IFE & Connectivity
Singapore Airlines goes digital with in-flight magazines
6 August 2010 | Singapore Airlines has introduced an electronic version of its its three in-flight magazines – SilverKris (in-flight magazine), KrisShop (sales catalogue); and KrisWorld (entertainment guide) – on its KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system. The digital magazines will be high resolution and passengers will be able to choose their own font, search by keyword, and zoom in to aid reading. Singapore Airlines says it is the first in the world to offer an e-magazine. The e-magazines are part of a trial with a Singapore-based company, SmarttPapers Aviation. and Singapore Airlines says it eventual goal is to create a paperless aircraft.
The airline may extend the initiative at a later date to cover other publications, including menu cards and the more than 100 international and local magazines carried in the cabin. This is “in line with efforts to reduce the amount of paper carried on board, thus reducing weight and saving fuel”, the carrier said in a statement. “E-books and e-magazines have gained popularity and we want to offer these to our customers.” The digital magazines made their debut on 2 B777-300ERs on 31 July, and will be followed by 2 A380s, before being rolled out Singapore Airlines aircraft equipped with the Panasonic eX2 IFE system. Read full article »
Virgin America raises the bar (again) with new IFE features
29 July 2010 | Virgin America has upgraded its ‘Red’ in-flight entertainment system with a number of innovative features, including the first ever seatback digital shopping platform, an open tab service, and Google Maps with terrain view. Already on Virgin America, passengers can use the IFE system to watch live satellite television, chat with other passengers, play 3D games such as Doom, and offset carbon emissions for their flight. Passengers can also purchase snacks, meals, and alcoholic beverages from their seats via Red. Flight attendants receive the orders via a tablet PC and bring the ordered items to the seat.
The boutique airline is the first U.S carrier to eliminate the traditional Skymall print shopping catalogues, moving it to the seatback screen instead. Called ‘The Red Store’, passengers will be able to buy a range of products – some unique to Virgin America – via the touch-screen display or the Qwerty keyboard in the armrest. Products range from the Sony PSP to the latest Michael Kors tote, and shoppers also earn ‘Elevate’ frequent flyer points. To pay, passengers swipe their credit card through the reader in the IFE system and their purchases are delivered to their home or destination address seven days later. Read full article »
BA launches in-flight mobile portal on its London City-JFK business class-only service
8 July 2010 | Passengers on BA’s all-business ‘Club World London City’ service from London City to New York JFK can use their mobile device to send and receive text messages and emails in-flight and access the Internet. The in-flight connectivity service is provided by OnAir. Adding a new feature to the service, BA has become the launch customer for OnAir’s new in-flight mobile portal, which has been branded ‘Club Mobile’ by BA.
BA’s ‘Club Mobile’ is a wireless in-flight Internet portal that gives passengers access via their cellphones to real-time flight information, live sport results, and local information on events, weather and traffic. Passengers can also book concierge and chauffeur services (offered by Quintessentially) through the portal. To get access, passengers only have to switch on their phone, once the ‘no mobile’ sign is switched off, and receive a text message with a link to the portal. OnAir says the mobile portal is the first of its kind. For a demo of the service, see this video. Read full article »
In-flight magazines increasingly find a niche audience
6 July 2010 | With audio and video on demand (AVOD) a standard in-flight entertainment feature today, and with travelers increasingly carrying their personal entertainment devices with them onboard, passengers may start to lose their interest in in-flight magazines amidst all the media overload. To make in-flight magazines more relevant to both passengers and advertisers, a number of airlines have begun to publish special-interest and route-dedicated in-flight magazines.
Wine
LAN Chile has just launched an in-flight magazine, called ‘in-Wines’ targetted at wine lovers traveling in business class. The first edition of in-Wines includes essays by Chilean master sommelier Héctor Vergara, serving and pairing tips, a wine-tasting class, wine reviews and Chilean and Argentinian wine routes. Connecting with passengers “on a lifestyle subject they are passionate about” is the driver behind LAN’s launch of the wine-dedicated in-flight magazine. Says LAN’s manager in-flight entertainment Violeta Garcia, “the magazine gives us the opportunity to reinforce our credibility as wine connoisseurs”. According to Spafax, which also publishes LAN’s regular ‘in magazine’, “in-Wines is already a huge hit with readers and advertisers – with over 20 major brands buying space in the first edition.”
Jetstar first airline to test iPad as in-flight entertainment device
2 June 2010 | Last week we reported on Bluebox Avionics, who has turned the iPad into an in-flight entertainment device. The first airline to test the ‘bluebox ai’ is Jetstar, the low-cost subsidiary of Qantas. The carrier has just announced it will offer iPads for rent on select domestic routes in a two-week trial later this month.
Passengers can rent an iPad for AUD10 (USD8.50, EUR7.00) for the duration of their flight, and watch new release movies, tv programs, and music videos, play game, read eBooks, or listen to music. Jetstar is also looking to add its in-flight magazine to the tablets. Internet browsing will be disabled as Jetstar does not offer in-flight Wi-Fi. The carrier says it has bought several hundred iPad devices, and thirty units will be available on each test aircraft.
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Apple’s iPad to be turned into in-flight entertainment device
24 May 2010 | With more than 200,000 iPads sold per week in the U.S alone, and passengers bringing their own iPad with them onboard, the device could be a good solution for carriers without an AVOD in-flight entertainment system. With a 9.7-inch screen (about the size of an IFE screen), iPads are small, portable, give the user control over what they want to watch, listen, read or play, and are far more versatile than current AVOD handhelds. Their 10-hour battery life is good for most long-haul flights, while re-charging them is easy.
Bluebox Avionics, a company that offers in-flight entertainment products to airlines, has announced the ‘bluebox Ai’, the industry’s first iPad in-flight entertainment device. The Bluebox iPad comes pre-loaded with movies, music, games, eBook, consumer magazines via Zinio, and custom apps for each airline. The Bluebox application also connects the iPad to a portal created for the airline, and if the airline has in-flight Wi-Fi, the iPad will also be fully web-enabled. Read full article »
Air New Zealand gives its inflight entertainment a social twist
11 May 2010 | Air New Zealand (ANZ) is giving the inflight entertainment on its new B777-300 aircraft a social twist. There’s nothing ‘2.0’ to ANZ’s new social IFE feature though. Instead, the airline wants to bring the experience of watching TV together to the back of the aircraft seat at 30,000 feet, which passengers in ANZ’s ‘Skycouch’ seats may especially appreciate.
The new ‘screen share’ feature on ANZ’s Panasonic eX2 IFE system gives passengers the option to synchronize video and music with their neighbours so they can watch and listen together. Parents can use the feature to check what their children are watching, for example. How it works: The ‘screen share’ page on the IFE system shows what other passengers in the same row are watching or listening to and passengers can choose to join in or to start the same content from scratch. It is not known if passengers can turn off the screen share option, in order to avoid nosy co-passengers tuning in. ANZ is also catering to those that carry their personal entertainment devices, as every seat comes with in-seat power and an USB connection.
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More free sponsored inflight Wi-Fi in the United States
25 March 2010 | During the 2009 U.S holiday season several brands teamed up with airlines to provide passengers with free Gogo inflight Wi-Fi, ranging from one week to two months. On a similar note, two new Wi-Fi sponsorships have just been announced.
American Express is sponsoring free Gogo Internet on all 136 AirTran aircraft from March 13 through March 27. With the free Wi-Fi offer both companies are promoting their new ‘Open Savings’ partnership, which gives passengers that book an AirTran flight with an American Express business credit card a 5 percent discount. Gogo has posted a nice video which shows how passengers are reacting to the campaign.
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Inflight connectivity takes off in the Middle East
4 March 2010 | 2009 was the year of inflight connectivity in the USA with the rollout of Aircell’s Gogo inflight Wi-Fi on nearly 700 U.S domestic aircraft (roughly a quarter of the domestic fleet). Inflight Internet access is now being offered (or will soon be offered) by 10 North American airlines. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a similar development is taking place. Airlines such as Emirates and Wataniya currently offer GSM-based connectivity on cellphones and pda’s, and several carriers in the region will follow during 2010, with onboard cellular as well as Wi-Fi access.
Introduced in March 2008, passengers on 70 Emirates aircraft (out of Emirates’ 145-strong fleet) can currently use their cellphones and pda’s to make voice calls and send sms-messages. Emirates says 200 flights a day throughout 55 countries are currently mobile-equipped and each month passengers send and receive over 140,000 sms texts. The airline is installing the Aeromobile system at 2 to 3 aircraft a month and by mid-2010 will also add GPRS technology to its cellular service, providing pda users who need a quick internet fix with a limited Internet connection. Aeromobile together with Panasonic will also equip Turkish Airlines with full inflight broadband when the first of the airline’s 12 new B777-300ERs and 10 A330-300s enters service in the fourth quarter of 2010.
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Etihad latest airline to install remote TeleMedicine technology
3 March 2010 | With people traveling longer distances, ultra-large aircraft such as the A380, and people of all ages and medical conditions traveling, the probability of a medical emergency occurring in flight has increased over the years. Airlines such as Lufthansa have created ‘Doctors on board’ programs, and many airlines have arrangements with specialised call centres that their aircraft can contact in the event of an in-flight emergency.
Equipment that puts an ill passenger in touch with a doctor who can see their vital signs and who is trained in trauma medicine, takes this process forward a few steps. Telemedicine systems such as the Tempus IC Telemedicine system from Remote Diagnostic Technologies (RDT) allows a non-medical user to collect and transmit eight key vital signs routinely measured in an emergency room – including blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen, breath gas analysis and heart condition – and pass these together with relevant photographs and video directly to a ground-based medical response center.
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Aircell’s Gogo to introduce wireless in-flight video service
20 January 2010 | Inflight WiFi provider Aircell plans to launch an in-flight video downloading service sometime in 2010, called Gogo Video. The new service will give passengers on aircraft equipped with Gogo’s in-flight broadband solution the ability to download movie and television content to their laptops inflight using an onboard server and Gogo’s WiFi connection. Gogo currently provides inflight Wi-Fi on 700 planes with eight airlines in the U.S.
Users will visit a portal similar to iTunes, and pay USD2 to 4 for a TV show or movie. To access Gogo video, users will have to download the so-called ‘Gogo Video Client’ to their laptops, which is an iTunes-like application that showcases all available content. The content will be cached onboard in a server, protected by a Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme which Aircell says has been approved by numerous studios. The downloaded content will be available for viewing for up to 24 hours, regardless of whether the passenger is still flying, since the service will be similar to buying content from the iTunes store. According to Aircell: “Our strategy is to bring in-flight entertainment (IFE) into the Apple iPod world”. The service will initially be introduced for Windows laptops. Macs and mobile devices will follow.
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Virgin Atlantic asks its Facebook fans for feedback on inflight Internet
3 December 2009 | Lufthansa recently announced that it will reintroduce its ‘FlyNet’ broadband Internet on long-haul flights. Emirates also revealed it is studying the business case for Ku-based broadband Internet. Currently, the airline offers AeroMobile’s basic cellphone connectivity on about 60 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic is possibly the next long-haul airline to offer inflight Internet. The airline will renew its fleet between 2011 and 2013 with the arrival of several A330, A340 and B787 aircraft, and is currently working on the introduction of new products and services.
In what is a first for the airline, Virgin Atlantic used social network site Facebook to get feedback on what they would like to see in terms of inflight connectivity on the new aircraft. Last week, it asked its 21,000+ Facebook fans a few questions about their connectivity desires. Facebook users could respond to questions like “What are your wireless Inflight Entertainment expectations for Virgin Atlantic?”, and “How would you prefer to pay for the usage of Internet onboard?”.
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ANA let’s premium passengers order food via IFE touchscreen
17 November 2009 | All Nippon Airways (ANA) has selected Panasonic Avionics’ eX2 in-flight entertainment (IFE) system for its Boeing 777/767 aircraft. ANA says the audio video on demand system will feature 160 programs including movies, videos, music and games, as well as iPod connectors, USB ports and power outlets on all seats. The deal is part of ANA’s strategy to launch new products and services under its new brand positioning ‘Inspiration of Japan’, which will be first rolled out from February 2010 on its new 777-300ER aircraft.
Furthermore, starting in April 2010, passengers in ANA’s First and Business class can order their meals and drinks directly from their seat from a touch-screen on their personal TV monitor. Passengers can have their meals when they please, and create their own menu from more than 30 a la carte choices.
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Is free sponsored Wi-Fi the shape of things to come?
10 November 2009 | Inflight Wi-Fi seriously took off in the past year in the U.S, with about 600 domestic aircraft currently equipped with inflight broadband (for the majority provided by Aircell’s GoGo). To make the flying public familiar with the new service, GoGo and U.S. carriers have been handing out complimentary promotional codes, so passengers can try the service first for free. AirTran gives passengers that buy one inflight Wi-Fi session their second session for free. And GoGo and Delta offered free Wi-Fi on National Breast Cancer Day (October 31), donating USD1 for each free session that day to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
While these one-off offers might get some passengers interested to pay between USD6 and USD13 to stay connected in the air, airlines and advertisers are teaming up to offer inflight Internet for free. Part of a trend, dubbed ‘Free Love’ by trendwatching.com, brands pick up the tab to offer passengers free inflight Wi-Fi. Everyone wins: travelers get free access, brands are able to reach an audience in a new way and airlines are able to build awareness about the Wi-Fi service via a new channel. Read full article »
Free Wi-Fi on Virgin America flights, courtesy of Google
20 October 2009 | At a time when air travelers face fees for just about everything, Google and Virgin America are bucking the trend. The two companies are teaming up to provide passengers free Wi-Fi on all Virgin America flights during the holiday travel season. Courtesy of Google, Virgin America will offer free inflight Wi-Fi for almost two months (from November 10, 2009 to January 15, 2010), which covers the three major travel periods in the U.S. (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year). Virgin America’s Internet service itself is delivered by in-flight broadband provider GoGo, and normally sells between USD6 and USD13, depending on the flight time and type of electronic device used.
Virgin America hopes the free service persuades more new users to try out the Internet service, which the airline estimates currently 12 to 15 percent of its passengers are using. Email is the most popular activity, followed by working remotely and social media. For Google, picking up the tab for two months is a smart marketing move because it generates tons of good will among Virgin America passengers, a trend dubbed ‘Free Love’ by trendwatching.com. As Google explains: “The fundamental power of the Internet is in connecting people, and we hope this makes it a bit easier to stay connected with family and friends while you’re up in the air.”
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