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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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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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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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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Austrian launches interactive seat map booking function

Austrian Airlines has just launched an innovative 3D Seatmap as part of the booking process. While the technology is nothing new, the ability to use the platform as part of the booking and seat selection process, is.  From now on, Austrian Airlines passengers on flights operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft can virtually discover their favorite…

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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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Neutral Digital Launches Cathay Pacific VR Experience Showcasing Enhanced Features

October saw the launch of Neutral Digital’s latest VR experience, showcasing Cathay Pacific’s new A350 cabin, including their economy, premium economy and business class cabins. Cathay Pacific and Neutral Digital collaborated to design and implement a VR storyboard that would show the prospective passenger visual and interactive highlights beginning with the livery, and onto the…

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Could Virtual Reality Really Help Airline Marketing? Just Ask Neutral Digital

Stepping in to Neutral Digital’s Shoreditch studio in London, there is something daunting about being greeted by an isolated sole chair surrounded by some simple technology and a giant screen. But the warmth of the greeting from Sergio Irigoyen and Dan Bambridge alleviate any concerns. After all, I’m about to experience one of the most state-of-the-art…

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Philippine Airlines New A350 Features Innovative Bespoke Lighting Design by Lift

PAL’s A350 – featuring a brand new cabin product – will soon start flying on its long-haul city pairing of Manila to London Heathrow. The lighting system onboard might not have taken the limelight, but it certainly creates it, designed as part of a truly holistic cabin concept. “Following on PAL’s A330 retrofit and new…

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Could Airbus And Zodiac Aerospace Reinvent The Cargo Hold?

Most people probably remember when Airbus first launched their A380, there was talk about the cargo area being used as an onboard lounge, retail unit or even a restaurant for passengers. Naturally, like many things in aviation, these ideas gradually disappeared and practicality took over. Gone the ideas of having a large retail unit, when…

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Emirates Trials Immersive Headsets In Dubai Business And First Class Lounges

This month Emirates started providing an immersive cinematic experience in its lounges in Dubai International Airport by providing Skylights theatre headsets to customers. The headsets are being trialled in the Business Class lounge in Concourse B for the month of April and in the First Class lounge in concourse B in May. The introduction of…

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Singapore Airlines Fantastic New A380 First and Business Class Products Are True Market Disruptors

Taking a leaf out of Etihad’s book, Singapore Airlines has launched a breathtaking brand new vision for their A380s including new First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy products, showcasing how for SIA, the A380 is certainly still an important part of the carrier’s future. Riding on the theme of “Space made personal, experience the difference”,…

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Cathay Reveal New Signature ‘Calm In The Fast Lane’ Singapore Experience

When Changi Terminal 4 opens in just a few days time, Cathay Pacific will proudly take the title for the first scheduled flight from the terminal. The airline is proudly stating that the terminal will offer an innovative and seamless travel experience, in addition to a spectacular and spacious lounge which will be open for their…

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Air France ‘Boost’ Becomes Joon

Air France’s latest venture, originally called Boost, and now officially titled Joon, is the carrier’s attempt to reduce operating costs and compete with the growth of younger, less expensive airlines now flying medium and long-haul routes around the world. The new carrier will mirror the likes of Air Asia X, Norwegian, Singapore Airlines’ Scoot Qantas’…

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Laptop Ban Has Continued To Spark Innovation In Airlines

In a continued drive to tackle the imposed electronic ban on certain flights to the UK and the US, airlines are working around the issue of bringing aboard nothing larger than a smart phone in a myriad of ways. Turkish Airlines has quickly adopted a simple fix, similar to Emirates, by allowing passengers to use…

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Happy Australia Day. Here’s A Reason To Get Inspired To Travel

TheDesignAir was just given the opportunity to try out the new Qantas VR App, currently available on the Google Play and Apple App stores. The new app allows consumers to instantly transport themselves to Australia and explore a wide range of different environments in full virtual reality. This relatively new app for Qantas echoes the…

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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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Emirates New Economy Class Amenity Kits Offer Augmented Reality Experience

Last month, Emirates launched a brand new set of Economy Class amenity kits. The kit bags reflect Emirates global coverage and come in six designs inspired by six regions in Emirates’ global network – Australasia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Far East. The designs incorporate the colours and patterns of each of…

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British Airways Showcase An Emerging Trend In Smart Watch Travel

British Airways have never been shy of embracing new technology. They were the first airline to create a digital app back in 2008. That year, some 118,000 added it to their device and in 2015, it has topped the five million mark. During the last seven years the airline has updated their app with new functionality 32 times,…

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TheDesignAir’s Top 10 Best Aviation Product Releases For 2015

2015 has been an impressive year for the aviation industry, with many carriers pulling up their socks and vying for the all-elusive lucrative passenger. With oil-prices lower than before, airlines are snapping at the opportunity to revisit their products, launch new aircraft and impress their paying consumers. This means one thing, a better experience for…

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Qantas Continues To Innovate With Impressive Pre-Departure Library

Those of you who have flown on Qantas, may be familiar with their fairly hefty inflight magazine Australian Way. Whilst this may be a meaty enough read for most of their domestic flights, what if you have to Kangaroo hop your way to The States or Europe? Well, now there is good news. If you…

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We Have Just Seen The Future Of Infotainment

This will please the avgeeks. Did it infuriate you as much as it did us, when onboard, we looked at the fleet information or route maps to find they were out of date, or the information wasn’t detailed enough? London based company Neutral have just announced their new software for airlines which will change the way…

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The Flying App Is Keeping Our iPhones Busy This Summer

We can’t recount how many times we’ve flicked the unlock screen on our phones waiting for a flight, hoping there’s a Facebook message or Twitter update that will keep us entertained. Now, thanks to the genius team at Seat 4A, we have an app that isn’t only slick and geeky, it’s super chic to boot.…

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Delta Is A Dream

Here at DesignAir we’ve been a bit of a secret fan of Delta, as we have mentioned before, they are perhaps the most ‘European’ of all the carriers, with warm and friendly service, combined with a very decent hard product and good onboard menu, we’ve never had a bad flight with them. (Although we’ve heard…

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Passbook, The New Airline ‘Must Have’ App?

There has been a bit of excitement running through the net recently of Apple’s impending iPhone launch, and with it, iOS 6, the new operating system, hosting a plethora of nifty new now-must-have-apps. The most important, and perhaps exciting to hit the airline industry is Passbook. Passbook seems to be a relatively nifty idea, sorting…

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