Air China has just announced it will bring a brand new Business Class seat to 10 of its A350s. While the carrier has a diverse selection of business class seats depending on which aircraft you are travelling on – the latest A350 seats might not be the most spacious, but they might just be the…
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British Airways has just launched ‘BA Better World’, its new sustainability programme. While many airlines have already got active sustainability programmes, the airline said this marked a further commitment to put sustainability at the heart of its business. It has ambitions from reducing emissions and waste and positively contributing to the communities it serves, to creating a great place for people to…
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Virgin Atlantic has just revealed its latest social space found on the final five A350’s that will be delivered for the carrier. Instead of ‘The Loft’ – the social space found on its first wave of A350’s – the last few Airbus aircraft to be delivered have been configured for the carrier’s leisure routes. This…
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Plaza Premium Group has announced its plans for its second foray in to the South American market, this time in Sao Paulo. The opening of Plaza Premium’s latest lounge in mid-September in Brazil’s Guarulhos International Airport Terminal 2 is apparently just one more step on the brand’s ambition to open more lounges in the future…
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Air France has just opened an exciting new lounge space dedicated to Business Class travellers and Flying Blue Elite Plus members travelling through the airline’s short and medium-haul Schengen network. It’s no small affair, as this lounge is one of the airline’s largest, with a surface area of no less than 3,000 sq. m. catering to 570 seats…
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All attention this week might have been on JetBlue’s much anticipated entry in to the TransAtlantic race, but with it came a nifty little amenity for passengers in coach that we absolutely love. Developed in collaboration with JetBlue – Formia, the international guest amenity and hospitality specialist – the new kits are now available on the airline’s highly anticipated transatlantic…
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AVIC Cabin Services is more than just AIM altitude and Thompson Aero Seating, however those will be more familiar names than Jiatai. However, it’s one company and part of the group not to be overlooked. Jiatai’s new JT220B Business Class and JT220E Economy Class seats are a result of the company’s strategy, supported by ACS,…
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United Airlines, now profitable once again has firmly set its stall as a leading Passenger Experience airline, vying for market dominance through modern, comfortable cabins that give passengers what they want: more space, more entertainment and more choice. This is something we applaud and have been promoting as the right approach to winning over customer…
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SWISS has now joined the ranks of its fellow Lufthansa Group airlines in offering Premium Economy, which will supplement its existing Economy, Business and First classes of travel from the fourth quarter of this year. Interestingly the airline has opted for a fixed-backshell seat which usually gets a bad rap for passenger comfort although it…
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Today marks the opening of Delta’s brand new Delta Sky Club situated in Terminal 2 of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It is part of a multi-year multi-million dollar renovation project at the airport. The space is clearly designed for a post-COVID world, with soaring floor-to-ceiling windows with runway views, thoughtful interior touches and artwork from…
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Like many things in the aviation industry, there are always one or two major suppliers in most cases dominating the industry, whether its Boeing or Airbus, Rolls Royce or GE and within business class seats let’s face it, Collins Aerospace or Safran, but there are just as capable competitors on the fringe. Recaro and Thompson…
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We’ve been drowning in a sea of short-term hygiene messages across the last year as airlines have rapidly ‘masked up’ in order to win over what little passenger volume there has been. Today’s passengers have been assaulted by marketing imagery of planes being scrubbed within an inch of their life, crew in body suits and…
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Last week, Airbus opened its paint hangar doors in Mirabel and let us peek inside where the latest aircraft is being painted for Air Canada. Instead of the usual black and white ‘Raccoon mask’ livery that Air Canada is now sporting across its fleet, the airline has opted to nod to its history, revealing its…
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Airbus is soon to bring its first A320 family Airspace cabin to the market thanks to JetBlue’s new A321 which will be flying in just a few months’ time. Airbus has just recently started flight testing of the first Airspace Single-Aisle aircraft. A second phase of in-flight testing will take place in February to validate…
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Hot on the heels of its Vantage Solo design (now being manufactured by Thompson Aero Seating), London-based Factorydesign has revealed details about its mid-market hybrid business class seat for narrow body long-haul aircraft. Trying to navigate the economics and ergonomics of a premium product on a narrow body aircraft proves one of the most difficult…
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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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TAP Portugal is well known as one of the cheapest Star Alliance carriers, however, with the addition of its new Airbus Neo fleet, the aging business class cabin (albeit comfortable) has been given a new lease of life thanks to brand new Recaro seats.
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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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WestJet might not be the first brand that comes to mind when announcing a new Flagship lounge considering its half-dozen fleet of long-haul aircraft. But the airline is certainly looking to craft a niche for itself as the airline of choice for Canadian travellers. Dubbed ‘Elevation’, WestJet’s new lounge in Calgary spans more than 9,300…
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2020 has seen the rule book thrown out of the window. Carriers that have adapted quickly will see the largest market share in 2021. While many airlines continue to struggle just to survive day-to-day, some have taken this as an opportunity to level the playing field. While clear regional battles are at play across Asia,…
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In the second of our Flygge series, we turn our eyes to Qantas. ‘Flygge’, a wordplay on Hygge – the Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment – is TheDesignAir’s name for this new emerging airline trend where brands are now becoming a part…
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Qantas has just released a gift packages that can be sent directly to the doors of people doing it tough in lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis. In something we predicted airlines would start to do in our Covid White Paper, the carrier is turning some of its excess stock of pyjamas, amenity kits and snacks in…
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Unless you’ve had your head under a rock, you might have noticed that airlines are struggling to survive right now. Their entire model is based on free movement between destinations, a right that has since been rescinded by the global governments who are trying to get a grip on the pandemic. As such, airlines are…
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While Finnair isn’t the first carrier to introduce a hygiene amenity kit, as of tomorrow passengers will be able to enjoy this simple complimentary addition to their passenger experience. While other airlines have brought a variety of kits out, what makes Finnair stand out is the fact that this kit is sustainable, with a focus…
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Last week saw the announcement of Virgin Atlantic’s return to service, with first flights taking wing on the 20th July to Orlando and Hong Kong, with New York (JFK) Los Angeles and Shanghai following suit the very next day. Following destinations will be announced in the following week for flights commencing at the start of…
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Factorydesign certainly hasn’t let Covid-19 stifle its creative streak. In yet another innovative concept, this time aimed more at the LCC model, the London based design studio has created yet another confidence-inducing personal shield which has application beyond the cover-19 pandemic. Based on the mental and physical comfort considerations that cautious travellers are considering, the…
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The addition of ‘Wellbeing Kits’ to flights might not be a brand new idea, but over the past few weeks, launches of these new amenities have certainly been a welcome addition in the airline’s arsenal to help empower passengers over their own hygiene and sanitisation. Roll over Naomi Campbell, who last year – with her…
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TheDesignAir is pleased to share a free-to-download White paper on the ‘Future of Travel’, reflecting on the changes to the passenger experience post-Covid19. Founder of the site, Jonny Clark, explores gradual shifts and changes we can expect to see across the airline industry, both on the ground and in the skies. The major changes we…
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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…
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As the phrase goes, “good things come in small packages.” In 2018, the airline industry carried 4.4billion passengers. It has become an integral part of human life, but it’s also an industry of behemoth players. In fact, in 2018, the top 10 airline groups transported over one third of the entire annual traffic, leaving the…
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