This comprised several components including:
i) Trend research - This consisted of desk research and interviews with trend specialists
ii) Crew Workshops - Workshops were conducted with cabin crew and cabin crew development executives to gain feedback on what new features they would like to see incorporated in the design of the new aircraft in relation to passengers’ and crew’s needs and desires.
iii) Customer Workshops - In August and September 2002, a series of customer workshops were conducted in Singapore, London and New York where frequent flyers were asked to imagine air travel in five to ten years and tell us what changes/services they would want to see.
A total of 100 frequent flyers, familiar with all classes of travel, were hot housed for two days along with 50 SIA staff from various departments (Product Innovation, Cabin Crew, In-flight Service, etc). Together, they designed, created and built their ideal aircraft cabin to scale.
The customers were not constrained in generating ideas, unlike airline professionals who have been conditioned to believe that certain things can and cannot be done. At the same time, the airline professionals were able to comment on the economic viability and practicality of the ideas dreamt up by the frequent fliers.
The input from the groups of customers and airline professionals were then collected and used to map out the over-arching philosophy for our interior cabin design, cabin amenities, and ground and in-flight service procedures.
The ideas generated in the workshops were presented to a group of designers, from fashion houses to luxury car designers and aircraft cabin specialists, to translate into an actual cabin design.
iv) Task Force Workshops: The A380 Task Force simultaneously carried out workshops to define target areas of interest and to refine the results of the customer and crew workshops.
v) Customer Panels: After putting together all the information and consulting with the designers, customers were invited to review the preliminary design concepts.