We were lucky today to be given an exclusive tour of one Hawaiian Airlines‘ two new A330 aircraft, parked at the gate at Honolulu airport. Just a few weeks old the latest aircraft to join the fleet, Keoe, showcases the brand new interior that will soon be introduced to the entire A330 fleet. Set to…
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Holy smokes, another safety video from Air New Zealand? Hell, why not? The previous, dubbed “Safety Old School Style” features America’s sweetheart comedienne Betty White and a cast of golden oldies. Past Air New Zealand safety video hits have included the Hobbit-themed ‘An Unexpected Briefing’, ‘Fit to Fly’ starring fitness guru Richard Simmons and more recently…
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In a roll out across the 777 fleet, and part of the ‘Best & Beyond’ service and product renovation project, Air France have finally caught up with their international competitors by offering fully flat seating in their business class cabins. The seating may look familiar, being adopted the world round for it’s successful mix of…
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JAL has just announced an industry first, bringing even more comfort to the skies in their first class cabin. Originally the airline used tempur mattresses and pillows in their first class cabin, but after response from their passengers flying in their business class cabin, the airline has rolled out the already established ‘airweave’ mattress and…
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Our friends at Hawaiian have just released a video time-lapse of the painting of their very first ATR. Whilst we announced this a while ago, secretly we’ve been waiting for the chance to see this livery for real. The new aircraft are absolutely stunning and are yet another winning livery for the pacific –…
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At thedesignair.net we are great fans of Cathay Pacific’s product. The seamless experience is effortless and well considered. From their onboard product to their lounges, attention to detail seems paramount, and it’s this design ethos that has put them at the top of the Lounges 2013. We take a closer look at their lounges, and…
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Co-written by Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com Hybrid low-cost carrier Skymark – Japan’s third largest airline – turned heads in early 2011 when it announced an order for six A380 superjumbo’s which will feature only 394 seats in a premium two-class configuration: 114 angled lie-flat Business seatss on the upper deck and 280 ‘shell-style’ Premium Economy seats on the lower deck. Skymark…
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Sister Airline to the award winning Cathay Pacific; Dragonair, the regional / medium-haul carrier has just announced its cabin offerings to lift the airline’s level of luxury. The most recent announcement is the launch of their First Class offering. If the seat looks familiar, that is because it is identical to Cathay Pacific’s new long-haul…
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A question I am constantly asked by Captains since I became a pilot was “Why the move from a creative industry to one that is so technical?” I always smile when I’m asked that question. I tell my flight deck companion to open their eyes and look outside. “You think there is no creativity, look…
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Royal Brunei, when we reported on their new livery and look a while ago, didn’t inspire us too much, their artists impressions made the aircraft look flat and badly proportioned. Now we like to think they saw our comments and made a few tweaks, but realistically, we know that the aircraft reality and artists impressions can…
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It’s definitely that time of the year, when Christmas comes a calling, and airlines around the world try to work out one way of celebrating one of the busiest times of year. From Fantasia styled liveries through to Dancing cabin crew or Santa in a box, here’s the three that are taking the net by storm right…
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Our good friends at Fiji Airways, winner of the best livery 2013 in our Top 10 Liveries have now extended their brand to the domestic and regional carrier Pacific Sun. Pacific Sun, since the new re-branding of Fiji’s International airline, has been at odds with the earthy colours and sophisticated cabins, although obviously the friendly and…
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This year there have been many new lounges appearing around the world. Each offering a unique level of luxury and identity that has meant a broad and interesting collection of spaces in a variety of spaces. Excellent spaces that didn’t make the list, but should still be commended, include Virgin America’s ‘The Loft‘ in LAX,…
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When we announced the launch of the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class product on the A330 we mentioned how much we loved the new bar designed by VW+BS, and recently they created a cool time-lapse video showing the design process over the period of 3 years. It’s a fascinating video, showing a natural evolution of the…
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Cathay Pacific have really pushed their investment into the passenger experience by launching last week their new ‘Bridge’ lounge. The 6th lounge to grace Hong Kong International airport sits alongside The Cabin (launched in 2010), The Arrival (launched 2008), The Pier (2001) and the recently updated ‘Wing’ (first launched in 1998) and of course their…
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Thanks to our antipodean friends at Australian Business Traveller, we have a few images to share from their news on the unveiling of Qantas’ latest Boeing-737 Aboriginal Painted Jet. The ‘Mendoowoorrji’ artwork is from the late Paddy Bedford, a famous West Australian Aboriginal artist, and specifically from his 2005 painting ‘Medicine Pocket’ and is different…
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It’s fairly well considered that being ‘green’, no matter how it’s marketed isn’t really a sexy subject manner. However, our friends, Virgin Atlantic have actually made a step in the right direction in making the notion of being green a cool concept. Some interesting figures have just come out, whereby the airline has revealed that it…
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Our friends, and one of our favourite airlines, Air New Zealand are no stranger to producing safety videos, in fact they produce a new one with alarmingly increasing regularity. The latest, dubbed “Safety Old School Style” features America’s sweetheart comedienne Betty White and a cast of golden oldies. Past Air New Zealand safety video hits have included…
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Last May, Japan AIrlines announced the airline was renovating the airline’s 767 cabin for its international routes. The first route will be first introduced on flights between Tokyo (Narita) and Vancouver from December 09, 2013 and following this, flights between Tokyo (Narita) and Kuala Lumpur from January 2014. The airline also plans to expand this new service…
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As part of Cathay Pacific‘s continued redevelopment and enhancement of their in-flight offering, the airline announced today the launch of their new business class amenity kit for flights to and from Hong Kong. In a move familiar around the world, the airline has partnered with a beauty house, this time featuring products from Jurlique, a…
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Edelweiss last month announced the launch of its new cabin offerings that will be on it’s long haul A330 fleet as of end of May next year. Both the A330-300 and A330-200 will be refitted to offer a more state-of-the-art experience for it’s long haul operations, featuring a completely new business class cabin, economy cabin…
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Air France has made a “Best&Beyond” promise to change it’s ways recently, shaking off some of the history it has steeped up over the years, and add a more contemporary ‘luxury’ feel to the airline. The French legacy carrier, like Lufthansa and British Airways, is fast becoming another bastion of European ‘luxury refined’ travel. Each…
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We are great fans of Marc Newson and what he is achieving at Qantas with regards to design. The lounges in Sydney are spectacular (and won our Top 10 Lounges last year) and his attempts at pulling the fleet into the 21st century have been very successful. (perhaps in part due to the competition arisen…
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There are some airline names that we don’t ever really pretend to understand, such as Peach, Wizzair or Mango Airlines, but this latest food stuff name really takes the biscuit. Vanilla Air, the low cost outfit of ANA (sitting alongside sister airline Peach) has just been launched, looking more like the logo of a fabric conditioner…
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We reckon, unless you lived in the regions this airline flies to, you wouldn’t have heard of an airline with over 40 years of flying behind it. The national airline of Papua New Guinea has always been seen as an airline not of choice, but necessity. However, things have changed for Air Niugini with an update…
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British Airways Business Class Report Flight: BA2666 Aircraft Type: 737-400 Class: Business Class (Club Europe) Route: LGW – RAK Date: 02nd August 2013 Best for: Leisure Travellers who pick up a rash from low cost carriers. Most likely to sit next to: On this flight, most likely business executives using their airmiles to ship themselves and their entire family (including Nanny)…
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It seems August is the month to get married, if you live in New Zealand. Two Airlines, Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand are both promoting the fact they have people getting hitched at 40,000 ft this month. Both have gone for new record breaking statistics… Fiji Airways To mark its brand launch, Fiji Airways,…
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Emirates has always been a luxurious airline, and their first class is amongst one of the best in the skies, so no surprise that they have decided to include the award winning first class suite in their new executive jet. Many airlines have taken to providing an executive jet service, from Qatar Airways to Lufthansa,…
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Only a day after JetBlue announced their new premium trans-continental product launch including mini-suites, Delta have announced their new premium trans-continental US service onboard their 757 fleet. All in all, they have pulled out the big guns, and with American yet to reveal their new cabin product, the gloves, most certainly are off. Way to…
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JetBlue, New York’s ‘Homegrown airline’ has released on their video channel a sneak peek of what we can expect on their new fleet of A321’s coming out in 2014, which will be flying the transcontinental East Coast – West Coast flights, competing with the likes of American, United, Delta and Virgin America who have all…
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