No real surprises that Virgin America sweeped the board, hosted in their home state, at the Passenger Choice Awards 2012 yesterday in Long Beach California (September 17th), pulling in a whopping 4 awards, encompassing Overall Passenger Experience (Up to 50 IFE equipped in fleet), Best in Region (Americas), Best User Interface and Best Cabin Ambiance.…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Singapore Airlines has always been seen as a global market leader so it doesn’t surprise to hear they have launched a plan to roll out their in-flight offering of WiFi from their current 14 aircraft out to their entire fleet. This will also mean that mobile phone data services can be enabled, allowing the humble…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
So Malaysia Airlines have been playing all sorts of crazy games with their new toy. Bringing it over to Kuala Lumpur half finished, and now fully painting their livery in their new design. Whilst this design has been publicised as their new paint scheme in a lot of their campaigns as of late, I can’t…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
“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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
So Alaska Airlines has in been some pretty itchy territory in the past few weeks with reports that 10% of their cabin crew have complained their uniforms give them rashes and some have suffered hair loss. Alaska have been quick to remedy the situation by offering alternative uniforms to all affected. The good news for the…
Read More
Transavia have recently launched their new Sky Interior version 737-800 which has joined the fleet. In addition to offering passengers greater comfort in some serious Dutch style e-Leather seats, this aircraft also consumes 3% less fuel per seat, resulting in a savings of at least 200 litres of kerosene per flight. Three more planes with these…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Thomson have revealed their new cabin and livery for the new 787 Dreamliner which will come into service early 2013 with the airline. This new livery hopefully will get rolled out across the rest of the fleet and I have to say, it’s really quite beautiful. The flowing lines naturally rolling over the wingbox give…
Read More
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…
Read More
Virgin Australia have been trying to bring all their historic sub brands into line, and this latest development in their fleet has brought the Old V Australia brand into line with the rest of their fleet. A new leaf motif has been injected into the cabin, through the seats and carpet, and has been led…
Read More