Air France and KLM launch their first design contest!

Task: Create a new design concepts in inflight catering for Air France and KLM, «Design the meal trays and tableware of tomorrow».

Deadline: 15th of May 2009

Prizes:

• First Prize: € 3,000 in cash + 2 long-haul Air France return tickets in Voyageur Class on board the A380

Air France and KLM have launched their first Young Designers’ Contest for students and young graduates from design schools in France, the Netherlands and four other European countries (Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Italy).

The young talents must imagine and rethink the current design concepts for meal trays and tableware (plates, containers, glasses and cutlery) to be used in Affaires, Premium Voyageur and Voyageur Economy on Air France and KLM long- and medium-haul flights.

The projects will be selected according to different criteria: creativity and originality of the concept, attractiveness of the design, integration of environmental constraints, technical feasibility and economic factors, etc.

The jury will consist of ten or more representatives from Air France, KLM, Servair, and eminent personalities in the design industry.

The award ceremony will be held in Paris at the beginning of July.

Read competition rules and the full Brief here !

KLM launches channel on YouTube

The official KLM YouTube channel is now online. With a growing collection of videos, KLM now offers travellers and non-travellers both practical and special visual material, such as its ‘Journeys of inspiration’ commercial.

Capture the atmosphere…
KLM’s online Destination Guide videos give you a taste of what their destinations are like. For certain destinations, these videos provide handy tips for activities, restaurants, nightlife, public transport, etc.

KLM: 90 years of inspiration
To get their 90th year in the air off to a festive start, a Boeing 737-800 and a Boeing 777-200 flew a special group of passengers over the Netherlands. A film report of this celebration flight is also available on our YouTube channel.

What’s more…
KLM’s new YouTube channel will be giving you more and more as time goes on – the company’s most recent TV commercials, for example. To see them as they first become available, just sign up for a free subscription.

Log on to youtube.com/KLMRoyalDutchAirline to find out more.

Czech Airlines como melhor companhia da Europa Central

A companhia aérea Czech Airlines ganhou o Skytrax World Airline Awards 2009 como a melhor companhia da Europa Central, prêmio que é atribuído pelos próprios passageiros.
A publicação britânica Skytrax distingue anualmente as melhores companhias aéreas com base em entrevista aplicada a passageiros de várias transportadoras.

A qualidade dos serviços de bordo da Czech Airlines foi um dos tópicos mais enfatizados pelos entrevistados, com especial destaque para o catering e conforto a bordo, bem como os serviços de aeroporto da companhia, proteção de bagagens e das viagens de táxi gratuitas e do acesso rápido no aeroporto para passageiros em Business Class.
A Czech Airlines é membro da aliança SkyTeam e, em 2008, transportou 5,6 milhões de passageiros entre os 129 destinos para onde voa.

KLM staff takes new uniform

Dutch airline KLM has asked designer Mart Visser to design new uniforms for 11,000 air hostesses, ground crew and female fliers. The investment is to express confidence in the future and in the KLM brand, ‘especially in the current economic context’. Staff will start wearing the new uniforms in April 2010. Visser’s design will be the tenth ladies’ uniform since the first one was introduced in 1935.

Delta to Begin Nonstop Service to Valencia

Starting 5 June, Delta Air Lines will inaugurate nonstop service to Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Delta will offer four flights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from JFK in New York to Valencia Airport in Manises (VLC). Return flights from Valencia to JFK will depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Delta may increase service to five flights a week later in the summer. The flights will be aboard a Boeing 757-200 ETOPS aircraft, with 16 seats in Delta’s award-winning Business Elite business class and 158 in economy class.

Delta Air Lines’ flight 198 will depart JFK at 5:05 PM, arriving in Valencia the following morning at 7:30 AM. The return flight, Delta 199, departs Valencia at 10:00 AM, arriving back into JFK at 1:55 PM. Delta has been serving Spain for more than 15 years. The airline also offers daily flights to Madrid (MAD), Barcelona (BCN) and Málaga (AGP) from New York and Atlanta (ATL).

Korean Air May 2009 update

Turn up the volume and watch the lastest news from Korean Air.

You can see the latest First Class and Business Class seat layout upgrades, new route to Xian and Mudanjiang, TV commercial and Korean Air's signature dish - Bibimbap.

Enjoy!

The big picture: Korean Air's new premium seats

Kosmo Suites (first class)

Korean Air has released images of its new premium seats, due to enter service on the carrier's Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from the end of May. The airline has also announced that it will begin refitting all of its mid and long-haul aircraft with the new seats (along with a new slimline economy seat offering) from this September, with a completion date slated for March 2011.

The first class cabin on the B777-300ER will have 8 new generation seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.

They will be fully-flat beds, 12cm wider than the four year old Kosmo Sleeper, with a seat width of 69cm. The individual AVOD screens will be 58cm (15cm wider than the current offering), and there will also be privacy screens and large extendable tables.

Designed by Acumen, a world renowned design company based in the UK, was created with the discerning taste of Korean Air’s VIP customers in mind.

Prestige Sleeper (business class)

The business class cabin will have 55 of the new Prestige seats in a 2-3-2 configuration and the seats will recline to a fully-flat 180 degrees (as opposed to 170 degrees on the previous Prestige Plus product).

- New Economy, ergonomically designed new Economy Class seats, contains 5.6cm (2.2 inch)-enlarged individual monitors which now measure 27cm (10.6 inch).

AeroMexico cancels Shanghai temporary

Chinese health inspectors wait at the entrance to an AeroMexico aircraft, identified as the aircraft which carried a man infected with the influenza H1N1 virus or swine flu at Pudong International airport, Shanghai.

China on 02MAY09 announced it'll temporary ban flights to/from Mexico.

As per GDS availability and inventory display, AeroMexico is cancelling the week of 04MAY09 service on the Mexico City - Tijuana - Shanghai route.