The Wrap: The Residence by Etihad - ultimate in luxury at 30,000 feet

In the news: Etihad redefines luxury in the sky, Wego signs two Middle East airlines, Pan Pacific Group’s new websites, Cruiseline.com relaunches app for Android

The Residence by Etihad – ultimate in luxury at 30,000 feet

Etihad Airways has redefined flying in style and luxury with its launch of The Residence by Etihad at the recent Arabian Travel Market (May 5-8) in Dubai – described as the “world’s first private multi-room cabin on a commercial passenger aircraft.”

This “most luxurious living space in the sky”, as the Abu Dhabi airline dubs it, is a three-room cabin comprising a living room, double bedroom and ensuite shower, designed to transform the boarding experience akin to stepping into the lobby of a boutique hotel.

James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways, said: “These new living spaces will raise inflight product and service standards to their highest level yet in commercial aviation and alter air travellers’ expectations of inflight comfort and luxury forever.”

Measuring 125 square feet in total area, The Residence is located on the forward upper deck of the airline’s new fleet of Airbus A380s for double or single occupancy.

The living room is furnished with a two-seat reclining sofa, dining tables and a chilled mini-bar. A touchscreen control unit operates the retractable ottoman, the ambient and mood lighting, window shading, adjusts seat position and firmness, and activates the in-seat massage functions. It also has a 32-inch LCD TV

A door and passageway separate the living room from the master bedroom and the ensuite shower room. The bedroom features a 82-inch long double bed with custom-made mattress, bedside unit, wardrobe, under-bed stowage for hand luggage, and a 27 inch LCD TV. (pictured above)

The Residence is fully WiFi enabled and equipped with the latest Panasonic eX3 entertainment system, controlled by video touch screen and handset. (watch video below).

To further pump up the service a dedicated personal butler, trained at the Savoy Buteler Academy in London, is on call throughout the flight. A VIP Concierge team will help guests with booking luxury limousine transfers, check-in, and custom menu planning.

The first A380 will commence service in December on the Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow route. By the end of 2015, the airline will have five A380s in service operating on routes to Sydney and New York JFK.

The price of The Residence, now available for bookings, is about US$43,000 roundtrip between London and Abu Dhabi.

• Photo and video courtesy of Etihad Airways

Travel metasearch site, Wego, was also busy at the Arabian Travel Market with the signing of two Middle East airlines – Saudi Arabian Airlines andflynas – as part of its move to reinforce its growth in the region.

Saudi Airlines, operating as Saudia, is the full-service national carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The airlines flies to 118 destinations globally, with a fleet of 153 aircraft, and additional aircraft orders for 2015.

At the same show Wego also welcome flynas, Saudi Arabia’s leading low cost carrier.

Formerly nasair, the LCC has a young fleet of 27 aircraft, operating nearly 950 weekly flights on 26 destinations within and outside of Saudi Arabia.

Dean Wicks, Wego chief flights officer, said the company’s investment in offering the world’s first travel search app in Arabic, with right-to-left language support, has been a great success, adding that it was also the first travel metasearch site to feature Saudi Airlines and flynas as airline partner in Arabic.

Wego’s travel app is available in 20 languages globally, in both iOS and Android. Its first comprehensive and fully Arabised travel metasearch site was launched in the Middle East in 2012.

According to a report from Amadeus, outbound traffic from the Middle East and Africa will grow at an annual rate of 11.9% over the next 10 years, from 8.4% growth over the previous 10-year period. The same report also cites the Middle East as ‘winning the race’ in the competition for long-haul transfer passenger traffic.

The sites are mobile optimised and available in three languages, feature impactful and intuitive design, richer promotional content, a simplified booking process and guarantee to be the lowest cost booking channel.

“As more and more travellers choose to research, network and book online for their travel needs, the online space presents a vital opportunity with tremendous potential for the group to educate and engage with our target customers about the unique customer value propositions of our Pan Pacific and Parkroyal brands,” said Bernold O. Schroeder, chief executive officer, Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

The websites are also searchable and bookable in three languages – English, Chinese and Japanese.

Among the new features are a visual-centric design, intuitive navigation, simplified and faster booking process, eDirect booking tool for corporate and social events, integration of social media content such as live Twitter/Facebook feeds and TripAdvisor reviews, and Direct Advantage that is a best rate guarantee to all who book direct on the official brand websites.

Cruiseline.com, the second largest cruise review website and pioneer of verified cruise reviews, has relaunched its Android version of Ship Mate Cruise app with a modern look, a smoother user experience and a number of new features.

Since its initial launch in 2010, Ship Mate has been steadily growing, and currently has 260,000 active accounts, 35,000 app opens per day and one million per month. Cruiseline.com’s acquisition of Ship Mate in November 2013 provided the resources needed to upgrade the app’s user experience and expand its content.

The updated version, now available on Google Play, eliminates the need for users to download 11 separate apps (split by cruise line), as it now features a consolidated version to view information about various major lines, deck plans and itineraries, plus the ability to track past and future voyages with a “cruise countdown.”

It also adds 15 new ships across four new lines – Azamara Club Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Oceania Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line.

The app’s other features include Photo gallery, ship and port reviews and excursions.

“With the rapid growth of the Android platform, we knew how important it was for us to re-create Ship Mate and make an easier, smoother user experience,” said Mike Jirout, co-founder of Ship Mate Cruise app. “By partnering with Cruise.com, we were able to dedicate resources to completely rewrite the app from scratch with a look and feel much more in lockstep with the popular iOS version.”

Ship Mate presently features 30,000 port ratings and reviews, 285,000 chat messages, 99,000 direct messages between users, and 12,000 user-submitted photos.