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 MoreSwiss opened the doors today to its stunning new First Class ‘Lounge A’ in Zurich. Designed as part of a curb-to-aircraft experience, the 650-square-metre lounge features check-in facilities, its own security checkpoint, an à la carte restaurant and a barista bar serving a wide range of Swiss grappas and further fruit brandies. As part of…
Read MoreWith the recent launch of Air Belgium, legacy carrier Brussels Airlines has had to make sure it keeps its product offering competitive. Not surprisingly, they turned to JPA Design, a London-headquartered company that has brought the likes of premium carriers Singapore Airlines and Finnair to life, as well as other mid-level carriers such as Hawaiian…
Read MoreMost people probably remember when Airbus first launched their A380, there was talk about the cargo area being used as an onboard lounge, retail unit or even a restaurant for passengers. Naturally, like many things in aviation, these ideas gradually disappeared and practicality took over. Gone the ideas of having a large retail unit, when…
Read MoreTheDesignAir is pleased to announce the shortlist for the DesignAir Awards 2017 and just like last year, we’ve opened some of the categories to the public, so you can vote for the winners. Now is your chance to pick from our shortlisted categories for Best Design Airline, by region, across the globe. All it takes…
Read MoreHeathrow has no less than forty-something lounges across the expansive airport, but the offering can vary substantially, so selecting the right lounge can be a bit of a challenge. For those fellow aviation nuts out there though, the airport does offer a range of lounges with excellent views of the runways and apron, making spotting…
Read MoreHave 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 MoreLufthansa revealed its new A350-900 in Munich yesterday with a spectacular light show and an official unveiling ceremony in the Lufthansa Technik Hangar. The first of 10 aircraft was named ‘City of Nuremberg’ in front of an audience of 2,000 employees and guests. The aircraft is the airline’s most modern and technologically advanced featuring better fuel consumption…
Read MoreWhile many airlines in the world vie to be the biggest, there are a few smaller airlines that are certainly fighting to be the best. We take a look at 10 airlines under 10 million passengers per annum that are doing something special in 2018 that – we think – might just be worth getting…
Read MoreSriLankan Airlines might be not on everyone’s radar, but there is good reason why it should. It could even be the one secret airline that you might of heard of that you really should try. With incredibly competitive prices, connections as quick as 45 minutes and a world-class inflight product, this oneworld carrier is certainly…
Read MoreThis year will see a wave of business class seats that resemble First Class more than ever before. Qatar Airways is introducing the new QSuite this month, Delta is introducing their new private business class suites and United has already rolled out their new business class product featuring all aisle access and fully flat seats.…
Read MoreThere’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 MoreFlight: 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 MoreYesterday Eurowings, which is Lufthansa’s newest LCC brand, revealed its first aircraft painted in its new livery. The new-look carrier will start by mirroring the product on offer by sister-airline germanwings. Firstly, a few facts, Eurowings isn’t a new brand. It had been operating since 1994 as a regional carrier for parent company Lufthansa. The new brand is…
Read MoreAlaska’s rebrand was well received when it was launched at the end of January with aviation fans (including us) around the world taking to the refreshed look. Sometimes though even a small shift in the look of an airline can take many months of painstaking work as historically speaking, liveries have to last decades, not years…
Read MoreAustrian Airlines have been busy reinventing themselves recently, with new liveries, business class seats, and now a new uniform, which will be worn by about 3,500 Austrian Airlines employees. Move over Avianca and Virgin, there are new ‘ladies in red’ in town, with the latest threads highlighting the airline’s signature colour (as seen in the image above, ignoring the awkward hand…
Read MoreRecently there have been a few new amenity kits surfacing around the world, with Qantas and JAL recently releasing their kits. We take a look at two of the latest. Long gone are the cheap plastic looking bags. Airlines have invested heavily into beautiful keepsakes that will last for years. By partnering with some of the…
Read MoreAustrian Airlines has quietly announced its new brand in respect for the recent incident with sister airline Germanwings. However, the new brand signals a big change in the Austrian carrier. Marking the fusion of both Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean on April 1, 2015, the new livery, which will be rolled out across the fleet. Dubbed the ‘Red White…
Read MoreIn a new wave of patent submissions, British Airways are perhaps going back on their original herringbone concept that they submitted last year. The patent, filed last year but only recently published, shows off a wave of innovative seating arrangements. Whilst most of the patent references the seating configuration rather than the seats themselves, there are…
Read MoreFlight: TP85 Aircraft Type: A330-200 Class: ‘Previous Generation’ Business Class Route: LHR-GRU Flight time: 9:50 Seat: 2F Date: October 2015 http://www.flytap.com Best for: Passengers flying between Europe and South America. A high proportion of passengers on short haul flights connect on to Long haul flights. The crowd: Trans-European base – with a few Brazilian fliers too. Mix of leisure fliers and business travellers. Business…
Read MoreLufthansa have been working on a new premium economy product for the past few years and have just announced they are to be introduced into their long haul fleet. Seen globally as a huge success since the invention from Virgin Atlantic, in 1992, many airlines now offer a class between economy and business class, as…
Read MoreLast year, we covered Thomas Cook’s new brand image, and it seems the carrier has now brought their interior cabin offering in line with their new brand. The new cabin brings the charter airline’s hard product inline with mainline carriers economy cabins. New food offerings, inflight entertainment and seats are going to make the journeys from…
Read MoreOur TheDesignAir Top 10 lists have undergone a revamp in 2014, and to aid transparency, our top 10 airlines will now have their rating out of 100 shown, as voted for and calculated by our judging panel. This month we cover our top 10 premium economy classes. With airlines investing more into their new mid-cabin classes, competition is…
Read MoreWith the world cup soon approaching, national airlines around the world are getting into the spirit and supporting their local teams. Here’s a recap of some of the special liveries over the past few weeks – how many have you seen? Let us know! Brussels Airlines ‘Red Devils’ Brussels Airlines went to town with their…
Read MoreLiveries around the world are the calling cards for hundreds of different airlines. For some they are the passengers only interaction with the brand image of the airline, so as they park up at the gates of airports globally, they need to be able to communicate the values and concepts that each airline brand stands for.…
Read MoreWe were lucky enough to be invited to the official press unveiling of Heathrow’s brand new Terminal today, and the launch of the new ‘SlipStream‘ Artwork by Richard Wilson, which sits proudly in front of the building in a covered walkway connecting the rest of Heathrow and Terminal 2’s new car park to the…
Read MoreQatar Airways has announced the launch of a new daily all premium Business Class service from its hub in Doha to London Heathrow today. Mirroring the product currently run by British Airways from London City Airport. The new service will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, commencing from 15 May 2014,…
Read MoreQatar Business Class Over the past few weeks, Qatar Airways have announced a variety of new and upgraded products to add to their fleet. As their fleet has continued to grow, the airline has constantly invested into their onboard product, with such a variety of different aircraft, the business class product can vary dramatically, but…
Read MoreWith 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 MoreEvery designer’s idea of sheer panic is a blank sheet of paper. Imagine if this was given to you in the form of a completely empty A380 shell, and you were asked to create purely original ideas to fill it to the brim. It’s this blank piece of ‘metaphorical’ paper that was given to the…
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