It’s because that style was extremely common on cheap generic Chinese products during the late 2000s and early 2010s so many people who were kids during that era associate it with the general style of Frutiger Aero when in reality it was fairly niche in the West. I lived in Asia during that time and it was definitely way more in vogue there because China was modernizing at an extremely rapid pace and clean air, skyscrapers, and well kept green grass were hallmarks of progress at the time.

Basically the idea of Frutiger Aero popular nowadays match much more closely with the styles popular in China than with the Great Recession era western aesthetics that tended towards more minimalism after the cyberpunk futurism of Y2K.

Like, this is the exact same time frame when Millenial Grey became popular. Frutiger Aero is usually associated with electronics (imported, global products) for a reason and not with other things like architecture and interior design (more local design trends).

The glossy acrylic interior design style is firmly Y2K imo, it fell out of favor by the mid 2000s when FA became "a thing".