Studio Spotlight: Designing the connections shaping aviation’s next era

Commercial aviation is evolving but faces challenges due to fragmentation among stakeholders. Teague addresses this by connecting systems and enhancing passenger experiences. By focusing on the “invisible seams” of design, Teague aims to create cohesive journeys through strategic problem-solving, prototyping, and integration, ensuring airlines and OEMs meet modern expectations effectively.

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Good things come in small packages. Meet Bermudair

You will be forgiven for not knowing of this new Bermuda-based startup, but it’s certainly going to be getting a lot of attention in the coming months. The airline has been a long time in the making. Bermudair actually comes from Adam Scott—the same CEO who wanted to start Odyssey, the all-business class airline that…

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SWISS is latest airline to launch new cabins similar to Lufthansa’s product – but the Swiss touch changes the cabin entirely.

It may not be first to the punch, but following on Lufthansa’s coattails, Swiss has revealed its own personalised ‘SWISS Senses’ air travel experience from 2025 onwards utilising exactly the same hardware as sister carrier Lufthansa. The centrepiece of the new customer product is a redesigned cabin for the airline’s long-haul aircraft fleet, which was…

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Delta kicks off 2022 with a new, more sustainable image

Delta is the latest airline to act upon its promises to become a more sustainable carrier in the future. While perhaps seen as small steps, by sheer volume, these amount to some substantial changes. Starting this month, the airline will refresh its onboard product offerings with artisan-made amenity kits, introduce recycled bedding, reusable and biodegradable…

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The need for space. Will airlines invest in social spaces once again?

Even non-aviation enthusiasts may have noticed that the skies look a little different today. As we head into another year since the pandemic first decimated commercial aviation, the large behemoth A380s and Queens of the skies – the Boeing 747 – are a rare sight at airports nowadays. Replaced by more economic and smaller long-haul…

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JetBlue’s new A220 features a sleek new cabin, mirroring the carrier’s latest fleet

JetBlue has just revealed the all-new onboard experience which will soon greet customers aboard the airline’s Airbus A220-300. It is the first of no less than 70 A220’s that JetBlue has on order, that was delivered to the airline’s home at John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 5 in New York on New Year’s Eve.…

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Qatar Airways launches elegant new special livery to celebrate the World Cup in 2022

For the foreseeable future, we’re going to be seeing fewer special liveries while airlines try to save cash and focus on a service return, so those rare few that do roll out will certainly garner some attention now. Qatar Airways is one of the first in this period to reveal a special livery, and naturally,…

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Vistara reveals its 787 interiors, with a true long-haul product

Vistara, India’s latest full-service carrier, unveiled its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (a first for India), which touched down in Delhi on 29 February 2020. While the plane is Vistara’s 40th to join the fleet, as the rest of the fleet are narrow-body aircraft, this arrival also brought with it, the airline’s new cabin products for…

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LATAM’s new South American narrow body ‘Premium Economy’ is everyone else’s Business Class, and we love them for it…

If you’ve ever travelled within Europe (excluding on Turkish Airlines) you’ve probably flown what is dubbed Euro Business. It’s a fairly simple concept of the first few rows of an otherwise fairly normal narrow-body jet becoming the carrier’s Business Class, which comes with all the bells and whistles of a Business Class ticket, including priority…

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Virgin Atlantic gets the Star Wars bug, alongside LATAM, with special livery aircraft

It’s a real battle of do you prefer the Dark Side or the rebel Alliance this week as Virgin Atlantic and LATAM both reveal special limited edition liveries to support the opening of Star Wars ‘Galaxy’s Edge’ experience at Walt Disney World Resort. While LATAM have showcased their stormtrooper themed 777, Virgin Atlantic have themed one…

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SAS reveal exciting new livery, going against the grain of some of its counterparts

It has been 21 years in the making, but SAS has just revealed a bold new livery for its aircraft that refreshes the current version with more depth, modernity and colour. The brand new visual identity and new design for its aircraft exterior is a refreshing take on a classic Scandinavian design. It “highlights the…

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Move over Star Trek. Could Airbus’ Bird of Prey inspire a future generation of engineers? We think it’s simply beautiful

Airbus has unveiled a stunning conceptual design for a new airliner that pushes the boundaries of technology and innovation with its bird-like appearance, created to inspire a new generation of aeronautical engineers. The design isn’t just a flight of fancy though, dubbed the ‘Bird of Prey’ due to wing and tail structures which mimic those…

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United Launches Refreshed Livery, Strengthening The Brand, But Not Exactly Setting The Skies Alight

Meet the new U.N.I.T.E.D… oh no wait, that’s just the unfortunate window/logotype placement. United have revealed their latest livery, not on one of the grounded 737 Max aircraft, but one of the 737-800’s with scimitar winglets. “The design is a visual representation of United’s ongoing brand evolution while staying true to the history it has…

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Virgin Atlantic Reveals A350 Interiors With Brand New Upper Class ‘Dream Suite’

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…

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Battle Of The Emerging ‘Boutique Airlines’

It’s a phrase that some airlines build their business model and service proposition on, but the ‘Boutique’ airline is a seemingly new airline type that will no doubt turn our heads a little more often than legacy carriers, but why is that? While La Compagnie has already built the strap-line ‘Boutique Airline’ into their marketing,…

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New Territory And Rockwell Collins To Introduce Refreshed MiQ Seats For Aeromexico

New Territory and Rockwell Collins have collaborated together to create a new regional business class seat for Aeromexico. The London based creative firm have taken Rockwell Collins existing MiQ module and added a new feeling of space and atmosphere to the short/mid-haul passenger experience.  The new seats will be installed across Aeromexico’s new fleet of Boeing 737 MAX…

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Lufthansa’s New Blue Livery Sadly Misses The Mark

Today saw Lufthansa launch its new livery in an event in Cape Town. While many will probably like this new clean, monochromatic paint scheme, we can’t help but feel a little disappointed to see such an iconic livery be literally whitewashed. Sure, almost all liveries grow on us with time, but that doesn’t stop us…

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Brussels Airlines Announces Fifth Special Livery Aircraft Addition To Fleet

Belgium seems to be the spawning ground of creativity, that is if Brussels Airlines has anything to do with it. The airline has announced the selection of their fifth special livery aircraft, this time from members of the public who were invited to design their latest aircraft livery. The winning design by Italian student Marta Mascellani…

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TAP Portugal Makes Small But Important Change to TAP Air Portugal

September 14th saw TAP Portugal return to its original brand ‘TAP Air Portugal’ in a bid to increase awareness of the brand as an airline outside of its core Portuguese market. The full name actually stands for “Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – Air Portugal” (roughly speaking the same name twice). The return to the use of…

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Airbus Reveals A380 Plus

It’s amazing what a winglet and a bit of a reshuffle in the cabin can do. Introducing the new Airbus A380plus. While the remodel includes a 4% reduction in fuel burn and a 13% decrease per seat, the aircraft manufacturer is touting no reduction in comfort, even though it is adding 80 extra seats. How…

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How Do You Bring Together Two Different Brands? You Celebrate Differences.

When Alaska and Virgin America, finally got the green light to merge, it gave rise to a lot of confused brand loyal travellers not knowing what the merger would mean. So Hornall Anderson stepped in to help explain how the different brands would work together through the transition, and work in partnership with Alaska Air for…

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Air Calédonie Receive First ATR 72-600 With Brand New Livery

Air Calédonie, the domestic airline of New Caledonia has just had a new ATR 72-600 delivered, this time sporting a brand new livery. You may not have heard of the South Pacific carrier, but its existed for over 60 years. Air Calédonie and ATR actually started a long-term partnership in 1986, when the first ATR 42…

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A Deeper Look Inside Aeromexico’s Dreamliner

TheDesignAir has had access to the full behind-the-scenes gallery of Aeromexico’s latest 787-9 aircraft which will eventually fly between Mexico City and the carrier’s worldwide destinations. Designed by New Territory, the new business cabin matches our expectations of a leading international airline. Check out our full gallery below or check out our previous story here. The colour palette…

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Aeromexico Brings New Self-Serve Bar & All-Aisle Access To 787-9 Business Class

Aeromexico has taken delivery of it’s new 787-9 and with it, a brand new Clase Premier product designed for the long-haul routes the aircraft will fly. Adorned with the Quetzalcoatl one-off livery which we covered earlier this month, the aircraft will delight and surprise its passengers both outside and now inside too. With the airline currently offering…

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Crystal Cruises 777 Is Set To Elevate ‘Air-Cruise’ Travel To New Heights

Crystal Cruises may not be the first airline we have covered to rethink branded jets for hospitality and cruise operators. In fact, we covered the Four Seasons jet a year and a half ago, but it seems Crystal cruises doesn’t want to be outdone, taking a 777 to a whole new dimension of comfort for…

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C-3PO Will Fly For The First Time Courtesy Of ANA

ANA announced today that it will reveal another new Star Wars themed aircraft to its fleet, adding to its three existing planes that have Star Wars characters as livery. The latest droid to grow wings is C-3PO, one of the only characters to be featured in every single Star Wars film so far. As part of the…

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The Waterfront Seat Could Be The Next Big Step In Airline Passenger Seating

The Aircraft Interiors Expo may have come to a close this year, but the event, like every year, shows the very best of the best of aircraft seating and cabin enhancements. 2016 may have brought a variety of new seats to the market and obviously the acclaimed Airbus Airspace cabin, but there was one stand…

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British Airways Expanding Gatwick Long-Haul Fleet

British Airways will bring a fourth three-class 777 to London Gatwick this winter, meaning the carrier will have a 12 strong fleet of long haul aircraft based at the second busiest airport in London. The extra aircraft will mean the airline can also launch its three times a week service to Cape Town, supplementing its already…

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New Airspace Cabin By Airbus Offers Clean Lines And Larger Cabins

The modular nature of an aircraft interior fit out always used to bug the OCD in us. Window panels and overhead bins not aligning, PSUs not perfectly spaced. Lavatories and cupboards that jutted at awkward non-sensical dimensions from the cabin walls. However, we have found our Zen here at TheDesignAir, in the form of Airbus’s…

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Brussels Airlines Brings Magritte To The Surrealist Skies

Today saw the unveiling of Brussels Airlines second special livery from a Belgian artistic icon. This time it was René Magritte whose likeness was brought to life on an A320 for the Belgian carrier. Following in the footsteps of Rackham, the Tintin aircraft that the Belgian airline unveiled last year, “Magritte” will grace the skies for an…

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