An air pillow system for an air intake tract includes a plurality of inwardly extending ribs arranged in a distally spaced arrangement and defining a plurality of peripherally closed air pillow pockets. Each pocket has an open end opening towards an airflow stream to be guided. Each rib is configured with an inwardly extending length selected to correlate with a boundary of a low-loss airflow glide path. The air pillows operate to guide the airflow stream along the low-loss airflow glide path with reduced airflow stream turbulence and airflow pressure loss.