains, especially in economy. However, those wanting to experience the premium cabins are also able to get some great deals. For those travelling from London, passengers will get to experience the airlines’ state-of-the-art A350 aircraft, and enjoy their…
Read MorePlaza Premium To Open New Lounge in Helsinki
Helsinki is increasingly becoming a popular stopover for passengers between Europe and Asia. Dubbed the ‘fastest way to Asia’ Helsinki Airport benefits from a geographical advantage, meaning flights from Helsinki are much shorter than flying from other European capitals. Appealing to economy passengers who are less inclined to spend hours on end bolt-upright, Helsinki will…
Read MoreAir Canada Opens New Lounge In LaGuardia
Air Canada passengers travelling from New York’s LaGuardia rejoice. The new lounge is now officially open. Opened at the start of December, this new space signals the opening of the new Eastern concourse at Terminal B. The new lounge, conveniently located after security near Air Canada’s gates features popular amenities, including refreshments and a business centre,…
Read MoreStar Alliance Shows Us A Connection Service We Really Want, But Its Reality Is Still A Blessing
Star Alliance has just launched a humorous but welcome new marketing video that showcases the alliances’ determination to respond to one of the largest stresses for frequent fliers – missed connections. Now while we wish that Star Alliance’s Connection Service was actually as dramatic, fun or fast as this, things might be a little slower,…
Read MoreBehind The Scenes: Etihad’s New Economy Class Service
As we announced a few weeks ago, Etihad has revamped its economy service to become more sustainable while offering passengers larger main meals and a restaurant-style service. On first impressions, offering two waves of dining would appear more complicated for the cabin crew, but as we found out by spending a few hours behind the scenes…
Read MoreTheDesignAir Exclusive Interview With Star Alliance’s Julie Murphy
Have you ever wondered what involvement the airline alliance has in the design language adopted by their airlines? With the rise the alliance-friendly terminal, such as Heathrow’s Terminal 2, we talk to Julie Murphy, Star Alliance’s Chair in the UK about design and customer experience. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, can…
Read MoreBritish Airways New Economy And Premium Economy Seats Distract Passengers With Bigger IFE Screens
Yes, these sparkly new seats are on British Airways, in fact they are already being rolled out on the carrier’s ‘sunshine routes’ from their hub in Gatwick. Retrofitting their fleet of 777s means they are removing some of their business class cabin to fit a larger World Traveller Plus cabin and even sneak in a…
Read MorePhilippine Airlines New A350 Features Innovative Bespoke Lighting Design by Lift
PAL’s A350 – featuring a brand new cabin product – will soon start flying on its long-haul city pairing of Manila to London Heathrow. The lighting system onboard might not have taken the limelight, but it certainly creates it, designed as part of a truly holistic cabin concept. “Following on PAL’s A330 retrofit and new…
Read More10 Things We Loved In 2018
Air Tahiti Nui’s brand new image We fell in love with Air Tahiti Nui’s new brand image by FutureBrand and Alexander Lee, which brought the island nation to life in the skies of the Pacific. Careful attention to detail, bright bold colours and stunning iconographic patterns caught our eye this year and certainly brought a…
Read More10 Great Flights To Take From London In 2018
Next year will see some exciting developments for passengers travelling to and from London, UK. With new routes, frequencies, upgraded aircraft and enhanced cabin products, London is getting the best of what the skies have to offer. Here is our low-down for the best trips you can take from London in 2018. Mahé, Seychelles Direct…
Read MoreBritish Airways Opens Second Of New Lounge Concepts, In Aberdeen
It’s Not the 1950’s And It’s Not Mad Men’s latest set. This is in fact British Airways‘ latest lounge to open, in Aberdeen. It might not have the most footfall of all BA lounges with only a handful of flights each day on regional aircraft, but the space will be welcome to passengers. We can’t…
Read MoreTrip Report: SriLankan A330-300 Business Class February 2018
Flight: UL506 Aircraft Type: A330-300 Class: Business Class Route: LHR-CMB Date: February 2018 http://www.srilankan.com SriLankan Airlines recently added two daytime flights per week from London to Colombo, flying on Saturdays and Sundays, providing better connections and more convenient departure times. This now makes the airline even more attractive to passengers looking for one-stop carriers between London and the Maldives, Sri…
Read MoreBritish Airways Revamps Concorde Room Including Expanded Terrace Concept
British Airways has just revamped its award-winning flagship Concorde Room at Heathrow T5, exclusive to British Airways’ customers travelling in the airline’s First cabin. The refurb has once again drawn inspiration from the ‘very best’ of British Design. The refurbishment to the airline’s exclusive lounge included re-upholstering iconic pieces of furniture, and adding new feature pieces to the…
Read MoreQantas Opens New Perth Lounge Ahead of Airline’s First Non-Stop UK Flight
As we write this, the new Qantas QF9 Flight is airborne from Perth inbound to London Heathrow Airport, signalling a new era of direct flights between Australia and the UK, dramatically reducing the time to fly between Australia and London. While passengers connecting on to Sydney may not gain any extra time in flying this…
Read MoreTheDesignAir Exclusive Tour Of Singapore Airlines A380
While all eyes are currently on Singapore Airlines’ A350 ULR service between Newark and Singapore, currently the world’s longest flight at over 18 hours, we take an exclusive behind the scenes look at one of the airlines’ latest A380s while it’s on the ground in Heathrow. You can see our other article on the aircraft…
Read MoreCathay Opens London Heathrow Lounge – And It Feels Like Home
Cathay Pacific have finally previewed their latest outstation lounge in Terminal 3 of London’s Heathrow Airport. Featuring separate First and Business Class areas, the London lounge which has been long awaited, matches the design template that Stusdioilse has brought to the other recent lounge openings. The lounge, which officially opens its doors on Wednesday, 7 December features…
Read MoreReport: Why TheDesignAir Thinks Heathrow Was The Right Choice For London’s Next Runway
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 MoreTrip Report: Condor B767 Business Class May 2018
Flight: DE2114 Aircraft Type: B767-300ER Class: Business Class Route: FRA-CUN Date: May 2018 http://www.condor.com While a recent announcement that Condor is going to replace its ‘ageing’ fleet of Boeing 767’s may have hit the headlines, we decided to take this leisure-airline hybrid for a spin to see what their business class product delivers. Although part of the Thomas Cook Group,…
Read MorePhilippine Airlines Is Giving Us Five Good Reasons To Travel From London
Our Regular UK followers might take great pleasure in the news that Philippine Airlines will be introducing it’s flagship 777-300ER aircraft on the Manila-London route, replacing the older A340 product that’s been operating the past few years. Originally penned to star flying in December, the date has been moved forward to September 19th 2017, meaning…
Read MoreGrimshaw Picked To Take Heathrow To The Future
Championing British design talent, Heathrow Airport today announced the globally renowned architectural practice, Grimshaw as their concept designers after a rigorous assessment from a shortlist of four of the UK’s top architects which also included Zaha Hadid, HOK and Benoy. “Grimshaw were successful in the competitive tender process not only for their visionary concept designs, which pushed…
Read MoreAmerican Airlines Launches Impressive Flagship First Dining & Flagship Lounge in JFK
Today saw the debut of American Airlines‘ newly-renovated Flagship Lounge and brand new Flagship First Dining at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. The lounge is part of a wave of new lounges opening in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Heathrow, Miami and Philadelphia. At first glance the lounge is certainly impressive, and has adopted…
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