This week saw the announcement of Austrian Airlines’s new Premium Economy cabin product. Starting right now, passengers can book a seat in the new travel class for flights starting on March 6, 2018. While nothing particularly groundbreaking, the centrepiece of the new Premium Economy Class is the new seat ZIM seat providing passengers with more comfort…
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This week saw Cathay, Qantas and British Airways launch a wave of new flights, adding options and increasing the oneworld global network. British Airways has added to its Gatwick leisure network by introducing Toronto and re-establishing Las Vegas in direct competition to Virgin Atlantic’s city pair. This now means BA serves Las Vegas from both…
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Flight: TK15 Aircraft Type: 777-300ER Class: Business Class Route: IST-GRU Date: April 2017 http://www.turkishairlines.com Turkish Airlines has certainly caught our attention recently. In our first report on the airline’s short-haul product, they impressed us with a region-beating business class product. As part of our three part series we were happy to explore their signature long haul product, which stars in their latest…
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Flight: TG911 Aircraft Type: A380-800 Class: ‘Royal Silk’ Business Class Route: LHR-BKK Date: June 2016 http://www.thaiairways.com We were lucky enough to fly on Thai Airways almost twenty years ago, one of our first long haul flights as a kid, and since then, the airline has always stuck in our hearts. We remember orchid flowers being distributed to passengers and that…
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Flight: AF456 Aircraft Type: B777-200 Class: Business Class Route: CDG-GRU Date: April 2016 http://www.airfrance.com Ever since our failed chance to experience Air France’s new business class last year, we’ve been keen for another opportunity to experience Air France’s latest and acclaimed new hard product, that has moved the carriers 2 x 3 x 2 seating to a 1 x 2…
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Today at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, TAP announced they will be the first airline to take delivery of the new Airspace cabin by Airbus, that we covered last month. Coming to the skies in 2017, TAP’s new A330s will allow the carrier the blank canvas it needs to roll out its new brand and…
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China Airlines, one of our new favourite carriers, has just announced it will be upgrading it’s European routes of Amsterdam, Rome and Vienna with the new A350 aircraft which it is set to receive within a couple of months. Not only China Airlines roll out the new metal on the routes, it has made all…
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TAP Portugal today hinted at a brand new future for their long haul fleet, based on two new A330 aircraft that will join the fleet. It is fairly easy to distill as the future vision of the rest of the long haul fleet. Visuals released yesterday match the exact photos used by Azul to showcase…
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Charles De Gaulle used to send shivers down our spine. The thought of transiting through the airport meant getting lost, missing connections or surly staff seemingly specifically employed to disrupt a passengers day. This reason alone meant we had avoided Paris as a connection airport for many years, however we’ve been totally bowled over by…
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Premium Japanese carrier ANA has announced they will be introducing their super-spacious 787-9 Dreamliner on a brand new Tokyo Haneda – Sydney route on December 11th this year. Whilst this new non-stop flight is still subject to governmental approval, passengers on the ever-popular Kangaroo route will welcome the news of increased competition and enhanced products…
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Vietnam Airlines yesterday launched their brand new A350 wide body aircraft on the Ho Chi Minh – Hanoi route as a way of getting their crew used to the new aircraft product before rolling out on long haul routes in a matter of weeks. The airline has improved its long haul products in a bid…
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Yesterday Eurowings, which is Lufthansa’s newest LCC brand, revealed its first aircraft painted in its new livery. The new-look carrier will start by mirroring the product on offer by sister-airline germanwings. Firstly, a few facts, Eurowings isn’t a new brand. It had been operating since 1994 as a regional carrier for parent company Lufthansa. The new brand is…
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Flight: AY0077 Aircraft Type: A330-300 Class: Business Class Route: HEL-KIX Date: November 2014 http://www.finnair.com Best for: Affordable, one stop flights to a whole host of Asian destinations. Most likely to sit next to: Designers, Architects and super cool Asian-techie travellers. Business or pleasure: The flight times are perfect for business travellers, however, with no WiFi, this is the perfect place to unwind and recharge…
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Flight: AY0832 Aircraft Type: A321 Class: Business Class Route: LHR-HEL Date: November 2014 http://www.finnair.com Best for: Affordable, one stop flights to a whole host of Asian destinations. Most likely to sit next to: Designers, Architects and super cool Asian-techie travellers. Business or pleasure: No Wi-Fi, or IFE on this shorter flights, but with a seat left open between your fellow passenger, there is…
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Over the past few years, thedesignair.net team based in London have seen the 1955 version of Terminal 2 get knocked down and rebuilt ready for 2014, and its now starting to become one of the best examples of terminal architecture the UK have seen for a while. They say the devil is in the detail,…
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Lufthansa have been working on a new premium economy product for the past few years and have just announced they are to be introduced into their long haul fleet. Seen globally as a huge success since the invention from Virgin Atlantic, in 1992, many airlines now offer a class between economy and business class, as…
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We are slightly taken aback by Transaero’s latest announcement regarding the cabin offerings on their six new 737-800 aircraft. Transaero, a Russian carrier, that was fairly unheard of until a few years ago, was recently awarded by SkyTrax “Most Improved Airline In the World” and by the looks of things, quite rightly so. In what…
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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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Leisure travel operator, Thomas Cook, have launched their latest logo which will be rolled out throughout the group to unify its brands and market activity under one common symbol, the ‘Sunny Heart’. The ‘Sunny Heart’ is being rolled out from today, and will replace the current ‘Globe’ in the Group’s websites, international stores, the airline fleet…
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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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British Airways have now got their first painted Airbus A380. This does herald the start of a new era for BA and sits with it’s previous few years of updating its fleet. Whilst eyes are keenly fixed on what the experience will be aboard the legacy carrier’s latest new toy, we are keenly looking at…
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This week, British Airways have joined KLM in charging for hold luggage, following suit of the low cost revolution running through the rest of Europe, and have now created fares that exclude hold baggage (on certain routes), making fares cheaper and more competitive against the major low cost carriers. Sadly now, the defined lines in…
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Air France Group this week announced the new brand for their regional operations, currently being operated by Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair. Hop! A young, vibrant looking brand will act as one of Air France’s new 3 airline concept, also featuring Air France and Transavia. Hop! is forming the regional part of the network, focussing heavily on…
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Norway’s Kristiansand might only have a population of 82,000 at last count, but a local Ice-cream businessman believes that the town needs it’s own airline. Not only that, but he’s willing to start the airline up himself. Now just to clarify, ‘Virtual’ airlines aren’t ones that you’ll find on flight-sim, but instead business and brand…
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US Airways isn’t really a market leader in many ways. Their cabins are still dated and for most internal flights, entertainment consists of an inflight magazine and either a rather boring game of eye-spy or completing a half-done sudoku. However, US Airways does have miniture strokes of genius from time to time, usually spurred on…
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Whilst this hasn’t been officially released by Lufthansa, German newspaper Bild has reported through sources close to the airline that they are planning on launching a new low-cost unit (similar to the recent launch of IAG’s Iberia’s new Iberia Express) The new airline has been dubbed ‘Direct 4 You’ and will basically be an amalgamation of Germanwings…
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