United Economy Report Flight: UA1717 Aircraft Type: B767-400 Class: Economy (Coach) Route: HNL – SFO Date: 26th September 2012 Best for: ‘Blandalised’ travelers, looking for a cheap seat, and nothing else. Most likely to sit next to: (on this route) An aging surfer dreaming of times gone by, or an armada of Japanese tourists. Business…
Read MoreA First Look At Island Air In Hawaii
Lucky enough to be in O’ahu right now during the arrival of Island Air‘s new turboprop sent over from the mainland. This image, as seen on their facebook profile shows the aircraft resting after a just over 8 hour flight from the mainland from its previous owner American Eagle. This commences the start of the…
Read MoreIsland Air’s New Brand
Hawaii’s second longest running airline Island Air has just launched a new look for its fleet and website. Bright and colourful isn’t something new to the airline, the brand has always had fun liveries, however this feels a lot more considered and professional whilst maintaining it’s bright ‘Aloha’ spirit. The lei (garland of flowers) logo…
Read MoreCould This Be The Start Of The Mile-high Club Dating Site?
Now, the Dutch are forward thinkers, and innovative, and have recently pushed a new scheme onboard based on your facebook or linkedin accounts. You are now able to sit next to like minded individuals as selected by certain parameters on your likes and information stored on your profile. Obviously this sounds like a great idea, especially if…
Read MoreTheDesignAir Top 10 Liveries 2012
10. Tahiti Nui This livery is great in it’s natural habitat of the colours of the pacific. It’s a naturally warm and modern livery that encapsulates the natural wonders of the Pacific islands. It has clean bold lines and shapes that elegantly follow the shape of the plane whilst also incorporating more fluid and subtle…
Read MoreAbout
Since founding thedesignair.net in 2012, Jonny Clark has collaborated with magazines and websites around the world, and has become a recognised source of opinion in the airline industry. thedesignair.net continues to grow in its second year and has now partnered with some prestigious brands around the world, whilst still maintaining an easy-to-digest design-led website based…
Read MoreJetBlue adds refreshed Mint amenities in preparation for its Trans-Atlantic flights
JetBlue – in a bid to fully refresh its competitively priced fully-flat bed Mint product – has announced its first major refresh of its JetBlue Mint service. While we know that the airline will be launching London flights in Q3 2021 with an all-new (and very exciting) new hard product, it was about time the…
Read MoreUnited’s New Uniform Is Launched, And It’s Certainly… Bold.
Nope, this isn’t the press shot from the latest Star Trek franchise, these are the new threads that will adorn 70,000 employees across United’s operations. The new designs follow last year’s announcement of their new partnerships with Tracy Reese, Brooks Brothers and Carhartt. Focusing on high quality fabrics, improved breathability and overall enhanced fit, United’s…
Read MoreANA Reveals New Lounge In Honolulu, Specifically Designed For A380
ANA have revealed the next stage of their unique A380 Flying Honu service between Japan and Honolulu. Honolulu’s Ewa concourse is going to see a brand new lounge featuring an ornate carved wooden tree ceiling, specifically for ANA with direct lounge access to the aircraft for their Business and First Class passengers. As well as…
Read MoreANA Shows Off New Flying Honu A380 Interior Product
ANA announced the features of Japan’s first Airbus A380, launching in spring 2019. This aircraft will be introduced on ANA’s Tokyo – Honolulu service, and each cabin is specially designed to meet the passenger’s needs on this very bespoke route. Honolulu is loved by many Japanese families, couples, newlyweds, and Hawaii is a popular destination for…
Read MoreANA Reveals Design For Largest Flying Animal Livery, Ever
Meet the world’s first Flying Honu. As part of ANA’s competition to design a special one off livery for their new A380, the winner has been selected to celebrate the Tokyo-Honolulu route that the aircraft will fly. The design will see the largest possible animal painted on a plane, far larger than the Alaska Airlines…
Read MoreGoing Behind The Scenes At Hornall Anderson For Their Alaska Rebrand
Alaska’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 MoreThe Best Of The Best In 2015 – TheDesignAir’s Round-up Of The Year
2015 has been an impressive year with many carriers taking advantage of the lowered oil prices to invest heavily into their passenger experience both on the ground and in the air. We take a look at the best carriers around the world that have caught our attention this year. We offer a retrospective of the…
Read MoreTheDesignAir’s Top 10 Cool Airline Brands 2015
This month TheDesignAir takes a look at everything that airlines should be. Airlines we want to travel with, and are going above and beyond to create something truly unique in the sky. Our judges have voted and, interestingly, our top 10 all fit within just a 6 percent margin, and, yet again, we haven’t been able to just fit in 10…
Read MoreCould This Be The End Of One Of The Prettiest TransAtlantic Liveries?
It was announced at the end of last week that little known Sata International may be undergoing a rebrand. The airline, also known as ‘Sata Air Azores’ is changing it’s image to become ‘Azores Airlines’. Shockingly, this rebrand of the airline is being announced 4 years after the incumbent design was released. Globally speaking, this still…
Read MoreThe Devil Is In The Detail
By Marisa Garcia | Engineers at Airbus’ A320 Family paint shop in Hamburg, Germany, just developed a unique methodology to radically improve the creative options available to airlines and brand managers by making it possible to directly print livery on the fuselage using inkjet printers–resulting in a faster and more efficient painting process which also allows…
Read MoreTRIP REPORT: Fiji Airways Business Class February 2014
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 MoreThe Evolution of the Design of Eurowhite Aircraft
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 MoreAir New Zealand’s New Livery Shows Cultural Roots Are Alive In The Pacific
The livery Air New Zealand is the latest airline to revisit and refresh their livery, in a recent flood of new livery designs. Their new livery (as announced earlier today by our antipodean friends at Australian Business Traveller) follows their original idea to change to an all-black tail and typeface treatment, something that they originally…
Read MoreAlaska’s Spirit Of The Islands
Alaska Airlines this week revealed it’s latest unique livery for it’s fleet, designed by 17 year old Aaron Nee. The design was part of a competition run by the airline to create a livery that ‘honored the culture of the Aloha State’. Nee’s design was selected from among more than 2,700 submissions by students across the…
Read MoreREPORT: Could This Be The Birth Of A New Clubhouse?
Air New Zealand has recently announced it will leave Terminal 2 at LAX to move to the TBIT terminal to sit with its Star Alliance partners. This is great news for Air New Zealand, allowing them the opportunity to design a brand new, modern lounge in the terminal, that will be used by its Star…
Read MoreAn Extra Inch Does Count With Alaskans
So Alaska Airlines has in been some pretty itchy territory in the past few weeks with reports that 10% of their cabin crew have complained their uniforms give them rashes and some have suffered hair loss. Alaska have been quick to remedy the situation by offering alternative uniforms to all affected. The good news for the…
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