Focus on inflight entertainment
with 11 additional airlines. The connectivity provider expects to be in operation with more than 25 airlines by the end of 2012. Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC)
has a string of customers for its Global Communications Suite : Lufthansa, Gulf Air, Turkish Airlines, SAS, Cathay/DragonAir, Etihad and Continental Airlines. For its eXPhone service, offered with partner AeroMobile, it serves Air New Zealand, V Australia, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic. Lufthansa relaunched its inflight connectivity service at the end of 2010 using the Panasonic ku band system. This is now growing at a rapid pace. "Our customers very much appreciate the offer. It is now available on approximately half of our long-haul fleet with increasing numbers. So far we have around 50 aircraft equipped with FlyNet," an official spokesperson states. Row44 successfully launched on Norwegian
Air Shuttle last year. Communications manager Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen says, "Norwegian's in-flight Wi-Fi was very well received when it launched on February 9 and it has continued to receive great feedback. On some flights more than 80 per cent of the passengers were surfing simultaneously. Because of the positive response Norwegian decided to increase the installation speed considerably so that more than half of the fleet will be connected by year-end and more than 80 per cent of the fleet by spring 2012." SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which steered the world's first via Connexion By Boeing, is up in the air with Ku again from Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC).
PEDS AND iPADS PAC looks set to continue to dominate the IFE world but is closely followed by Thales and a string of newcomers. Pioneering new systems, vendors with new wireless technologies intend to take a slice out of the IFE market previously reserved for larger vendors. In addition there is a surge of interest by airlines in using iPads and other consumer devices to provide IFE. Low fares leader Jetstar is offering iPads on board, the first airline in the world to offer tailored technology for the device. Content includes latest release movies, TV shows and
music direct from Hollywood, and a line-up of the latest generation games, e-magazines and e-books. Jetstar will initially roll out 3,000 iPads with plans to increase this number once the iPads are placed on Jetstar’s Asia network. Passengers flying longer than two hours will be able to hire an iPad from $10-$15 per flight. In response to this trend, PAC unveiled a new concept last year that uses iPad as a portable inflight media player. The proof of concept includes an iPad in a ruggedised case; a Smart Galley Cart used for storage, charging, and media loading; and a media player app that provides Audio Visual On Demand (AVOD) supporting games, electronic magazines, duty free shopping, and airport information. PAC spokesperson Brian Bardwell says, "At Panasonic, we believe that IFEC and PEDs (passenger electronic devices) complement each other. Mobile devices such as tablets, when used in the wrong scenario, can actually detach the passenger from the airline’s brand. Having passengers onboard an aircraft without immersing them into your world and your brand is a missed opportunity to increase passenger loyalty. That said, there are some instances where passenger electronic devices make absolute sense. These include short flights or with older aircraft where retrofitting any type of system is not feasible because of the age of the aircraft, etc. "There are also instances where a combination of embedded systems and mobile devices makes the most sense, such as the ability to offer passengers live television on the seatback, and email, text, and other services on a tablet or other device. Finally, there are those times, such as longer flights, when a fully-embedded home theatre experience is an absolute must."
Main pic left: Passengers on board Norwegian Air Shuttle access the Row44 connectivity service; Below, Aura One content is refreshed via a secure solid-state drive, a USB stick or a 3G/4G modem; and Virgin Australia will launch wireless content system BoardConnect mid 2012
HANDHELD IFE AND POWER Handheld IFE vendor digEcor is continuing to see success for its L7 player and the embedded version which launched on Gulf Air last year. Marketing director Adam Williams says, "We continue to market and sell the digEplayer L7, which had great success in 2011. We have several projects in the works that will be announced some time this year. We continue to provide content for both handhelds and the embedded system. We are always looking at and evaluating other opportunities." The undeniable trend towards PEDS and connectivity is marked by the demand for inseat power on the aircraft. Astronics provides inseat power solutions to airlines and IFE systems vendors. Director new business development Dennis Markert says, "The outlook continues to be very positive. We continue to work very closely with all of the major IFE vendors (as well as those emerging) and the demand for our EmPower® system remains strong. We are keenly aware of new passenger power trends and are working on a number of new innovative power solutions. As passengers continue to bring onboard a wide array of electronics devices, this too is stimulating continued demand.’
STREAMING WIRELESS CONTENT In addition to providing wireless internet services onboard, connectivity is increasingly leveraged for both streaming content and programming. Gogo is providing streaming content to China Airlines for example and is also providing
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