China Airlines, one of our new favourite carriers, has just announced it will be upgrading it’s European routes of Amsterdam, Rome and Vienna with the new A350 aircraft which it is set to receive within a couple of months. Not only China Airlines roll out the new metal on the routes, it has made all…
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British Airways have just refurbished the Club World Galleries South lounge in T5A, just a couple of weeks after they refurbished their First Lounge in T5. A new furniture layout has been created in the lounge to enhance individual seating and increase privacy through the use of screens and high backed chairs. As part of…
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Australia’s Gold Coast is set to receive a very contemporary new terminal ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Construction is just about to start on a new terminal building which will rise to three stories tall and feature 4 jet bridges. With over 6 million passengers a year, the airport is one of Australia’s largest…
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Today saw the grand reveal of Emirates new business class seats at the ITB fair in Berlin. The seats, which will be rolled out in November on the airline’s new 777-300ER aircraft, will replace the carrier’s now ageing angle lie-flat seats (although there are no plans to retrofit the seats on current aircraft. We covererd…
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3rd March saw the arrival of Singapore Airlines‘ new A350 airframe to Changi airport. Aviation fans celebrating the arrival which pulled onto stand with a traditional water cannon salute. But the first of 67 A350’s for the carrier signals more than just the arrival of a new aircraft, it’s about renewing the airline’s fleet with some of…
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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,…
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London seems to be gaining a lot of new lounges this year, with OneWorld carriers Cathay Pacific and Qantas both giving a facelift to their ground operations. The Australia carrier announced last week that the next location for its flagship global lounge will be at Heathrow airport with construction to begin in September 2016. While T3 in…
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It’s no surprise that Emirates has finally announced that it is set to unveil its new Business Class seat for its Boeing new 777 aircraft at ITB Berlin, the international travel trade show which takes place in just a couple of days time. After just launching the world’s longest route on a 777 from Dubai to Auckland,…
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JetBlue has recently revealed a new range of accessories to join the airline’s current capsule uniform wardrobe. In a bid to continue their humanitarian efforts, the new accessories help charities chosen by the cabin crew. Featuring a range of multi-coloured ribbons, reflecting the carriers chosen charities, the crew are able to donate a part of…
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It just keeps getting better. Hawaiian Airlines has partnered once again with Pow! Wow! to create a brand new mobile masterpiece that can be seen driving around Honolulu Airport, delivering catering to the airline’s fleet of aircraft. To continue the airline’s support of local and International artists, the airline commissioned Hawai’i and Japan’s top street artists…
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Francophile aviation fans beware, Air France updated its very clever and highly informative website Air France La Saga microsite back in December last year, and this month saw the introduction of their latest story on the carrier’s iconic 747 aircraft that left the fleet in January. The site is dedicated to Air France’s heritage and…
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Swiss last month took delivery of their 777-300ER and revealed their newest lounges, but last week the carrier also released a video on YouTube, which showcases the many faces of the airline. We are in love with the new video, which is beautifully shot and edited. It may be 5 minutes-something long but it’s well worth a…
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Most people may not know, but the first Airline lounge was actually created by American Airlines back in 1939. Since then, lounges have come full circle to be some of the most opulent and premium branded spaces around the world. It’s no surprise then that the founder of the airside lounge has decided to invest…
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British Airways today announced the refurbishment to the airline’s First lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 eligible to First customers and Gold Executive Club members. The announcement comes just weeks after the announcement of their new Singapore lounge design. The new interiors will include “new contemporary and stylish furniture throughout the lounge, plush new carpets, re-sanded, waxed…
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British Airways this week announced they will start flying from Stansted to four sunshine routes starting May 28th. This will be the fourth major London airport the carrier will fly from, including Heathrow and Gatwick and London City, leaving only London Luton currently unserved by the carrier. The airlines latest route network, operated by BA Cityflyer’s…
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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…
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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…
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Saudia this week received their first two 787-9 Dreamliners which is scheduled to start passenger operation in February. The new interiors are designed by Honour Branding, who also worked as part of the Etihad Design Consortium that brought the Etihad 787-9 Dreamliners to life (the only other Middle East carrier to currently operate the model).…
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Starting this month passengers on XiamenAir may notice they are being served by cabin crew wearing entirely new threads. The new uniforms for men will join the women’s uniforms that were launched May last year. Designed by famous Taiwanese fashion designer Jamei Chen, the new male uniforms for include off tailored silhouettes that hark back to the JetSet…
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Qantas has just launched a brand new safety video that showcases Australia in all its natural glory. From an oxygen mask demonstration at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart to a life-jacket demonstration at Bondi Icebergs, the video will be introduced across Qantas’ domestic and international fleet from today, as well as featuring…
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SWISS is the latest airline to take delivery of a brand new 777-300ER and yesterday they showed off the new aircraft to members of the media. Our reporter Sven Hennig was there to take a look at what we think is the latest ‘designer’ aircraft interior by London based Priestmangoode. In total, Swiss International Air Lines will…
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The Boeing 737 MAX 8 flew for the first time yesterday in Seattle as the aircraft manufacturer makes its final stretch to get the aircraft program into the skies. The 737 MAX program achieved this milestone on schedule which begins a comprehensive flight-test program leading to certification and delivery. The aircraft is the first to utilise the latest…
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Just last week, XiamenAir, a SkyTeam member, opened up its new ‘Flagship’ lounge in Xiamen Airport Terminal 3, for its premium customers, in a bid to become another formidable international player in the Chinese market. The new designer led lounge follows the recent international expansion plans, including the upcoming Cebu, Melbourne and Vancouver routes for…
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Yesterday we announced that Dragonair was going to change its brand to Cathay Dragon in a bid to align itself with Cathay Pacific and while the general reaction has been similar to ours in thinking that the livery looks familiar to Qantas or Turkish Airlines (or at least from afar), we have taken a closer look…
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Cathay Pacific today announced that DragonAir will cease to exist, instead the sister airline to Cathay Pacific will be rebranded as Cathay Dragon. In a press release announced today, Cathay Pacific’s Chief Executive Ivan Chu said “In aligning the Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon brands, we will create a more seamless journey for customers, enabling us to…
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Today, JetBlue showed off the first renderings of their restyled cabin which “will enhance the JetBlue experience to meet the needs of travellers today”, including a greater focus on connectivity, comfort, and space. This marks JetBlue’s first complete redesign of the interiors on its A320 fleet since it launched in 2000 and the differences, while perhaps…
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Alaska Airlines revealed a brand new look to an airline brand that has remained virtually unchanged for 25 years. The new refreshed look comes a couple of years after the airline refreshed it’s iconic wordmark to make it more legible, removing the strikethrough that the letter K created. The new brand was launched in a maintenance…
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Air Canada last week opened a new Business Class check-in area in Toronto Pearson for their Business Class, Premium Economy, Premium Rouge and Alititude top tier fliers as well as gold members of Star Alliance. The area has been designed to offer a more relaxed environment for their premium passengers to check-in, including lounge seating,…
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TAP Portugal today hinted at a brand new future for their long haul fleet, based on two new A330 aircraft that will join the fleet. It is fairly easy to distill as the future vision of the rest of the long haul fleet. Visuals released yesterday match the exact photos used by Azul to showcase…
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JAL today announced a wave of improvements to their fleet and flight frequencies that will reach both domestic and international skies in 2016. The wave of improvements include the addition of premium economy to a host of destinations, expanding their current JAL Sky Suite aircraft and the introduction of a regional business class product to their new…
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