Beyond Champagne: What Airlines Can Learn from Hospitality’s Luxury Revolution

Luxury in aviation is evolving from material possessions to experiential offerings, mirroring shifts in hospitality. Airlines should focus on crafting memorable journeys through cultural storytelling, meaningful amenities, and curated experiences. The future of air travel luxury lies in emotional connections and unique rituals, not merely tangible comforts.

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Studio Spotlight: PriestmanGoode

PriestmanGoode is revolutionizing aviation design by centering on human experiences and long-term strategies, addressing evolving passenger needs and sustainability. Their employee-owned structure promotes collaboration and innovation across multiple sectors. Projects like Riyadh Air and United’s Polaris demonstrate their holistic approach to creating cohesive, branded journeys while addressing industry challenges and nurturing future talent.

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Screen Wars: scratching the surface of a much larger challenge that’s looming in the airline industry

The Aircraft Interiors Expo showcases innovations in airline seating and technology, reflecting a post-COVID resurgence in passenger experience. Despite excitement, airlines face challenges in setting distinct identities and navigating a plethora of choices. Collaboration among suppliers and embracing an open IP approach could enhance future developments in airline interiors, promoting faster innovation and integration.

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Thinking outside the tube, what could blended wing interiors look like?

Let’s be honest, we’ve been doing the same thing for almost a century. We get on an aircraft that has the same key features, a metal tube with a front and a back and seats in between. It’s been the formula that new aircraft have followed for decades. But as our understanding of aerodynamics increase,…

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Is there future in First Class? Acumen certainly thinks so

For so many, the writing has been on the wall for First Class. After all, the gulf between First and Business Class was bridged by a wave of suites, fully flat beds and all-aisle access in the larger more affordable J class cabin. This means for many now, the upgrade to First Class simply meant…

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Foster + Partners reveal striking new airport designs for a new Polish mega airport

A Foster + Partners and Buro Happold consortium has won the competition to design the new CPK airport between Warsaw and Łódź. “The pivotal project will act as a symbolic gateway to Poland, a 21st century transport interchange which brings together air, rail and road, while reflecting the country’s national identity and providing exceptional passenger experience,”…

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From 4-star to all star? Lufthansa introduces ‘Allegris’ to try to elevate future passenger experience

While Lufthansa had to quietly retreat from it’s questionable 5-star Skytrax rating just a few weeks ago, to a more understandable 4-star rating, it’s no surprise that the carrier is trying to pull out all the stops to re-energise interest in the carrier which has been marred recently by news of impending strikes. Yesterday Lufthansa…

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Boom! There goes United

United Airlines has brought a little bit of future optimism to the aviation industry once again today with the announcement of a commercial agreement with Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic to add aircraft to its global fleet as well as a cooperative sustainability initiative – a move that facilitates a leap forward in returning supersonic…

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JPA Design and Williams Advanced Engineering’s ‘Airtek’ seat signals shift to smarter design thinking

A little while ago, JPA Design announced a new type of Business Class seat, which on the surface may look like just another seat, but thanks to its partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering and SWS, the skin-deep appearance is anything but. Not only does the product learn from current design trends, it embraces lightweight technology,…

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Could tactile, textured finishes be an emerging trend post-COVID?

It’s long been established in scientific fields that memories, emotions, and senses are all tied together. The same region of the brain that processes the five senses is also partly responsible for storing emotional memories. In the airline field, that means passengers are more likely to remember and build brand memories that tie in all five senses…

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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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PriestmanGoode shows off their vision for a future ‘Pure Skies’ cabin

Meet Pure Skies, PriestmanGoode’s answer to the future of flight, responding to the recent curve ball Covid-19 threw at cabin designers of today. The London-based design studio created a new design concept to support the future success of the aviation industry – understanding that a clean slate is needed to bring confidence back to the…

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Amaala unveils new airport design, representing a desert mirage.

Amaala, a luxurious destination located along Saudi Arabia’s northwestern coast, has just unveiled plans for a new international airport, with a design inspired by the optical illusion of a desert mirage which will act as a striking entry point to many International visitors. There’s good reason the terminal might look somewhat familiar, it’s been imagined…

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Air New Zealand innovates yet again, this time with a conceptual ‘Skynest’ for economy passengers

Air New Zealand has a fairly unique proposition, offering daily ultra long-haul flights across the globe while catering to a home country with just half the population of London. As such, its had to innovate to remain at the top of it’s game, and has already rolled out products like the (short-lived) Premium Economy Spaceseat,…

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Priestmangoode show us what the future of flight could, or should, look like

London-based design studio Priestmangoode has just opened a ‘Get Onboard: Reduce. Reuse. Rethink’ exhibition at the Design Museum in London. As we just highlighted in our questions surrounding amenity kits, there is an increasing movement to explore ways that we can use design thinking and material innovation to address the vast issue of waste in travel,…

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Move over Star Trek. Could Airbus’ Bird of Prey inspire a future generation of engineers? We think it’s simply beautiful

Airbus has unveiled a stunning conceptual design for a new airliner that pushes the boundaries of technology and innovation with its bird-like appearance, created to inspire a new generation of aeronautical engineers. The design isn’t just a flight of fancy though, dubbed the ‘Bird of Prey’ due to wing and tail structures which mimic those…

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The Rise Of A New Class, ‘Business Suites’, But Will It See The Death Of First Class?

Doors. This is where it all starts. Over the past few years, the differences between First Class and Business Class hard-products have become fewer and farther between. We’re now in an era where British Airways new Business Class product offers equal space and more privacy than its older First Class product. Airlines such as Qatar…

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Etihad Completes First Single-Use Plastic-Free Flight To Highlight Industry Challenges

Etihad Airways is now the first airline in the region to have operated a flight without any single-use plastics on board, in a bid to raise awareness of the effects of plastic pollution. Flight EY484 departed Abu Dhabi on 21 April, landing in Brisbane on 22 April, also known as Earth Day. H.H. Sheikh Theyab…

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Toilet Talk. Is This The Future Of B777 Restrooms?

Believe it or not, the 777 toilet may not be one of the most talked about parts of the passenger experience, but it hasn’t really changed since the 777 came to service decades ago. So step ahead 24 years and it’s about time that a company is offering a brand new concept to the aircraft’s…

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Why The Battle For First Class Will Be Waged On The Ground

This year will see a wave of business class seats that resemble First Class more than ever before. Qatar Airways is introducing the new QSuite this month, Delta is introducing their new private business class suites and United has already rolled out their new business class product featuring all aisle access and fully flat seats.…

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The Future Of Personal Travel, Designed By Italdesign And Airbus

Yesterday saw the joint launch of a new modular passenger transport concept from Airbus and Italdesign at Geneva’s 87th International Motor Show. ‘Pop.Up’ – as it has been dubbed – is a fully electric, zero emission concept vehicle system designed to relieve traffic congestion in crowded megacities. “Pop.Up envisages a modular system for multi-modal transportation that makes…

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A Taste Of What Concorde Would Have Looked Like Today. But, It May Actually Still Happen.

The future is a little closer this month, with Boom taking a leap forward and presenting their XB-1 1/3rd-scale ‘little brother’ version of the ideal next generation supersonic passenger jet. ‘Baby Boom’ as it has been dubbed, may not be taking flight until next year, but it will pave the way for the new Concorde of the…

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Qantas Virtually Entertain Us

The future is here. Qantas has partnered with Samsung Electronics Australia to launch a futuristic trial entertainment service that uses Samsung virtual reality (VR) technology to give customers a spectacular three dimensional experience in a 360 degree style interactive format. Qantas’ clunky yet “Apple generation” stylish headsets will completely envelop customers in an immersive virtual world. Currently the entertainment features the sights and…

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