Qantas seem to be grabbing all the press this week, their latest release is to mark the launch of their brand new uniform for their cabin crew being rolled out in early 2014. Designed by Australian designer Martin Grant, “The new uniform speaks of Australian style on the global stage.” says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. The…
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Qantas won Lounge of the Year at Thedesignair last year, and quite rightly so. It now seems they are fighting to win yet another year with this latest lounge, based in Singapore Changi airport. Qantas International CEO, Simon Hickey, said the new lounge showcased the experiences and cuisine of Singapore. “The Singapore Lounge has been designed to…
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Meet Jordan’s latest airport. ‘The Queen Alia International Airport’ for Amman. Now officially open, this is the very latest architecture project to open in the area. Designed by countless award winning Foster + Partners, the new terminal heralds a new beginning for the airport, turning it into a competitive hub, fighting for passenger traffic between…
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Today, British Airways broadcast on its social networking sites, “A Big British Flashmob” to promote their new Moscow route. BA partnered with VisitBritain to promote the new flights, flown on their 747. This is cleverly timed, due to competition from low cost carrier easyJet, who have also won the rights to the route. The video,…
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When The Wing went under renovations late 2010, there were enough other lounges to accommodate their current passengers at Hong Kong’s International Airport. So perhaps most premium guests actually forgot about Cathay Pacific’s crown jewel. Luckily though, launched last week, is the brand new ‘The Wing’. Covering just under 1,700 sq meters, this a phenomenally…
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So Thedesignair has been a little quiet recently, apologies, but safe to say we are back up and running at full steam as before. Here’s a small recap over what’s happened in the last 7 days away from the blog. From reporting on EX-YU Aviation news regarding some Ex-Yugoslavian airline brands, through to writing for UK’s…
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Virgin America have just announced the launch of ‘The Loft’, their LAX Lounge which has finally been opened in LAX’s Terminal 3. The Loft will be a pleasant change from the slightly drab terminal waiting area security side, and offers a contemporary eco-friendly, if not a little sparse environment to relax before boarding your flight.…
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Congratulations to Gail Farmer from Birmingham who successfully won the competition for a pair of champagne experience lounge passes to the No.1 Traveller Lounges. She told thedesignair.net she was going to be using them at the brand new Birmingham lounge. Everyone is a winner! The No.1 Traveller lounges are actually running a great promotion at…
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Virgin America Economy Class Report Flight: VX290 Aircraft Type: A320 Class: Economy Class (Main Cabin Express) Route: LAX – CUN Date: 06th November 2012 Best for: Cheap tickets to cool destinations, with less emphasis on cheap, more on chic. Most likely to sit next to: If you were me, slightly larger Americans laden with neck pillows, that didn’t get the memo that…
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Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Report Flight: VS023 Aircraft Type: A340-600 Class: Upper Class (Premium Business Class) Route: LHR – LAX Date: 02nd November 2012 Best for: Someone at home on the red-carpet… or an extra from ‘Made in Chelsea’. Most likely to sit next to: Fashion designers, Graphic Designers, Fergie and anyone with a second home in the Hollywood hills. Business…
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Virgin Atlantic have now finished their £100million upgrade of their Upper Class Experience, with the launch of their final renovation of the clubhouses, the Newark Lounge. Pieced together by the same creatives, Slade Architecture, that made the JFK Clubhouse, which ranked Number 2 in our Top 10 Lounges 2012, this clubhouse is leaps and bounds…
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This month we feature our Top 10 Lounges 2012. Competition is getting tough, as lounges are constantly improving year on year, but our selections are based on product offering, design aesthetic, unique offerings and synergy with the respective airline’s brand. Let’s commence with Number 10… 10. Emirates First Class Lounge, Dubai (DXB) A wine…
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Win Two exclusive lounge passes to start your trip with a bang! Here at Thedesignair we are very pleased to announce our very first of many upcoming competitions. We have partnered up with the fantastic No.1 Traveller group to provide a pair of ‘champagne experience’ lounge passes to use in any of the No.1 Traveller lounges. We…
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No.1 Traveller, which has been running for over 6 years now launches it’s brand new lounge tomorrow as we mentioned back in July. Opening 31st October, this is no scary affair. A wonderfully appointed 4,500 sq.ft lounge, as designed by Inside Out Architecture is exactly what the expanding-and-dramatically-improving Birmingham Airport needs. A double story lounge,…
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Fancy eating your food under Gollum’s giant swooping hand as he tries to reach for Sweet Tasty Fishes? Ordinarily we would say no, but we are in love with this amazing 13 metre long installation of perhaps the most famous of the Lord of The Rings characters. Gollum returns to Wellington Airport this year, no…
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Next year will see the demise of the almost 19 hour flight that connects Singapore to Newark, New York as flown by Singapore Airlines A340-500 series aircraft. It’s not that the route isn’t doing well, it’s because Singapore are trading in their ageing models to be used against the purchase of 5 new A380’s and…
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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…
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Now I have a feeling this is going to be a “Marmite/Vegimite” of liveries. You are either going to love it, or hate it. But Fiji Airways rebranding gets a big thumbs up from TheDesignAir. When first mentioned on TheDesignAir we highlighted the fact that Fiji was going back to it’s roots with it’s new name.…
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Streuth! It’s hard not to report about the Virgin group of airlines right now, as they just keep on doing things right. We, here at TheDesignAir love this brand new commercial from Virgin Australia. Turn up your speakers, sit back and enjoy! Slick, clean, and super retro, they are really trying to hark back to the…
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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…
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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…
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Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Report Flight: VS043 Aircraft Type: B747-400 Class: Upper Class (Premium Business Class) Route: LGW – LAS Date: 18th September 2012 Best for: Style-conscious gadget-lovers and movie stars. Most likely to sit next to: Someone that either has been in a movie, owns a media company or is equally as cool as…
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It seems the long-gone era of glamorous travel is fast diminishing, due to technological advances in the industry. Passengers are losing their connection to the airlines that they fly with, airlines are losing the communication points they used to have. ‘Tea? Coffee?” might be the only two words that a passenger could hear from their…
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There has been a bit of excitement running through the net recently of Apple’s impending iPhone launch, and with it, iOS 6, the new operating system, hosting a plethora of nifty new now-must-have-apps. The most important, and perhaps exciting to hit the airline industry is Passbook. Passbook seems to be a relatively nifty idea, sorting…
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Today, 09 September 2012, marks the news of one of the industry’s most influential CEOs stepping down from his position as CEO of Virgin Atlantic. Steve Ridgeway started his career with Virgin Atlantic in 1989 when he was appointed Managing Director of the industry’s first automated frequent flyer programme, Virgin Freeway. In 1994, he was…
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So, for those of you who have been following my posts will probably be expecting this report. It’s safe to say I’ve been confident that a ‘Virgin America’ product would end up over in Europe, recently covering such a concept in this Report. Virgin Atlantic have launched a 3 times daily return connection between Heathrow…
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Raising the question ‘Will we ever learn?’ Hong Kong Airlines seems to have dropped it’s premium flights between Hong Kong and London Gatwick, only months after starting them. Add this to the recent news that the all-business class Singapore Airlines flights between Singapore and JFK now offer economy seating in them to bolster yields as…
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So if you haven’t heard about the fairly radical new uniform for Virgin America, being launched across their fleet 8th August this year, here’s a cool behind the scenes look at their new uniform, designed by San Fran neighbours Banana Republic. It’s great to see the attention of detail that goes into the design of…
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Changi Airport has just revealed the brand new ‘poetic’ art installation at their check-in hall in Terminal 1. Named ‘Kinetic Rain’, it is now the world’s largest (and possibly most complicated) moving art sculpture. 1,216 bronze droplets connected to computer-controlled motors create waves, shapes and random patterns that constantly change the halls interior similar to the…
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California Pacific Airlines might be a little upstart airline in the Californian sun compared to its rather large legacy competitors, however, the Californian’s do like the underdog. And with that in mind, look at how big Apple is today… perhaps this airline with very small roots could shoot up to become a bit of a…
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