Taipei-based EVA Air has long been a quiet leader in the most premium of premium business classes.

An early adopter of the Zodiac (now Safran) Cirrus outward-facing herringbone seat in its long-haul business class, branded as Royal Laurel, EVA’s soft product has matched this investment — and not just in its famous Hello Kitty planes either.

The airline has long featured well above-average Champagne for business class passengers, well above the quality that many other airlines provide for first class. Depending on the route, either Krug or Veuve Clicquot’s vintage prestige cuvée La Grande Dame are offered.

Read our ratings for Eva Air.

Its amenity kits, too, are first class-level, with a new deep burgundy kit that replicates the iconic Rimowa suitcase.

“Those departing from Taiwan receive overnight kits in Rimowa’s popular new ‘Carmona Red,’” says the airline. “Contents include a color-coordinated eye mask, cozy socks, a hairbrush, a microfiber cloth for cleaning glasses and screens on personal devices, earplugs, a toothbrush and toothpaste and skincare essentials from Clarins.”

On inbound flights, it’s Ferragamo, “inspired by ancient Taiwanese majolica tiles, the case is a harmonious blend of contemporary fashion and Taiwanese culture stocked with Salvatore Ferragamo lotion, hand cream and lip balm elegantly scented with the brand’s new Bianco di Carrara fragrance.”

Hearty portions of skincare, a proper-sized toothbrush, grip-soled socks and a microfibre cloth for cleaning glasses or electronic devices are included in both kits.

EVA is also raising the airline pajama game with a new set from celebrity designer Jason Wu, featuring the usual stretch cotton but also a funky yet practical side-buttoning neck.

That kind of detail allows passengers who feel a draught around their necks to button up warmly, while those who tend to overheat can unbutton to the shoulder to allow for extra airflow.

New food from Huang Ching-biao, a master chef specializing in the Tan aristocratic family style cuisine from China’s dynastic era, will be served departing Taipei to Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in Royal Laurel (long haul) business class.

It is, says EVA,  “prepared with slow, painstaking, traditional cooking techniques and nothing but the best ingredients, the inflight dining experience begins with a pork shoulder slice wrapped with cucumber and Thai-style shrimp followed by golden chicken soup with seafood in a rich, golden broth.

“The main course is braised abalone in oyster sauce served with stir-fried rice with caramel olive while dessert is an elegant concoction of Tan’s mashed taro and sweet potato in water chestnut sauce.”

Meanwhile, passengers heading from Taipei to Brisbane, Paris and Vienna in business will enjoy seasonal desserts from Andrea Bonaffini, the Italian patissier behind Taipei’s Yellow Lemon dessert bar.

There’s a new welcome beverage when you settle into your seat, too, “a cold-pressed mango and mixed fruit juice made from a blend of Taiwan’s exceptionally flavorful Irwin mangoes, pleasingly tart and aromatic passion fruit, tangy oranges and garden-fresh carrots”.

This sort of signature drink is growing in popularity as airlines seek to make a positive and distinctive first impression on passengers. There’s also a little extra treat with coffee and tea: Eclat de Valrhona, a 61 percent premium cocoa dark chocolate from chocolatier Valrhona near Lyon in France.

The whole effect is to bring quite cost-effective changes that — to steal a phrase from the very zeitgeisty Marie Kondo — spark joy among passengers who might be stressed, tired or simply not expecting any magic from the airline experience.

A stonking bottle of champers, an amenity kit you might actually like to keep, a really tasty bite to eat: this is the sort of surprise and delight that airlines need to be creating.

Peanuts were once a stock-in-trade for airlines but finding them is getting harder with Korean Air the latest to join a growing list of carriers no longer serving the snack.

Korean came under fire after it offloaded two teenage brothers on a flight from South Korea to the Philippines because of one of them was severely allergic to peanuts.

The boys, whose father was temporarily based in Manila, had been visiting their sick grandfather in Atlanta. They had informed Delta Air Lines, which handled the first leg of the flight, of the allergy.

They were offloaded from Delta partner Korean when they revealed the condition to staff.

The incident prompted Korean to revisit its policy on the peanuts and it announced Monday decided to replace the snack with crackers in order to provide “a safe environment for all passengers” and prevent similar problems.

READ: Passengers happier when they can track their baggage.

It will also remove food containing peanut ingredients from in-flight meals.

“The decision to stop peanut products and peanut ingredients is the minimum safety measure for peanut-allergy passengers,” a Korean Air spokesperson said.

The emergence of passengers with severe allergies that can cause life-threatening symptoms has prompted other airlines to look at the peanut question including a long time champion of the snack, Southwest Airlines.

Southwest stopped serving peanuts on August 1, 2018, and replaced them with pretzels.

“Peanuts forever will be part of Southwest’s history and DNA,” the airline said at the time. “However, to ensure the best onboard experience for everyone, especially for customers with peanut-related allergies, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue serving peanuts on all flights beginning Aug. 1.”

Other airlines that no longer serve peanuts as snacks include American Airlines, Air Canada, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Qantas and United Airlines,  while Delta Air Lines will not serve them on a flight where a passenger notifies it of an allergy.

A comparison of airlines is available at Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia.

All airlines warn that they cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment, or that people won’t bring on board their own nuts,  and several suggest that allergy sufferers bring EpiPens with them.

American allows customers with peanut allergies to board first, giving them a chance to wipe down their seat and avoid contact with any residue left by previous passengers.

One airline suggests customers with allergies fly on early morning flights shortly after aircraft have been cleaned.

Hawaiian Airlines has expanded its codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia to offer travelers in more than a dozen Australasian cities easier access to its popular home market.

The enhanced partnership builds on popular codeshare flights operated by Hawaiian between Sydney and Honolulu and extends benefits such as one-stop check-in and baggage transfers.

Both airlines will offer members of their loyalty programs the opportunity to earn and redeem points or miles for travel on either carrier.

This allows HawaiianMiles members to earn miles on eligible classes of Virgin Australia-operated flights, while Velocity Frequent Flyer members can earn points and status credits on eligible classes of Hawaiian-operated flights.

READ: Hawaiian still the one when it comes to on-time arrivals

The US carrier says the deal will provide greater access to the Hawaiian Islands for travelers originating in regions beyond its Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland gateways.

Passengers traveling from Australian cities such as Melbourne, Cairns, Townsville and Mackay will be able to travel to Brisbane and Sydney on Virgin-operated codeshare flights from April 3.

Starting April 10, Virgin Australia guests will also be able to book non-stop codeshare flights operated by Hawaiian from Brisbane to Honolulu for travel from April 17.

This is in addition to existing codeshare flights between Sydney and Honolulu as well as Maui, Kauai, and Kona (on the Island of Hawaii).

New Zealanders in cities such as Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin and Queenstown will also be able to travel across the Tasman on Hawaiian codeshare flights operated by Virgin Australia.

“Hawaii is a hugely popular destination with Australians and New Zealanders and we are excited to extend our reach and provide a seamless travel experience to the Hawaiian Islands,” said Andrew Stanbury, Hawaiian Airlines’ regional director in Australia and New Zealand.

Virgin Australia general manager of alliances Phil Squires said the codeshare expansion would mean passengers of both airlines would now enjoy more opportunities to travel between destinations in Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.

Brussels Airlines is improving its business class and adding international premium economy seats onboard its Airbus A330 aircraft in what it calls a “boutique hotel in the air” experience.

At first glance, the Belgium national carrier’s new business class looks very much like its old business class.

But there are some crucial and subtle differences that substantially improve the onboard product, which remains Thompson Aero Seating’s Vantage product.

READ: Airlines offer rescue fares to thousands stranded by Wow Air collapse.

This isn’t Vantage XL, along the lines of SAS or Qantas. It’s regular Vantage, also seen on the airline’s Lufthansa Group stablemates, Swiss and Austrian, as well as numerous other airlines around the world.

Around a decade ago, Swiss was to be the launch customer for Vantage but was pipped to the post by Delta Air Lines, which uses it onboard its Boeing 767 aircraft.

READ our ratings for Brussel Airlines.

Unlike the others, Brussels Airlines installed Vantage in a puzzling configuration on its Airbus A330 aircraft.

Most airlines take Vantage in an alternating 2-2-1, 1-2-1 layout, which means that only two passengers in nine do not benefit from direct aisle access.

Brussels Airlines chose an alternating 1-1-1, 2-2-2 configuration, where four in nine passengers either have someone climbing over them to get to the aisle or need to do the climbing.

That changes with the new layout, which matches other A330 operators with the more spacious 2-2-1, 1-2-1 layout.

Not only does the layout improve, but Brussels Airlines and design partner JPA have taken the opportunity to invest in some of the passenger experience improvements that Thompson has created with Vantage over the years.

Most visible are the extended side tables in the “throne” and aisle-adjacent seats, which go some way to making the latter less unattractive compared with either the throne or the window-adjacent seats in the cabin.

One key criticism of Vantage is the amount of space available in the footwells.

Recent implementations of the product have added space here by moving the tray table so it folds down from a vertical storage spot to the side of the seat rather than sliding out from the footwell. Brussels Airlines has chosen this too, and it looks efficient.

The details are also attractive: a small cuboid lamp adds some indirect lighting in addition to the usual spot reading light, the inflight entertainment screens are pleasingly wide, storage is plentiful (including a new under-screen stowage box and side-bins), and the “tower of power” at shoulder level features power outlets plus a headphone holder alongside the headphone jacks.

The overall cabin theme is art nouveau, very appropriate for Brussels, but the execution feels a little uninspiring thanks to the cabin colors, which remain rather blue-grey-boring, despite the addition of some warmer beige surfaces.

A few silvery swirls on the bulkhead are all very well, but there’s more than enough thermoplastic in the cabin for this to have been a little stronger on seat shells too.

I like the idea of the self-service bar area at doors 2, especially the attractive overhead light. But the walls of dark grey, industrial galley inserts feel like a missed opportunity. Is there no texture or color that could have been given to this space?

The airline and its partners have also been smart to include the integrated bulkhead monument at the front of the cabin, which saves space by tucking the feet of the front-row passenger into the bulkhead.

Passengers like these seats because the footwells are larger, while airlines like them because they can save around fifty centimetres of cabin footprint.

All in all, the bones of the cabin are a real upgrade — it’s just a little bit of a shame that the clever idea of adding some art nouveau flair wasn’t executed a little more boldly.

Airlines have moved to assist up to 10,000 people stranded by the collapse of Iceland’s Wow Air, the latest in a string of European airline failures

The budget airline’s website said Thursday it had ceased operations and all flights had been canceled.  Its 11 aircraft were grounded in North America and Europe.

Surprised customers expressed anger at the short notice given before the closure.

“I got a message saying ‘flight canceled’ and I’m trying to figure out what’s going on,” stranded passenger Enzo Arbcco told ABC news in the US.  “And some lady at a desk tells me how they just went  bankrupt.’

“No one was there to give me advice,” said passenger Mary Sapp.  “No, we were just left and then when once we found  they were bankrupt, are we even going to refund us?”

READ: Ryanair to launch Buzz later this year.

Wow advised passengers to check available flights with other airlines, noting that some may offer reduced “rescue fares” to help get stranded passengers home.

Norwegian, Icelandair. easyJet and Wizz Air, British Airways, XL Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Aer Lingus were among the airlines to announce help for stranded passengers, according to the Icelandic Transport Authority.

Passengers were also advised to contact credit card and travel insurance companies, while who bought their flight from a European travel agency as part of a package tour were told they would be protected by the package travel Directive.

Others will have to take their chances with an administrator or liquidator.

The airline has been on the endangered list for some time and talks about a potential sale have been conducted with Icelandair and Indigo Partners.

Ryanair predicted earlier this year that there more airline failures in the competitive European market.

The airline noted that higher oil prices and lower airfares had seen “a wave of EU airline failures” including Primera, Small Planet and Azur (Germany), Sky Works (Switzerland), Cobalt (Cyprus)  and Cello (UK).

Since then, Flybmi and now Wow have also ceased operations.

There will be a new Buzz in the air later this year as Ryanair rebrands its ultra-low-cost Polish subsidiary in bright yellow.

Ryanair Sun, which flies on a Polish Air Operator’s Certificate,  says it will adopt the new moniker in the northern autumn as well as launch its own website and app.

The standalone business unit obtained its AOC at the beginning of 2018 and started operating for leading Polish tour-operators in summer of that year with a fleet of five aircraft.

That has grown to 17 planes and the carrier expects to have 25 aircraft operating this summer providing charter flights and scheduled Ryanair services.

Buzz is one of four airlines of the Ryanair Holdings Group, alongside Ryanair DAC, Laudamotion and Ryanair UK.

READ: Boeing has ‘complete confidence’ in MAX software fix.

“Over the last 15 years, Ryanair has grown to become Poland’s biggest airline, thanks to the unbeatable combination of the lowest fares, best customer service and largest route network – and we now expect that Buzz will be Poland’s No.1 airline,” Buzz chairman Juliusz Komorek said in a statement.

The move comes after Ryanair earlier this year predicted  is predicting a summer of weaker European airfares and airline failures

It also posted its quarterly loss since 2014 due to excess winter capacity and lower ticket prices.

The company said that it could not rule out further cuts to fares, especially if there were unexpected Brexit developments.

“We do not share the recent optimistic outlook of some competitors that summer 2019 airfares will rise,’’ it said.

“In the absence of further EU airline failures, and because of the recent fall in oil prices (which allows loss-making unhedged competitors to survive longer), we expect excess short-haul capacity to continue through 2019, which will we believe lead to a weaker – not stronger – fare environment.”

The airline noted that higher oil prices and lower airfares had seen “a wave of EU airline failures” including Primera, Small Planet and Azur (Germany), Sky Works (Switzerland), Cobalt (Cyprus)  and Cello (UK).

It said bigger airlines such as Wow, Flybe and Germania were urgently seeking buyers or, like Norwegian, refinancing to survive.

“We expect more closures and airline failures in 2019 due to overcapacity in the European market, which is causing continued fare weakness,’’ it said.