JAL’s new A350-1000 international fleet is launching at the end of November 2023.
Tangerine’s concept of “Infused Essence” is the brand expression that was conceived for JAL on their domestic aircraft that launched in 2019. Infused Essence has now been developed across the international fleet in a way that is coherent across all the customer touch points on all routes on all aircraft types.
JAL took the strategic approach in partnering with tangerine in advance of the programme becoming live.
Matt Round, Chief Creative Officer at tangerine, who created Finnair’s successful business class embodiment says, “This approach by JAL is what has enabled all the supply chain partners to deliver on our vision for the airline. JAL’s wiliness to embrace the pre-work programme meant that tangerine was able to prepare the ground to create a design vision ahead of any RFP being issued to the OEM suppliers.”
Investing more time at the front-end of a programme leads to a greater understanding of what is achievable and aligned with the airline’s strategic ambitions. Tangerine liaised with two seating vendors as part of the design definition process which also included members of the JAL team relocating to tangerine’s London studio. Here they took part in tangerine’s successful Design Immersion programme. This enables the client to discover the tangerine process and over a period of months a sense of trust built up as the two teams shared ideas and sought out opportunities for the design theory to flourish in reality. After a period of conceptual design, Safran was chosen to manufacture the new First-Class seat.
In this, tangerine found the perfect balance between desirability and density. The First-Class cabin configuration of 1.1.1., though resulting in fewer First-Class seats onboard the A350-1000, has given the designers more space in which to create a bespoke offer from the ground up.
The result is a big, luxurious space, where passengers enjoy the superlative Japanese first class experience. The large, robust dining table is designed to emulate the experience of sitting in a Michelin starred restaurant. The table is housed in a cassette that moves horizontally towards the passenger and vertically flips out and folds down. The seat is designed to hold two passengers safely with lap straps, who may wish to sit together for part of the flight. At night passengers have the choice of adding extra width to their bed or keeping the extra floor space. The delicate downlight design was inspired by cocktails at the Orchard Bar at the old Hotel Okamura, once a Tokyo landmark and graced by Presidents. The door to the First-Class suite has lattice work that reminiscent of the famous Ukiyoe artwork and traditional Japanese wood craft.
“Sharing and demonstrating “the essence of Japan” to a non-Japanese company may sound challenging, however, as tangerine has a proven track in working with Japanese companies including JAL” says Junta Nishigaki from Product & Service Strategy Development, at Japan Airlines, Co. Ltd, “All the communication with them was easy and seamless for us. It was essential to incorporate elements of “the essence of Japan” not only as perceived by the people of Japan, but also as expected by international customers. In this regard, we thank to the expertise of tangerine, which brought an entirely global viewpoint to this project.”
Business Class on the international A350-1000 offers high privacy and a generous fully flat bed. The new Business Class seat has a custom designed door, integrating sustainable eLeather trim with the graphic patterns referencing Japanese artworks. Inside the Business Class suite is a large console for hospitality service and a wardrobe to keep passengers’ jackets safe and creaseless.
The Premium Economy and Economy Class seats are also manufactured by Safran. The premium economy seat is the first electronically moving seat onboard an aircraft in this class to date. Tangerine customised the look and feel creating bespoke textiles and introducing a privacy screen to enhance the passenger’s sense of privacy and comfort in Premium Economy.
Though the cabin offer on the international route is completely different to the proposition on the domestic fleet, they share the same design DNA of “Infused Essence” which was created to bring coherence across the JAL fleet.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
