The Finnair A350 greeted by Press at the gate, © 2015 FCMedia

During my tour of the new Finnair A350 from Hamburg to Helsinki, I was especially struck by the capitalisation on light against a neutral canvas.

Natural light from the A350's large windows and programmable mood decorate the understated Finnair Economy cabin./FCMedia
Natural light from the A350’s large windows and programmable mood decorate the understated Finnair Economy cabin./FCMedia

The walk through reminded me of another, way back when, working on the new image program for USAirways, when they changed out their interiors to a silver-grey. I originally thought that design might be dull, but it turned out to be a glorious capitalisation on natural light entering through the windows.

That was over fifteen years ago, and we’ve learned a lot more about cabin design principles as an industry since, we’ve added technology features to the cabin we couldn’t have imagined back then, become far more sophisticated in use of space and materials and light.

A rainbow decorates Finnair A350 Economy cabin/FCMedia
A rainbow decorates Finnair A350 Economy cabin/FCMedia

Fast-forward to today and it’s easy to see the light gains from the A350’s larger windows. Add to that Finnair’s mood lighting, with glowing effects programmed into a cool Northern Lights display and a Warm Asia theme, add the opalescent effect of the aircraft’s light grey-white structures, and the Finnair A350 interior positively glows.

Finnair A350 Aurora Borealis light show./FCMedia
Finnair A350 Aurora Borealis light show./FCMedia
Finnair A350 Warmth of Asia light show./FCMedia
Finnair A350 Warmth of Asia light show./FCMedia

Space is generous inside an A350, and the Finnair cabin design optimises all that room, ensuring passenger comfort.

Finnair A350 Business Class Seat/FCMedia
Finnair A350 Business Class Seat/FCMedia
Finnair A350 Business class seat footwell and IFE/FCMedia
Finnair A350 Business class seat footwell and IFE/FCMedia

The airline’s CEO, Pekka Vauramo, told reporters that Finnair hopes to deliver a Nordic experience to passengers from the moment they come onboard, and the airline has succeeded.

The simplicity of this A350 design is sophisticated elegance, in the best tradition of Nordic aesthetic. But details reflect Nordic whimsy and a love of nature.

IMG_0266
The mood lighting was programmed, but the rainbow was a gift./FCMedia

The fabric used for dress covers is of a high-quality weave. The stitching and fit of covers is impeccable. The airline even sewed in a logo label, for a nice branding touch.

Fabric weave and Finnair tag detail on Economy seat dress covers, Finnair A350./FCMedia
Fabric weave and Finnair tag detail on Economy seat dress covers, Finnair A350./FCMedia

In the past, I’ve been critical of these, because passengers love to pick at things. It will no doubt lead to dress cover damage and earlier replacement. Still, that Finnair chose to do it means that the airline is committed to ongoing maintenance.

Quality fit and stitching on Finnair's A350 economy dress covers./FCMedia
Quality fit and stitching on Finnair’s A350 economy dress covers./FCMedia
Quality fit and stitching on Finnair's A350 economy dress covers./FCMedia
Quality fit and stitching on Finnair’s A350 economy dress covers./FCMedia

Using light neutral tones and white structures throughout the cabin sends the same message of a commitment to maintenance and hygiene.

Inflight on the Finnair A350 headed for Helsinki, with Aurora Borealis light show on display./FCMedia
Inflight on the Finnair A350 headed for Helsinki, with Aurora Borealis light show on display./FCMedia

To complement this, there is the colourful Marimekko used in food service and amenities, which incorporates Finnish arts and crafts tradition.

Marimekko amenities in the Finnair A350 Business cabin./FCMedia
Marimekko amenities in the Finnair A350 Business cabin./FCMedia
Finnair brings Marimekko design to service items, even in the Economy cabin./FCMedia
Finnair brings Marimekko design to service items, even in the Economy cabin./FCMedia

There is a very clever introduction of Finland’s lush green nature with a calm forest image in a galley screen, which I found was an attractive detail. It helps the cabin feel fresh, quieting the disturbing visual noise of galley equipment. It’s really a very simple thing, but Finnair took the time to consider it, which speaks volumes about everything else.

Finnair A350 forrest scene galley screen/FCMedia
Finnair A350 forrest scene galley screen/FCMedia

There is ample room for luggage with the A350’s roomy bins.

The A350's large capacity overhead bins make luggage look small. Finnair Aurora Borealis mood lights on display./FCMedia
The A350’s large capacity overhead bins make luggage look small. Finnair Aurora Borealis mood lights on display./FCMedia

The in-flight technology with Panasonic IFE, and Wi-Fi connectivity is the final touch ensuring passengers in all cabins can enjoy the journey as they like: relaxing, being entertained, or productive. The user interface on the IFE was simple and responsive, and I found Wi-Fi worked well, similar in performance to a 3G mobile connection on the ground, once you got on the server.

There were a couple of hiccups signing up, but I think that was an issue of the server coming online at the beginning of the flight and my rushing to log-in. Once log-in was resolved, I was able to share both images and video from the sky on social media–which, to be honest, blows my GenX mind.

Finnair A350 Economy cabin, view of IFE and warm Asia themed mood lighting program/FCMedia
Finnair A350 Economy cabin, view of IFE and warm Asia themed mood lighting program/FCMedia

The Finnair A350 is clean and modern.

We talk about modernity in design, but modernism dates back to the early 20th century: and that’s what’s good about it.

Modernity is timeless, enduring, eternal. Modern is forward-facing optimism, not backward-looking melancholy.

It reflects aviation’s true nature, and technological prowess. Modernity looks up at the skies and takes off to new horizons. Finnair brings that modernism where it’s most at home: in the clouds.

Through images and sensations, Finnair declares, “We are the future.”

With the launch of this new A350, it is easy to believe them.

Marisa Garcia

After working for sixteen years in aviation, specializing in aircraft interiors design and aviation safety equipment, and getting hands-on with aircraft cabins in hangars around the world, Marisa Garcia turned her expertise into industry insight. She has been reporting on aviation matters since 2014. Every day, she's putting words to work.

Recommended Articles

22 Comments

  1. […] airline’s A350 tour flights also temporarily contributed over one percentage point to both capacity and traffic […]

  2. […] Garcia from FlightChic summarizes it nicely: “There is a very clever introduction of Finland’s lush green nature with […]

  3. […] lighting–as introduced on the Boeing Dreamliner and more recently on the Airbus A350–has already proven a versatile tool for brand differentiation onboard, allowing airlines great creative […]

  4. […] lighting, which has already made great strides creating beautiful and soothing atmospheres onboard the Boeing Dreamliner and Airbus A350, is moving one step further to animation, a trend Boeing […]

  5. […] Finnair, which for its new A350s has come up with a clever (and economic) solution by installing galley screens that are lowered when passengers are boarding and which feature a striking photo of Finland’s […]

  6. […] Finnair, which for its new A350s has come up with a clever (and economic) solution by installing galley screens that are lowered when passengers are boarding and which feature a striking photo of Finland’s […]

  7. […] Finnair has opened up a new in-flight shopping concept by introducing a Wi-Fi Makia shop on its A350 planes. […]

  8. […] customers by January 31 to four airlines on four continents: Qatar Airways, Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and TAM […]

  9. […] We know there are beautiful galleys available now–and quick, simple attractive ways to make plain aircraft galleys attractive. (Scroll down the linked article and you’ll see what I […]

  10. […] project between luxury travel bag manufacturers Rimowa, Airbus, the manufacturers of the super sleek A350 who build other nifty planes too, and ever-stylish […]

  11. […] “We achieved a profitable result in 2015 and rolled out the new A350 aircraft, which was an inspiring experience for our entire […]

  12. […] experience element on the Airspace by Airbus cabin falls in line with modern Airbus standards as established by the A350: In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) boxes which don’t take up any leg space, high-capacity pivoting […]

  13. […] seen a lot of airlines show off the beauty of the A350 cabin, but Singapore Airlines gives us an AvGeek peek at why this aircraft is also a beauty to […]

  14. […] gives airlines even more room to play with in what is already a remarkable aircraft. As we’ve seen with A350-900 in service, even catalog-driven cabin design can result in a delightful […]

  15. […] an example, Finnair (which also offers Panasonic Avionics eXConnect high-speed Wi-Fi on its new A350XWB planes and will extend the service through the fleet) has introduced creative Wi-Fi enabled in-flight […]

  16. […] also worked closely with Reaktor on the Nordic Sky inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi portals for the new A350 XWB […]

  17. […] announced that it will add capacity and frequencies to the Tokyo and Hong Kong routes served by A350 aircraft for the summer 2017 […]

  18. […] 6. The Light Fantastic: Inside the New Finnair A350 (Written at the end of 2015, Finnair should be pleased this one has proven so popular. I really give them all the credit since they have captured the imagination with this aircraft as their brand signature. Though I wrote this after a brief launch flight, I recently enjoyed the aircraft on my trip to/from APEX EXPO, and I owe the Finnair A350 a refresher. It was a wonderful way to fly.) […]

  19. […] Singapore is a competitive A350XWB route in the Nordics, with Finnair also offering A350 flights to Singapore through Helsinki. […]

  20. […] in fuel economy, reduced CO2 emissions, and low noise. The airline is also scheduled to add new A350-900 aircraft to its fleet starting next […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: