Plaza Premium opens two new lounges in Toronto Pearson International Airport

Plaza Premium has continued its expansion in The Americas with two new lounges, open in Toronto’s main International Airport, YYZ. As well as a pre-departures ‘Concept’ lounge, situated in Terminal 1, the pay-for lounge company has created an impressive new Landmark lounge in the departures area of Terminal 3. The Concept lounge offers a convenient…

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TheDesignAir 2021 Award Winners Announced

After a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic, TheDesignAir is pleased to announce the return of its annual Airline Design awards. Celebrating the very best in airline passenger experience, brand and design across the globe, the awards – now in its 9th year – have once again bestowed its leading design airlines, new products and…

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Trip Report: Turkish Airlines’ A350 Business Class

Flight: TK193Aircraft Type: A350-900Class: Business ClassRoute: IST-GRUDate: October 2021 http://www.turkishairlines.com Turkish Airlines has continued to operate throughout the pandemic. In fact, it’s been one of the largest international carriers in Europe for the past 18 months. However, the pandemic also saw the full launch of its A350 operations, which headed to destinations such as Manila, Jakarta and Sao Paulo, meaning…

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American Express opens new Centurion Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3

With today’s announcement, American Express opens yet another Centurion Lounge this year, at London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Located in Terminal 3. This will be the brand’s first Centurion Lounge in Europe but American Express’ third Centurion Lounge to open this year. It’s no small lounge either. Spanning over 7,000 square feet (650 square meters), the…

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Air France introduces new A220-300 as backbone of medium-haul flying

Today saw Air France take delivery of its first Airbus A220-300, the company’s most modern aircraft in the fleet on its short and medium-haul network. The airline has been on a massive fleet renewal program since introducing the Airbus A350 on its long-haul network, and by 2025 it will have integrated the 60 A220-300s ordered…

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Air China’s A350 to be launch customer of new Recaro ‘Suites’

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 brings its sustainability programme to life with new Livery

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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Plaza Premium opens second lounge in South America, this time in Sao Paulo

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 opens Jouin Manku designed lounge for CDG’s Schengen travellers

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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JetBlue’s London launch brings with it new reusable amenity kits in economy

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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Jiatai bring new Economy and Business Class seats to the industry in partnership with Factorydesign

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 declares ‘Passenger Experience war’ against rivals with impressive new interiors

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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Opinion: Could Etihad become the Queen of Boutique Carriers post-pandemic?

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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Airbus’ impending A320 Airspace cabin gives airlines more opportunities to build branded experiences

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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Geven and Priestmangoode join forces on next generation of seats

Geven is working with UK design agency PriestmanGoode on a new family of next-generation aircraft seats. This isn’t the first time the two companies have crossed paths. In fact, Geven’s Comoda AQ seats (the same product found in recently delivered Uganda Airlines’ A330 premium economy) were the same hard product in Priestmangoode’s South African Airlines short-haul…

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Why so blue? The dominance of the colour in the industry

Aviation is awash with blue. Approximately a decade ago, the skies were filled with blue liveries, interiors lined wall-to-wall with blue seats, carpets, and uniforms in every shade of navy. While design studios have gradually peeled airline brands away from such a strong design vertical, what caused such visual dominance in the industry?

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TheDesignAir launches new regular video round up on YouTube

As part of our continued evolution we’ve now created a new round up video which we’ll release regularly to help summarise some of the latest advancements in airline and airport passenger experience that we feature on the site. Now is your chance to sign up, subscribe, like and comment on the videos as we craft…

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Sky-high ambitions. Will airport roofs see greater utilisation post-Covid?

Throughout 2020, we’ve seen the great efforts airlines have made to quickly adapt the passenger experience from check-in all the way through to onboard. However, airports across the world have also had to play a part in enhancing social distancing and help space out the flow of passengers throughout terminals and gate areas. Luckily, both…

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Trip Report: TAP Portugal A330neo Business Class December 2020

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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Uganda Airlines proves aircraft interiors don’t just have to come in shades of blue

Uganda Airlines might not be on everyones radar. But that’s because until last week, the carrier just operated a modest fleet of four Bombardier CRJ900’s. Resurrected from its predecessor that last flew in 2001, the latest incarnation spread its wings a little over a year ago, but seemingly has big plans. With aircraft bought by…

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From boutique carriers to beds, bars and onboard spas, the ME3’s need to evolve the landscape for its premium travellers

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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The Flygge Series: A taste of Finnair, in your own home

COVID-19 has certainly kept airlines on their toes, and while many airlines are frantically trying to get their operations off the ground once again, there’s been an unusual, yet somewhat expected side effect. For years airlines have strived to become lifestyle brands, as relevant in the home as they are in the skies. The problem…

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Could VR be a powerful tool both for design and communication post Covid-19? PriestmanGoode think so

Virtual reality has been around for a while, its use however within the aviation sector is increasing. Many design studios now have adopted this way of modelling cabin interiors and seat designs to expedite the creative process and visualise the end product with a high quality interactive render. There is clear benefit on both sides…

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As designers look to UV sanitisation, could existing light fittings prove the most logical solution?

You might have seen in the news, that airlines are increasingly turning to UV (and in particular UVC) to sanitise their fleets. Only in the past few weeks JetBlue adopted a new trolley-based light sanitisation station that’s wheeled through the cabin to disinfect the cabin in approximately 10 minutes. Why UV light? While UVA and…

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Don’t put your feet up. Why airlines still have to invest in design, especially now

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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British Airways bids a fond farewell to the Queen of the Skies

Friday July 17, 2020 saw another casualty due to the Coronavirus. British Airways announced that its fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft, also known as ‘The Queen of the Skies’, are likely to have flown their last scheduled commercial service. While that might not mean ‘never-ever’, unless there is an unprecedented swing back to normality the…

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OMG, OWG launches brand image and we’re a bit … WOW

Nolinor the well known charter outfit from Canada has created a scheduled offshoot low cost carrier called ‘Off We Go’ or OWG as the livery would have us know. Apparently launching end of August it’s determined to brush off the Coronavirus stigma facing the travel sector and start affordable flights from its home in Quebec…

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TEAGUE questions if making the invisible, visible within design is the way forward with new AirShield?

With such a fast changing narrative around Coronavirus it’s difficult for airlines to plan for a post-Covid future. From social distancing to personal shields, designers have been supporting airlines across the globe, working quickly to help navigate the scale and impact of such a widespread pandemic. Most solutions created have answered a problem, whether it’s…

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LaGuardia’s transformation breathes new life (and light) in to the airport

Yesterday saw the opening of the brand-new Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall at LaGuardia Airport, the biggest milestone to date in the airport’s ongoing $8 billion transformation into a 21st century airport. The project – one of the largest public private partnerships in aviation history – includes the demolition and replacement of every terminal…

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Factorydesign conceives a new Covid-19 idea, ideal for LCCs. Introducing HeadZone

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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