Brand lift launching new long-haul service
To mark their move into long-haul flights to the US, the Brazilian low-cost airline Azul asked us to design a new look for its cabins, including business class seats for first time on their new long-haul international route.
With the fundamentals of the aircraft largely fixed, for a fleet consisting of a combination of Airbus A330-200s to be retro-fitted and new A350s, the challenge was to improve the customer experience and express a more premium and business-like impression for the brand while delivering tangible value to the airline in an 11-month timeframe.
Services
- Product Design
- Design Engineering
- Colour, material & finish
- User Experience & UI
- Trend Forecasting & Vision Setting
Learning
Research told us that Azul was a much-loved low-cost airline by the people of Brazil. And Azul wanted us to capture their fun vibe and find a tone and look for the cabin interiors that chimed with the brand’s Brazilian character. The new business class also needed to express a sense of sophistication and style that is rich and evocative, stressing ‘value’ but never ‘cheap’.
The colours, finishes and materials needed to retain integrity across three classes: economy, premium economy, and business. The design also had to be implementable in both retro-fit and line-fit aircraft, and to meeting the tight restrictions imposed by the seat manufacturer, we needed to be smart about creating incremental changes that brought the maximum benefit.
Leaping
Our reputation with OEM vendors was such that we managed to persuade the seating manufacturer to trust us to deliver a series of improvements to the business class seat that would be ownable by Azul. We quickly identified a set of improvements that would offer Azul’s new business travelers a much-improved experience.
Landing
Working closely and quickly with the seat manufacturer we redesigned the storage area of the business class seat, introducing a machined bezel with a multicoloured anodised logo and an elegant and embossed leather-covered panel. A walk up-bar, emblazoned by a laser cut Azul logo, was introduced within one of the galleys, creating a social space that gives passengers a place to chat and stretch their legs.
Across the interior the vibrant colour scheme uses blues in a warm and engaging way, echoing Brazilian party vibes, with patterns that take inspiration from Copacabana beach.
We successfully ensured that the design language and specification for the materials to be retrofitted on the A330-200’s would be transferable onto Azul’s new A350 line-fit fleet across all cabin classes. All timed to meet launches for the airlines’ new long-haul service to Miami, and in time for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Tournament held in Brazil and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
We knew of tangerine from some of the outstanding airline interiors work they had done before and the fact they had a local office in Brazil made the choice all the more obvious. They were a great team to work with, keeping track of all aspects of the project and with very deep knowledge of the business. We are convinced that with these interiors designed by tangerine, coupled with Azul’s focus on exceptional customer service, our passengers’ experience will be second to none.
Gianfranco Beting, former Director of Communications at Azul Airlines
