Expect to be infused with the calming influence of French Polynesia’s lagoons long before you arrive when Air Tahiti Nui’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliners start taking to the skies later this year.

Images of the airline’s striking new livery and the plane’s interior,  released ahead of the first service between Papeete and Auckland on November 8, show how both pay homage to the South Pacific seas and skies.

The new livery keeps the white tiare flower that has adorned the tails of Air Tahiti Nui aircraft since it started flying in 1998 and includes three shades of blue inspired by the Tahitian ocean, sky and lagoons.

A tattoo emblazoned on the hull includes ripples on the water, flocks of birds and symbolic creatures such as a manta ray (wisdom), a whale (strength and abundance) and an albatross (freedom).

Inside, the aircraft’s three cabins will have 30 business class, 32 premium economy and 232 economy seats.

Read our ratings for Air Tahiti Nui.

The Poerava Business Rockwell Collins Diamond seats will be in a 2-2-2 configuration with a 60-inch seat pitch the ability to transform into a 78-inch lie-flat bed. The airline says each seat is equipped with a” luxurious cushion and cover comfort system for restful travel” as well as an individual touchscreen remote control, personal lighting and privacy divider.

Onboard amenities include a thick duvet, a big pillow and a luxury kit of accessories.

The new Moana premium economy will come with 32 Z535 Zodiac Aerospace seat that in a 2-3-2 configuration. The seats are a comfortable 20.5 inches wide with a seat pitch of 38 inches with a generous recline of 20cm that cradles the passenger. Onboard amenities in this cabin include a polar blanket, a big pillow and an accessories kit.

The 232 Z300 Zodiac seats in economy will be in a 3-3-3 configuration with 31-inch seat pitch and 6-inch recline with an articulated seat pan. Passengers in economy also get a blanket, big pillow and accessories kit.

The planes will be equipped with Panasonic’s latest touch-screen inflight entertainment system with 16-inch screens in business, 13-inch in premium economy and 12-inch in economy.

Passengers will also be able to stay connected through Panasonic’s eXConnect satellite broadband during the airline’s short- and long-haul flights from Los Angeles, Paris, Auckland and Tokyo to Tahiti.

The airline also revealed the registrations of its four 787s — due to be delivered by September, 2019 —contain a hidden message that when joined together reads will join together to say “the warrior (TOA) going forward (MUA) in the great (NUI) canoe (VAA)”.

Watch wing clouds make for stunning video.

Air Tahiti Nui chief executive Michel Monvoisin said the Tahitian Dreamliner would be a great ambassador for the Islands of Tahiti.

“For Air Tahiti Nui, it is the passenger experience that takes precedence, and so we wished to build on the foundations that make the company a success: the sense of hospitality and sharing, with the Polynesian heart and soul to be enhanced by a travel experience that we want to be the most immersive in the world,” he said.

Air Tahiti Nui currently operates five A340-300 aircraft from its Tahiti base to Auckland, Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles and codeshares to 37 additional destinations with carriers that include American Airlines, Air France, Air New Zealand and Qantas.

It also codeshares with the SNCF rail system in France and is the only airline that flies from New Zealand to Europe via Tahiti.

Ground has just been broken on an ambitious project in Denver that will see its international airport add 39 new boarding gates, increasing capacity at DEN (that’s IATA’s code) by 30 percent.

No big deal?

Consider that the vast majority of airports in North America don’t have 39 gates in total. Denver already has 111.

Those new gates will come online sequentially, with the last of them scheduled to be up and running by 2021. Four concourses will get them, with workers adding on to the ends of Concourses A-West, B-West, B-East and C-East.

What does this mean for passengers boarding, deplaning or simply flying through Denver? More growth opportunities for the airlines, especially DEN’s ‘Big Three’: United, Southwest and Frontier.

Airport CEO Kim Davis says: “We will not only increase capacity, but we will add more passenger amenities.” Look for more places to eat, shop and charge up your laptop or smart phone.

Read: Staying in wi-fi touch on Virgin Australia.

Demand for more flights is obviously growing in the lee of the Rocky Mountains. Each year the airport handles some 61 million passengers, rendering DEN one of the busiest airline hubs in North America.

If there’s room for more gates at Denver so, too, is there space for more runways. The number of gates, coupled with the number and layout of runways, are the two components to handle growth at any airport.

DEN has six runways, with room to add another half-dozen—a situation virtually unique among North American airports.

Watch: slipping into LAX at sunrise on a Boeing 777.

Five of those six current runways are 12,000-feet (3,600 meters) long. The other is a gargantuan 16,000-feet long (4,800 meters).

That makes it the longest commercial runway in North America. You need the extra length because of Denver’s mile-high location. The air is thinner, requiring longer takeoff rolls—especially among heavily-loaded transoceanic nonstops to places such as London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.

So long are these airstrips that first-time Denver flyers sometimes get a bit squeamish counting the seconds until  ‘rotation,’ after which their flight gets airborne. You think the takeoff roll is going to last forever.

Virgin Australia has unveiled international in-flight WiFi on its fleet of Boeing 777s operating to the United States.

The move makes it the only Australian airline to offer the service, which operates for the duration of the flight.

The system is very simple to use.

Just ensure your device is in flight mode then connect to VirginAustralia wireless. Then launch your browser which should connect you to the service.

If not, simply type in airborne.gogoinflight.com

Then select “Get Connected” to access the internet.

WATCH: Slipping into LA on a Virgin 777 at Sunrise. 

The rates are very reasonable at either 1 hour for $8.99 or $19.99 for the journey’s duration.

AirlineRatings.com flight tested the system last month and it worked very well with good upload and download speeds for emails, Facebook and Instagram.

Emails were quick and I could access Facebook and Instagram without any issues.

However, I didn’t stream any videos but am told this is also fine, depending on the volume of users which is standard with all the current systems according to the experts.

There are very easy to follow instructions and the crew is fully versed in the system.

READ: Virgin Australia rolls out Economy X across the entire fleet

It certainly gives you peace of mind that if you need to be contacted you can be.

And supporting that feeling is new research by Virgin Australia which revealed that 70 percent of Aussies confessed to having experienced “net-lag” during a flight and feeling frustrated because they couldn’t access the internet.

And over 65 percent said that feel overwhelmed catching up on emails, messages, and other unread notifications once they landed.

The survey found that Australians would use in-flight WiFi if it were available on international flights in the following ways:

-Social Media to check Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (23.8 percent)

– Stream movies or TV shows (21.3 percent)

– Personal email and web browsing (16.5 percent)

– Read the news (15.6 percent)

– Instant message friends and family (14.6 percent)

– Business/work email and web browsing (8.3 percent)

The research also found 71.3 percent of people felt their time on a long-haul flight would be more productive with WiFi, and more than three-quarters would perceive their flight to be more enjoyable if they could stay connected.

Not surprisingly, almost 50 percent of those survey said that they turned their phones back on immediately after landing.

And that is a key to living today. While some say the internet is an intrusion, it is so much a major part of the way we live our lives we feel stressed if we can’t be contacted and don’t enjoy the holiday.

According to Dr Andrew Campbell, Cyberpsychologist at The University of Sydney “we know that the inability to keep up-to-date with the online world and stay in touch with friends is a real fear that’s only grown since the introduction of smartphones.”

“Like it or not, staying connected has become an essential part of life for most of us and certainly seems to be where we’re headed as a society.”

Group Executive, Virgin Australia Airlines, Rob Sharp said: “Most of us use our phones on a daily – if not hourly basis – meaning it can be incredibly disruptive to have extended periods of time when you can’t connect with friends, family, colleagues, or what’s going on in the world. We’re proud to be the leader in providing Australians with greater in-flight connectivity on international flights.”

Virgin Australia now has an aggressive rollout of WiFi with all its 777s fitted and 10 domestic Boeing 737s kitted out.

Almost 75 percent of the 737 fleet will be fitted by year end and the airline’s six A330s will be equipped early next year.

Air New Zealand expects almost a third of passengers on its new Chicago service to be Aussies as it continues to benefit from its strategy of marketing itself as an alternative way of traveling between Australia and the Americas.

The Kiwi carrier over the last five years has expanded its network by 40 percent to include destinations such as Buenos Aries and Houston. It says all its international routes are profitable.

The expansion has been coupled with good growth in Australia in the wake of a strong campaign to convince Australians living in Perth, Adelaide and the eastern seaboard to travel to North and South America via Auckland.

Australians now make up 40 percent of AirNZ’s passengers on the Buenos Aries service and 30 percent to Houston.

“Chicago will work in the same way,’’ chief executive Christopher Luxon told AirlineRatings at the recent International Air transport Association conference in Sydney.

One offshoot of the strategy was the decision to pull out of the trans-Tasman alliance with Virgin Australia from late October and enter a codeshare relationship with Qantas.

READ:  Qantas hops into bed with Air New Zealand.

Luxon said AirNZ’s North American strategy and the growth of the Kiwi airline’s business in Australia had caused tension within the trans-Tasman relationship.

That’s a different strategy to if you’re just running a strategy across the Tasman,’’ he said. “That works at cross purposes to what Virgin might want to do because obviously, they’re  eastern seaboard into North America as well.’’

Luxon also revealed the airline had approached both major Australian airlines about entering into a codeshare deal in domestic Australia after it announced it was ending its trans-Tasman alliance in Australia.

Watch: Air New Zealand’s merry mistake.

He said the airline needed a solution for the 137,000 Air New Zealand customers who travel on from major cities to other destinations in Australia.

“The Qantas deal was just commercially better and just a great customer proposition,’’ he said.  “We get 85 ports, access to all the lounges that we need.

“And obviously it’s a much bigger deal for us in Australia than I’d say for Qantas in New Zealand.’’

Virgin has criticized the deal and has described it as bad news for consumers.

It warned there would be flow-on effects for competition on the Tasman.

At least three airlines are interested in the kind of ultra-long-range mission Qantas wants to operate on its Project Sunrise flights, Airbus has revealed.

The Australian carrier has asked both manufacturers to develop a “hub-buster” aircraft capable of flying Sydney-London and Sydney-New York non-stop.

Read all things on the table for Qantas Project Sunrise cabins.

The ultra-long-range flights are outside of the envelopes of even the newest Airbus and Boeing planes but Qantas has said it is confident the manufacturers would be able to meet the technical specifications and it will be able to launch the service by 2022.

But it may not be alone.

“There is an interest from other operators for an ultra-long-range mission to look at these options and to look at these possibilities,’’ Airbus chief salesman Eric Schulz said at the International Air Transport Association conference in Sydney.

Asked if Airbus was talking to other operators, Schulz confirmed it was and said there at least three with networks that could use an ultra-long-range aircraft similar to Project Sunrise.

The European manufacturer is racing against US rival Boeing to come up with an aircraft that can do the job for Qantas. One of the difficulties is that Qantas wants the aircraft to be a 300-seater, so it asking to transport a sizeable payload over a long distance.

Boeing believes it has the better planes. Its Boeing 777-8 and 777-9 have yet to fly but will be coming on stream before Qantas wants to start the service.

Boeing’s website puts the range of the 350-375-seat (in two classes) Boeing 777-8 at 8700 nautical miles (16,110km) and that of the bigger, 400-425 seat 777-9 at 7600nm (14,075km).

Airbus also has two models, the A350-900 which Airbus says seats up to 325 people and has a range of up to 8100nm (15,000km) and the A350-1000, which the company says seats up to 369 people and has a range 7950nm (14,750km).

Airbus also has the A350-900 Ultra-Long-Range which has a modified fuel system that boosts fuel carrying capacity by 24,000 litres. Airbus puts its range at up to 9700nm (18,000km).

The problem with these figures is they do not reflect the day-to-day reality of airline operations.

Singapore Airlines will be flying the A350ULR non-stop between Singapore and Newark, New Jersey, from October — a distance of 15,300kms — but will have just 162 seats on board, although these will be the heavier premium economy and business seats. This compares with Singapore’s standard A350-900 configuration of 253 seats in three classes

Qantas, which is looking for a multi-class 300-seater, will ignore the publicly available specifications  to look specifically at what the planes can do for the missions it wants it to operate,

the payload it requires and the conditions in which it will likely fly.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told reporters at the IATA AGM the project was making good progress with both plane makers a technical evaluation would be finished this year.

his would allow the airline to go through a request for proposal (RFP) process that would allow the airline to place an order for the aircraft in 2019 with delivery slated for 2022.

Schulz noted that Airbus already had aircraft in the market that can be modified for ultra-long-range missions.

“The advantage we have is we have an A350-900ULR  which is already flying with Singapore Airlines,’’ he said. “It is doing Singapore to the US which is quite similar in terms of trip and operational challenges to the one we have.

“The aircraft does a little bit less than what Project Sunrise will require but we know how to drive this. And then we have other developments within Airbus that we will bring to the table at the time.

“it’s actually good news if my competitor believes they have the only product because I am convinced we have at least one, if not two products that could do the mission as well.”

The second option would see the bigger A350-1000 modified to do a ULR flight.

“So basically we are looking at both options,’’ Schulz said. “The clear difference between the two would be what would be economically viable for Qantas, in this particular case, and for other operators.”

Airbus is also offering the option of being able to “demodify” the 900ULR to help maintain its value in the secondary aircraft market.

Schulz noted this offered flexibility to airlines.

On the question of the gap between what the aircraft can do now and the Qantas requirements, Schulz said this would depend on how seat count was balanced against range and this was why Airbus was looking at both the -900 and the -1000.

“Qantas are still maturing their process,’’ he said. “It’s not a straight process because it is so on the extreme of the enveloper, it’s a process where you get there  by iteration.

“So at the beginning, Qantas could have the temptation to put many, many seats but then the reality might be different.’’

Pointing to the London to Sydney route, Schulz said other unknowns included interest in the flight, pricing and yield.

He was also non-committal on suggestions Qantas could look at options such as sleeping berths in the new aircraft, pointing to the potential weight penalty of such a move on a ULR flight.

WATCH: Wing clouds make for stunning video.

Boeing marketing vice president Randy Tinseth said conversations with Qantas on the technical aspects of Project Sunrise were ongoing

He believes Boeing has an advantage with its 777-8 and bigger 777-9 aircraft.

“We know we have the most capable aircraft in the market, so that puts us in a good place,’’ he said “But of course, what they’re asking us to do is actually beyond the capabilities of even the 777-8,  which will be by the far the longest range airplane in the market.

“So we’ve put the challenge in front of our engineers, and you know they love these kinds of projects, and asked ourselves, what could we do with an aircraft in order to meet some of those long-range missions.

“And we’ll just have to see how it goes as we get into the next phase of discussions with the airline.’

Tinseth pointed to the aircraft’s all-new composite wing and new GE9X engines as pluses.

“As it sits today, we have airplanes that have more range and capacity than our competition and not just a little, but significantly,’’ he said.

Tinseth said Boeing was pleased with the progress General Electric was making with engine tests and said the 777 program was generally performing well.

“The program, in general, is on track, if not a little bit early,’’ he said. “We’ve had to do some extra work on the wing and work though some issues there as we go through those first couple of airplanes.

“But in general, the program’s performing well.”