The first class in no more enough? Korean Airlines launches a new service made of comfort and attention to the person aimed at satisfying its most special clients during their medium and long distance flights.
This new luxury first class is called Kosmo Suite. As the name suggests, it is a proper mini suite.

The passenger will be immersed in absolute comfort and privacy. The seat, 15 cm longer than standard first class seats, can tilt back so to reach a horizontal position.

The classic screen is substituted by a personal television where it is possible to enjoy private video contents.
The icing on the cake is the menu. The meals are realized in collaboration with luxury Korean restaurants such as the Italian one La Cucina or the Chinese one Dorim of the Lotte Hotel, and those that really don’t want to miss a thing, an exceptional Japanese chef will be on boars so to create tasty dishes right on the spot.

Italian version

Projected by the architect Volkmar Burgstaller, the great structure made of maple and crystal has a private collection of airplanes, owned by Dieter Mateschitz, head of the Red Bull and big fan of luxury jets, but also events, a bar and a restaurant.

Built to host the collection of old airplanes of the Flying Bulls, besides hosting numerous exhibitions it does homage to the culinary art through the restaurant, “Ikarus”, directed by Roland Trettl and based on the good idea to appoint each month a different worldwide famous chef to take care of the kitchen.

The month of July 2009, for instance, it is run by Antonino Cannavacciuolo of “Villa Crespi” Orta San Giulio that will astonish the guests with his creations.

If you visit Austria you can’t miss the occasion of stopping at the Hangar 7. Until 13th September you will also be able to visit for free the exhibition “A force of the past”: eight artists – Francesco Lauretta, Francesco De Grandi, Valentina D’Amaro, Alessandro Ceresoli, Pietro Ruffo, Gabriele Arruzzo, Francesca Pizzo, Sibylle Trafoier – together to talk about the painting of Italy.

Italian version

Absence of Gravity.  Cape Canaveral (Florida), Kennedy Space Center (Nevada); San José (California). From here start the flights that allow to try the absence of gravity on the same planes used by NASA to train its astronauts. To live the sensation of the level of gravity on Mars (1/3 compared to that on the Earth), on the Moon (1/6 compared to the one on Earth) and the unique experience of zero gravity.

MIG 31. The flight happens on a military plane MIG 31 until the edge with the space at a Mach 2.5 speed (twice and a half the sound speed), around 2700 km per hour. The program includes both the flying on board of a supersonic plane MIG 31 “FOXHOUND”, and the flight combined with a tour of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.

Training Stars City. The experience takes place at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at the Stars City, in Moscow. It lasts for three days and the program includes a short physical examination, a theoretical preparation and an experience chosen between the astronaut spin-drier and the absence of gravity, to live the sensations of a walk in the space perfectly simulated inside a pool.

Virgin Galactic (in collaboration with Yourprivateitaly). A flight in the space with the “SpaceShipTwo” to observe the Earth from over 100 thousands high, starting from the first airport in the world dedicated to commercial flights to the space, the “Spaceport America” (New Mexico).

http://www.elation.it/ai-confini-dello-spazio_ct173.htm

Italian Version

To go on business trips with a personal private jet is definitely a priceless luxury.

Dassault presents to the public his latest creation, the Easy Falcon EX 2000, a 10-seats aircraft conceived to serve business men.

To the comfortable executive seats, Falcon adds an interesting meeting area thought to avoid dead moments and make good use of commuting times to conclude important business actions.

To entertain guests on board will not be a problem: this aircraft is equipped with entertainment systems that are conceived to be used for both entertainment and professional purposes, but also with a roomy board and a digital oven where to heat up delicious food.

As far as it concerns its technical aspects, the craft is signed by Honeywell, that means warranty of safety and reliability.

To purchase Easy Falcon EX 2000, you need just a bit less than 25 million dollars.

Italian version

The top ten has been conducted through the analysis of questionnaires collected among 8,6 millions of passengers between 2008 and 2009, over more than 190 international airports.

On the podium there are three Asian airports that, according to Skytrax, competed at the fotofinish to win the gold medal of “World Best Airport”, while the best European was the Swiss airport of Zurich.

The final ranking of the World Airport Awards 2009:
1-  Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea
2-  Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong
3-  Singapore Cangi Airport, Singapore
4-  Zurich Airport, Switzerland
5-  Munich Airport, Germany
6-  Kansai Airport, Osaka, Japan
7-  Kuala Lumpur Aiport, Malaysia
8- Amsterdam Airport, The Netherlands
9-  Centrair Nagoya Airport, Japan
10- Auckland Airport, New Zealand

www.worldairportawards.com

Italian version

Piaggio’s executive director, Alberto Galassi, chose Geneve and the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) to announce that the project of a new Ferrari Jet is about to take off.

Very few previews. What Galassi urged to announce is that the model is based on Piaggio Avanti, fit with turboprop and characterized by the unmistakable elegance made in Italy. Nothing more.

Piaggio, which maintains its logo despite the partial acquisition of a share by Ferrari, added that behind the project there are shareholders from Abu Dhabi and the Indian Tata Group with whom Piaggio shared the decision to keep top secret all the details of the craft till the first take off will take place.

No indiscretions thus, as the Ferrari modus operandi also teaches. The realization of the jet will take about 10 years and Piaggio and Ferrari decided not to take in purchase orders on the base of the renderings but to wait for the aircraft to be operative that will make use of the latest technologies.

Italian version

The event, promoted by the World Air Sports Federation, will gather four hundred participants as representatives of a hundred national federations.

Contending the twenty-five awards up for grabs, besides the free flight disciplines, that is hang-glider and paragliding without engine, it will be possible to enjoy the sight of gliders, balloons, parachutes, helicopters, ultralights, experimental aircrafts, model aircrafts and aerial acrobatics’ pilots.

Main venue of the event is the Torino-Aeritalia di Collegno airport. The balloons will fly in the sky above Mondovi, from the lakes of Avignana will take off hang-gliders and paraglidings whereas the model aircraft indoor construction will make use of the Palaruffini building in Turin.

What will enrich the event are Italian athletes. The Torinese Pierandrea Patrucco, after the adventurous flight in paragliding of the past year (in 28 days he covered 840 km along the Alpine arch), will attempt a extending the route up to 1111 km, from Montecarlo to Trieste, together with the Friulan Marco Zonca. He hold a number of national records, whereas Patrucco won two bronze medals at the World and European Cups, and two Italian titles.
The upcoming appointments for lovers of free flight disciplines in Italy will be the final of the paragliding World Cup from September 1 to 12 in Poggio Bustone. This will be the final stop of the tour that during the spring will go to Brazil, Korea, Turkey, France and Croatia.

The Hang-glider World Cup in 2011 will take place in Sigillo (Perugia) from July 16 to 30, 2011. Just a year before, from July 19 to 31, 2010, the same venue will host a pre-world cup session of events.

Italian version

Under which forms the concept of exclusivity is supposed to take shape according to the view of an airline company, on the ground and in the air?

For us exclusivity means to provide the best ground and air products and services. For instance, we currently make use of the best available aircraft, like Airbus A380, on which we added a new type of class that we called Suite that stands above First Class and is at present one of the top world air companies. Moreover, on board of our aircraft it is possible to enjoy, in all classes, the best inflight entertainment, thanks to the high technology system called KrisWorld, as well as high standard food & beverage services. Our ground services provide personalized assistance, ensuring the best accomodation in case of flight delays or cancellations, and even in case of relatives’ illnesses. We also try to personalize the ticketing service in order to differentiate the type of services we provide from those offered by our competitors.

To what extent do business customers matter to you?

A lot. In fact, our Business Class enjoys exclusive services. Our Business Class is the biggest ever presented by an airline company and the world’s most awarded, with seats that become full-flat beds. Business passengers, like those of other classes, enjoy à la carte menus created by the International Culinary Panel of Singapore Airlines, a team of 7 chefs among the most credited in the world; the meals are accompanied by the best wines, carefully selected by three oenologists. Rest time is made even more comfortable with the pyjamas, duvets and blankets designed by Givenchy, Occitane cosmetics and perfumes and after-shaves by Ferragamo.  All in all, luxury and care are provided at 360 degrees, to offer the best premium products to our customers, of any class.

The concept of Emerging Markets is more and more debated: to what extent did Singapore Airlines interpret the new necessities of the market?

Throughout the years we focused more and more on emerging markets, like China and India, and as of today we have a number of daily flights to these destinations. These are very important markets to us, both because we take there passengers from all over the world, and overall, because we take passengers belonging to those markets to Singapore.

Did the world economic crisis modify the business strategies of your company? If yes, how?

Yes, it did. We foresee 2009 to be a difficult year for us, as for anyone else. We already announced that the fiscal year, starting in April 2009 till March 2010, will experience capacity cuts by around 11%, that is a very significant cut for us. We will have to decommission 17 crafts for the whole year. This is because demand has generally fallen, so much as to lead us to thinking of decreasing the number of flights to a few destinations and of cancelling flights to a couple.

Could you reveal a pearl that will surprise those that will fly with you during the coming months?

One of the things that passengers most expect is a decrease in ticket prices. Thus, we thought of offering ad hoc promotions, for instance from Italy to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia. Our Head Office will also promote initiatives aimed at stimulating travel demands, initiatives that will be announced once the details are available.

Davide Passoni

CAPTIONS
1_Leslie Thng – General Manager ITALY: Leslie Thng, General Manager of Singapore Airlines
2_A345c: Singapore Airlines boasts one of the most sophisticated inflight entertainment systems
3_A330_Biz_class3: The Business Class of Singapore Airlines on board of the Airbus A330.
4_Suites_001: In the Suite on board aircrafts you can feel as comfortable as in your own living room
5_A380_take_off: The Airbus A380, flagship of the Singapore Airlines’ air fleet
6_KFL3: Luxury and Comfort for Singapore Airlines’ ground services

Italian version

The company arrives in Porto Rotondo and Porto Cervo. Here, within the Prestige Village, an area that stretches 1.200 square meters, home of the Prestige Village Wellness & Gym 2008, the company mounted an exhibition area where the guests that hold a privilege card can practice sports sided by personal trainers and enjoy personalized wellness programs at the presence of spa managers.

Turco Global Service offers a wide set of automobiles’ models ranging from flagship and coupe’ cars to SUVs. Luxury and sports brands all are all represented:  Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Audi e Range Rover.

www.turcoglobalservice.it

Italian version