FoCus on inflight entertainment
Sally Gethin of Gethin’s Inflight News reports on the main developments from September's Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) show in Seattle
Connectivity is the key
There’s an increasing convergence taking place between connectivity companies and the entertainment requirements of airlines, not least because of the growth in personal electronic devices
IT’S BEEN a lacklustre summer for IFE but the Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) show in Seattle has shown that the industry is hotting up once more. True to the acronym APEX, the world of inflight entertainment is actually at an apex, forged by the power of internet protocols and the growth of personal electronic devices (PEDS). Not long ago, the market was split between connectivity and IFE system technology. It still is to some extent, in the sense that connectivity providers often pursue airlines in a separate orbit to IFE companies. But looking at the APEX show, there is now a marked convergence. Connectivity companies are embracing the principle of entertainment and addressing the need for honed content from airlines. Connectivity is an enabler of new content on different devices – but the approach varies. In the US there is Aircell, renamed this summer to Gogo (on nine North American carriers), Panasonic Avionics' connectivity services (on Lufthansa and contracts with nine other international carriers), Row44 (Norwegian Air Shuttle, Southwest Airlines) and LiveTV. All these companies are aggressively bringing content into their connectivity portfolio. In the case of Panasonic and LiveTV, programming entertainment has always been a core value, augmented in the last few years by inflight connectivity service. Norwegian Air Shuttle is rolling out its Row44
installation, operating via ku band. The system has been up and running since February. Airline communications manager Lasse Sandaker- Nielsen comments: “We are very satisfied with our customers’ response to our in-flight wi-fi and we can report that an average of as many as 50 percent of our passengers connect to Row 44 on our wi-fi-equipped aircraft. Currently we
44
www.onboardhospitality.com
An average of 50 per cent of passengers access wi-fi on Norwegian Air Shuttle
have 11 aircraft connected and the plan is to have 21 by year-end.” Outside the US OnAir is capturing airlines in
vast high growth regional tracts such as the Middle East, Russia and South America. These companies have individually driven
the entertainment agenda forward – ironically in a rather collective chaotic fashion, since in some instances their first remit has always been inflight connectivity, rather than programming entertainment, games or other types of content. But connectivity is the driver. American Airlines is a case in point. American Airlines is about to embark on a
new IFE initiative using the Gogo connectivity service branded Entertainment On Demand. American describes it as ‘streaming’ video (as
“Connectivity companies are embracing the principle of entertainment and addressing the need for honed content from airlines. Connectivity is an enabler of new content"
opposed to headend/server-based distributed video) since it is wirelessly distributed leveraging Gogo equipment onboard. Essentially the result will be the same – video content – except it will come via a different means and be available on the passenger’s own device. The content will be movies and general programming from an ‘onboard library’.
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