Carry on: Kidman stars in Etihad VR, Singapore's A350s and more

Kidman takes VR to new heights in Etihad’s A380 
Hollywood star and Etihad Airways ambassador Nicole Kidman features in a five minute, 360-degree virtual reality featurette called Reimagine. It shows Ms Kidman, her director, an opera singer and an Emirati guest with a falcon in first class on board an A380 superjumbo aircraft flying between New York and Abu Dhabi. The featurette also showcases the Savoy-trained Butler in The Residence, the private three-room cabin; the inflight chef in First Class; the food and beverage manager in business class; and the flying nanny, trained by the Norland College in the UK.

Filmed exclusively in Abu Dhabi, Reimagine was created over a six-month period using VR technology. The A380 was customised before filming; overhead lockers, seats and other sections of the aircraft’s interior were removed to allow for the installation of Red Dragon cameras, which were used to capture the Ms Kidman’s movement through the aircraft. Hundreds of individual lights were required to ensure smooth and uninterrupted shots.

Etihad collaborated with the Barbarian Group, a subsidiary of Cheil Worldwide, and the creative digital production company MediaMonks to produce the film. It was directed by husband and wife team Anthony Atanasio and Valerie Martinez.

Fiji, Jetstar link through Singapore
Fiji Airways and Jetstar have announced an interline partnership to provide single-ticket air travel from 21 destinations in Asia to Fiji and onward to the South Pacific for the first time. The agreement means all Jetstar branded airlines, including Jetstar Airways, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Japan and Jetstar Pacific, will be able to connect with Fiji Airways’ newly launched Nadi-Singapore route. The twice-weekly direct flights the first between Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Singapore confirms A350 for South Africa
Johannesburg will become the second long-haul destination in Singapore Airlines’ A350-900 route network. This confirms NBR’s report on May 20 and the first flight will be on June 27.

The A350 will initially be deployed on flights serving the Singapore-Johannesburg route on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Frequency of A350-900 services will progressively increase to cover all seven weekly Johannesburg flights, including four weekly flights that continue to Cape Town. The three-class aircraft seats 253 passengers in business (42 seats), premium economy (24) and economy class (187).

Hawaiian upspecs A330s
Hawaiian Airlines says its new premium cabin with lie-flat seating is likely to be seen on the Honolulu-Auckland route some time in next year. The airline has just taken delivery of its first A330-200 with the new cabin. The seating configuration in the new aircraft will reduce from 294 overall to 278. This will comprise 18 in the premium (the equivalent of business), 68 in Extra Comfort (premium economy) and 192 in the main cabin (economy).

Route news of the week
Fiji Airways for six-week period plans to reduce its ATR72 operations on the Nadi-Vava’u service, as overall operation to Tonga reduces from twice to once weekly. This will be in effect from August 14 to October 11. Nauru Airlines is adjusting its weekly Micronesia Island Hopper operation. From June 3, the airline will switch the Nauru-Tarawa-Majuro-Kosrae-Pohnpei-Chuuk sectors to Nauru-Tarawa-Majuro-Kosrae-Chuuk-Pohnpei. Alitalia will resumes the Rome-Larnaca (Cyprus) route after a 10-year absence. The service will operate twice a week from June 8 to September 29 using A320 aircraft. 

Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.