128 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
Tullamarine’s assembly
of buildings from various
generations will get a bang-on-
brand update. VIRGIN AUSTRALIA Modern airports are incredible
works of architecture, whether
a colossal shining new-build
facility like Beijing’s new
airport in Daxing to the south of the
city, or any number of older airports
consisting of a warren of buildings –
connected or not – that have felt the
tread of generations of passengers’ feet.
These spaces are often more
engineered than designed, with
requirements for security, safety,
accessibility, robustness and even fire
safety creating a complex envelope
in which to create the passenger
experience. (Cathay Pacific, for
example, had to design its Solus pod
chair to include options with and
without a coloured transparent privacy
wraparound owing to fire regulations
in certain airport terminals restricting
furniture height.)
But once the basics are in place,
it’s time for the designers to get going.
Some airlines aim for a feel that’s
the same worldwide, whether in a
terminal, an area of a terminal, or
their lounge. Emirates’ and Singapore
Airlines’ lounges, for example, have
long had a certain look and feel to
them. The various Virgin carriers,
whether Atlantic, Australia or
America, have a design language that
makes it almost effortlessly clear that
this is a Virgin product.
Others aim for a hybrid, with the
airline’s own brand mixed with a local
sensibility that can work well – or
badly. With this kind of design, only
the airlines with the strongest brands
can stand up to the mixture.Usefully, recent weeks have
brought us two airport projects from
Australian airlines that show both
approaches.
Virgin Australia is redeveloping
its home in Melbourne’s Terminal
3 over the next three years, with an
initial phase scheduled for completion
by mid-2019 that doubles down on a
major passenger experience trend: self
service. Virgin will offer “enhanced”
self-service kiosks, which will enable
check-in, boarding pass printing, bag
tagging and even adding extra bags.
In phase two, Virgin Australia
will add pre-lounge security and a
premium entry for business travellers
and frequent flyers, a popular perk
among people who fly the most.
Unlike Sydney and Brisbane, however,
the Melbourne fast track entry lane
will also offer bag drop. To enable that
security change, the second phase also
includes building a new internal ramp
between Terminals 3 and 4 that allows
the former’s security facilities to be
moved.
Virgin Australia says it and
Melbourne Airport “are working
together to finalise the design process,
with the works anticipated to begin
in 2018”, although initial designs are
bang on the Virgin Australia brand,
with lots of white, red accents, purple
for the premium side of the airline,
and more mood lighting than you can
shake a stick at.
Qantas, meanwhile, has now
opened its new combined business-
first lounge in London Heathrow,
serving the Red Roo’s upcomingLondon-Perth-Melbourne services
and the future London-Singapore-
Sydney flights. The lounge is beautiful,
making the most of a two-level space,
but there are a lot of beautiful lounges
around. The key to this lounge is its
solid footing within the Qantas brand,
but with a big hit of local identity too.
A gin bar is as British as it comes,
but with Australian gins sitting
alongside the usual London lot
including Something Wild’s Australian
Green Ant, Sullivan’s Cove Hobart
No. 4 single malt, and Brookie’s from
the Cape Byron Distillery. Special
cocktails are designed by the Qantas
team of mixologists.
The food, too, is designed by
the Neil Perry Rockpool team,
and includes takes on British and
Australian faves, rather than a buffet
that has the same dishes wherever you
are in the world. There’s the pot pie,
ploughman’s platter and cream tea
kind of classic, plus “healthy brunch
bowls with eggs, avocado and kale,
and zucchini and haloumi fritters” that
are as Australian as that first onboard
Tim Tam for many passengers.
The sofas are instantly recognisable
as the Qantas chair shape, but in a
Chesterfield buttoned leather fabric,
and the standard Qantas lounge
chairs scattered around that makes
it instantly clear that this is a Qantas
lounge.
Qantas ambassador Miranda Kerr,
meanwhile, has a line of so-garish-
they’re-great teacups and teapots from
Royal Albert, and these are on offer
in London despite the airline already
having revamped its signature teapot
with its recent Noritake line by design
partner David Caon.
Speaking of Caon, Qantas’s
London lounge and Virgin’s
Melbourne terminal projects
both involve architectural practice
Woods Bagot, with which Qantas’s
design partner David Caon was
formerly associated. Qantas’s
project names the firm, while Virgin
Australia’s has the Woods Bagot
watermark on its image renders.
With an increasing number of design
and consulting firms offering their
services in the passenger experience
world, it’s fascinating that both
Australian airlines should choose
the same one.‘Initial
designs are
bang on
the Virgin
Australia
brand.’
Terminal lounging
New Australian airport spaces combine engineering, brand and design
CABIN PRESSURE
JOHN WA LT ON
@thatjohn