REPORT: Yet Again, Long Haul Low Cost Premium Service Fails

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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Asiana Launches A Familiar Looking New First Class Suite

Perhaps slightly strangely named, the ‘OZ’ suite (after their airline code) has been revealed by Asiana Airlines. Asiana is one of my favourite airlines, quietly confident in their offering, very stylish and very reserved, there is something almost ‘Swiss’ about them. Whilst this suite isn’t anything really that new for those that have travelled on…

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Award Winning Virgin America High Fives Again

Swoon. It’s no real surprise that Virgin America kept it’s probably now rather weighty crown of Best Domestic Airline in the US this year, it’s 5th year in a row. For those of thinking ‘Fix! Fix!’ It’s hard to say it is, as this award is voted by readers of Travel and Leisure magazine, rather…

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Hello Bright Young Thing

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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A Clean Refreshing Taste To BA’s Latest Advertising

British Airways who have always taken more of an ‘atmospheric’ attitude towards their advertising campaigns compared to VA, their competitor’s, product led advertising strategy as of late, has taken a new direction. No doubt, off the back of Heston Blumenthal’s TV programme that highlighted the challenges found onboard airlines for their catering offering due to…

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Did Airbus Run Out of Blue Paint?

So Malaysia Airlines is the latest airline to get hold of their brand-spanking-new-shiny-flying-office-block of a plane, the A380. Malaysia have been keen to push their product offering forward with the launch of their new fleet of 6 mega planes. On board chef’s for first class passengers, lie flat seats for business passengers and Thales entertainment…

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Scoot Reveal Their Real Livery

So. Here it is, after my first post, the much anticipated big bird. Yellow is the colour of the day with Scoot. Large swooshes of yellow flow across the 777 they are using for their low cost long haul route network. Whilst I’m trying to remain fully objective over this, I can’t help but cringe…

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The Mexicana Birds Are Back

Troubled Mexicana had only recently launched its new livery when they went down due to financial difficulties back in 2010. So it never really got the outing it deserved. But only today was it suggested by an article on ATW that Mexicana will possibly come back to the skies on June 9th using a fleet…

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Fiji Here We Come

Whilst those of you that have seen Air Pacific planes might be a little confused by this press release issued by the airline (due to the fact the airline’s livery has a huge ‘Fiji’ written on the tailfin), the old airline is being reborn. Fiji Airways (Air Pacific’s original name) will become the brand name…

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KLM, The First Airline Poster Boy

KLM might be known as the very first airline in the world, but silently over 90 years they have really generated a cracking archive of posters. They’ve been one of the first airlines to advertise their services and their posters span a whopping 9 decades and the styles of their advertising showcase more than the…

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Going For Gold. British Airways Gets In Gear For Olympics

British Airways have been busy with their paint recently. After the rather questionable ‘Dove‘ that British Airways touted as their London 2012 celebratory livery, they’ve gone and created a whole new one – strangely to much less fanfare! This livery is due to the fact this very Airbus A319 will be bringing the Olympic torch…

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Virgin Atlantic Switches Airplane Mode Off

“Hello Mum? Yes, it’s me. I’m on the plane. I’ll be 30 minutes early.” Yes. It’s official, Virgin Atlantic have decided that mobile phone calls are a good idea in the plane, making themselves a British leader once again in aviation. Whilst this is a relatively new trend to travellers it will be interesting to…

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Hawaiian Airlines Offers A Real Pacific Network

Hawaiian Airlines released news of their 4th Japanese route, to Sapporo, this month (subject to approval) and this makes the airlines latest addition to their large Asia network expansion since the launches of Tokyo in November 2010, Seoul in January 2011, and Osaka in July 2011 and recently Fukuoka in April 2012. Hawaiian now have 6 sparkly new Airbus A330’s in their fleet now,…

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Braniff 30 Years On, Still Cool and Colourful

May 12th 1982, the worlds most colourful airline ‘Braniff International Airways’ ceased operations. 30 years ago, the skies were definately a more colourful place. Long gone the days of the humdrum, Braniff took the aviation experience to a whole new level, with space helmets for cabin crew, bold planes, partnerships with artisans, innovative ideas for…

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Even More Opportunity To Use The New Virgin JFK Clubhouse

  Virgin Atlantic released today they are putting VS026/027 into service operating the ever popular NY-LON route from LHR to JFK. Commencing on 28th October, the fourth daily service between JFK and LHR offers the perfect excuse to try the new super cool JFK Clubhouse whilst either popping into Manhattan or gracing Bond Street in London for…

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American Awe The International Market With Refreshed Cabins

American Airlines today have possibly jumped on the Weber seat bandwagon with a newly refreshed cabin product. As part of this redesign, American’s entire fleet of 777-200ERs will have fully lie-flat Business Class seats with aisle access for every seat, international Wi-Fi, in-seat entertainment throughout all cabins, and Main Cabin Extra seating offering more legroom. The 767-300ERs will…

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Air Canada Leafing Through Options To Introduce Premium Economy

Taking a leaf from the new wave of North American carriers who have already introduced ‘Premium Economy’ to their fleet to cross the big divide from Economy and Business, a struggling Air Canada is currently in RnD to develop and introduce a ‘Premium Economy’ to their fleet. This will be a major draw to Air…

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Hello Kitty! Royal Laurel Class Debuts On Eva Air

Eva Air have recently launched their newest business class seat, looking very much like the new Weber‘s ‘Cirrus’ reverse herringbone seat, as launched on Qatar and Lufthansa amongst others. Titled ‘Royal Laurel Class‘ this seat will be offered on their Taipei-New York service and will be on board in June 2nd 2012 in a cabin with…

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Qatar’s Ever Expanding Plan

Qatar Airways, a 5 star airline that truly deserves its airline ranking, seems to be really pushing forward with an aggressive expansion plan. Today, May 2nd 2012, marks a USD$2billion investment from Qatar into the New Doha International Airport, as the country looks to expand the airport to cope with the constant increase in growth…

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Is That Jesus In My Glass? No, It’s Just Richard Branson

There’s nothing like getting close to your passengers and melting away any concerns they have, but Sir Richard Branson has taken this to a whole new level. In an interesting PR stunt, Virgin Atlantic have launched a new onboard Ice cube. Yes. Ice cube. In a bid to… well I’m not quite sure to be…

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Garuda Indonesia, A Quantum Leap Across The Board?

Garuda Indonesia unveiled their expansion plans at the Arabian Travel Market this week aptly called their ‘Quantum Leap’ program. They plan on increasing their fleet size more than twice fold by 2015 to a staggering 194 aircraft. Garuda has had a checkered past. Back in 2009 the airline, along with other Indonesian carriers, were banned…

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Virgin Australia Reveal New A330 Domestic Interior

Virgin Australia have been busy recently and have just released images of their new domestic A330 fleet operating both the Syndey-Perth and Melbourne-Perth routes. This comes just over a week after releasing news of them updating the interiors of their 777 cabins for their trans-pacific flights. As designed by Brand Director, Hans Hulsbosch, Virgin Australia has…

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Flybe Making Flying Better

Flybe, UK’s largest domestic carrier and short haul European carrier has recently updated its website, brought on a new non-executive director and banished evil debit card charges from its bookings. What with a new ‘Making Flying Better’ slogan, perhaps they mean what they say! Flybe’s new website is slick, it is finished too, something that…

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Virgin Atlantic’s New Upper Class Dream Suite Revealed

Virgin Atlantic doesn’t seem to disappoint with its new onboard Upper Class offering. Now available for view on their website, the brand new product is similar to that of the previous product, but it seems slicker, more streamlined, a lot more contemporary, and comfortable. The famour purple leather seat is gone, replaced with a slick…

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Air France Promotes ‘The Hub’: Its Biggest Ever Business Class Lounge

Since Virgin Atlantic launched their award winning flagship lounge in LHR in 2006, all eyes are turning to each airline’s lounge offering as a deciding factor in choosing business class travel. Air France has recently revealed details of its biggest ever business class lounge in the S4 boarding satellite at CDG, a joint project conducted by…

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Could This Be The New Virgin Upper Class ‘Dream Suite’?

Direct from the US patent office, these schematics have been applied for by Virgin Atlantic, could this be their new seat. Nothing radical here from their previous offering, however it seems a little more streamlined around the head area than the previous suite. This could reduce the comfort slightly, but also provide a larger sense…

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KLM to reinvent World Business Cabin

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has asked leading Dutch designer Hella Jongerius to revitalize its World Business Class cabin interior across the fleet. This will enable KLM to modernize its WBC product, uniting international allure with top Dutch design to emphasize a sense of pride in our Dutch heritage. “By choosing to work with Hella Jongerius,…

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