From IFExpress’ perspective, this year’s Passenger Experience Conference (PEC) in Germany was worth the battle with Monday morning jetlag! As we all know, not all conference content is created equal, and many times, the opening remarks/panels are a bit mundane; however, the 2019 PEC provided us with some salient questions and concepts that kept our attention.

Insights from Industry Leaders  was the title of  the opening session and the panel was comprised of Jóhanna Bergi, CEO of Atlantic Airways; Dr. Christian Langer, Chief Digital Officer of the Lufthansa Group & Managing Director Lufthansa Innovation Hub; Jeremy Drury, Director Digital & E-Services Star Alliance; Juha Jarvinen, Executive Vice President of Commercial, Virgin Atlantic; and moderated by Dr. Joe Leader, CEO of APEX & IFSA.

Joe Leader started the session by saying that he is seeing a stronger focus on the inflight experience and personalization to the passenger experience with more ancillary revenue attached to the end-to-end service. His example: Etihad is offering some business class touches in their economy service. And he went on to say that, “No matter the size of your airline or the scope of your mission, it is the attention to details that matter.”

The first panel member to address the crowd was Ms. Johanna A. Bergi – CEO Atlantic Airways; who stated that Atlantic Airways was established 31 years ago and is the carrier of the Faroe Islands. Ms. Bergi discussed the uniqueness of the Faroe Islands, how they have been connected politically to Denmark since the 14^th century but are geographically located near the coast of Scotland, and how travel and tourism is important to their community. “We want to promote our country in a modern way.” Sustainability is key to their airline and the Faroe Island community as a whole. “We are going full speed into sustainability, we have purchased new aircraft for their fuel saving and we are also using sustainable packing with a pre-order system for catering in an effort to minimize waste.” They offer the AirFi IFE system to their passengers. Content is upload when the aircraft is on the ground, but gives the passengers a feel of being connected, even though they are not connected real-time.

Next to address the conference was Dr. Christian Langer – Chief Digital Officer & Managing Director Lufthansa Innovation Hub who told us that the Lufthansa Group has changed how they look at digital information. He asked the question, “How do we drive innovation?” He said that within their organization they rely on the people within it to provide the innovative concepts, not a single group or the board itself. Dr. Langer stated that they also give monetary awards for concepts that are successful. He asked which other industries may be converging with ours? And said that we are often influenced by the auto industry and he could see a time when cabin interiors might be manufactured by the auto industry, as they have the same problems to solve. However, the innovation cycle of the auto industry is far quicker– every 15 – 24 months, compared to that of the aviation industry . He said, “Our industry takes years and years. I think we, as an industry, need to speed up this cycle given passenger expectations.” He went on to say, “What is the impact that digital industries will have on the passengers? How can we understand what they are doing and how can we influence it? How can we speed up internal processes to be on par with these start-ups?  How can we adopt the new technologies/services, your IT needs to be able to adopt? If you don’t have the API ready, how can you adopt? Speed is of the essence and we as an industry need to speed up the process.” In closing, Dr. Langer said, “Keep your basics straight. Improve your basics and it will have a big influence. Airlines, ask yourself: How on time? How clean are the cabins? What is your ecological footprint? What is the technological footprint? We think these things are very important.  Fix your basics, have them be brilliant and you will be successful.”

The next speaker was Mr. Jeremy Drury – Director Digital & E-Services Star Alliance. Mr. Drury said that his focus is to make the customer journey better. One of the primary ways to achieve this is make certain that the airline has access to quality data on each customer and that the hand-off of that information from carrier-to-carrier within the alliance is better in order to facilitate the passenger journey.  “The customer is king,” said Drury, “Which ever channel the customer elects, it is important that the customer can stay within that channel throughout their journey to get everything they need. So, you don’t need to download a billion apps.” Seat selection on a multi-segment, multi-carrier trip was used as an example: You have downloaded the United app onto your phone as they are your carrier of choice. You are traveling on them for the first leg of your journey, then connecting onto a Singapore Airlines operated flight. You should be able to select/change your seat, etc. on the Singapore operated flight using the United Airlines app.

Drury went on to say, “Biometrics are a big deal. What principals as an alliance do you maintain between services and privacy? It is difficult, biometrics services need to be tracked and transferred throughout the journey. We are working out ways to solve the problems in order to deliver but with explicit consent, because the customer owns themselves.” He went on to say that airlines have to ask themselves the following: what services will be available through the various airlines’ applications? Baggage tracking, directions through the airport (guidance options within the airport), easier informational items (lounge is an example). And how can airline/alliance speed up rate of approval? In terms of loyalty propositions: What is the future of loyalty? How would/could blockchain be used? How close are we to having that as part of the world? The need for redemption opportunities. In order to do this, we need to build up a series of people and products that can be leveraged in that eco system. Block chain is the perfect airline alliance product. It is an ideal technology. “We have a way to go before it reaches fruition, but the Star Alliance is starting to look at this, “said Drury.

The last to present was Juha Jarvinen – Executive VP of Commercial, Virgin Atlantic. Juha said that Virgin has always been an iconic airline that historically has been a bit bolder, a bit braver and has embraced a certain look and feel. A key part of their identity is to “be yourself” and diversity is very important to their airline culture. He went onto say the airline has a 3-year strategy program: 1) We need technology but must focus on the people because it is the people that make a difference 2) Need to start growing. It is important to expand and be in a growth mode 3) How do we expand our global network with our partnerships? Established a relationship with AirFrance/KLM (31%) and Delta Air Lines (49%) and have acquired Flybe (will focus on short haul segments) – these relationships will dramatically change and strengthen Virgin Atlantic.

What is Virgin Atlantic’s vision: DNA is to be different, bolder but they are now adding more airlines to the joint Atlantic family, which gives them a global network in an entirely different way. Mr. Jarvinen stated that they now have a substantial business not just a leisure airline. Juha went on to say they are creating a new loyalty program for the UK market – It is all about the customer data: how do we customize and personalize the offering? They have been asking themselves: “What slows down adoption for an airline? When looking at airline alliances, the members adapt and change at different rates. So, we work with a few airlines that are more agile and then roll out the product/service/strategy after it has been tested and trialed with the other airlines.”

Another area that Mr. Jarvinen talk about was passenger data. “Do airlines have the capacity to protect the passenger’s data? Do people trust airlines to protect their data? This is a crucially important area. We have had examples of data breaches with airlines around the world. All passenger data and loyalty data must be protected. This is on the top of the agenda. This is a topic where airlines must work together.”

Juha rounded up his discussion by stating: “Whoever is closest to the customer wins the customer. Google announced the gamification of gaming (basically puts it in the cloud) a few weeks ago, this provides an opportunity for the airlines when it comes to gaming and/or IFE.

Loyalty programs could truly benefit from gamification. Also, what is the next stage of the journey?  Example: asking Siri where your gate is, is the plane on time, etc. So, whoever gets there first wins.”

Next week IFExpress will focus on the Digital Trends Break Out Sessions, so stay tuned!

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INMARSAT

Inmarsat, a leader in global mobile satellite communications,  announced that its award-winning GX Aviation inflight broadband solution will be available to passengers onboard Virgin Atlantic’s brand new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to receive 12 Airbus A350-1000s over the next three years, with GX Aviation pre-installed upon delivery. The service will be available once the first of these aircraft takes to the skies from late summer 2019, allowing passengers to seamlessly browse the internet, check social media, instant message and more, with speeds on par with mobile broadband on the ground. GX Aviation is the world’s first and only global, high-speed inflight connectivity service delivered through a wholly-owned and operated network of high-throughput satellites. It was revealed as part of Virgin Atlantic’s new onboard offering on the A350-1000 earlier this week, with other key features of the aircraft including an entirely new Upper Class cabin with brand new suite and social space. More than 1,600 aircraft are currently expected under signed contracts for Inmarsat’s next-generation inflight broadband solutions for airlines, with a new business pipeline of approximately 3,000 aircraft worldwide. To meet growing demand, Inmarsat has a fully-funded development roadmap, including three further Ka-band payloads. A fifth GX satellite will be launched later this year and two sixth-generation satellites are scheduled to launch in 2020 and 2021. In addition, planning is underway for the next generation of GX satellites.

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VISION BOX

New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport Terminal One Group and Vision-Box have signed a cooperation agreement to modernize passenger processing and roll out one of the largest biometric boarding airport platforms in the USA. A seamless biometric-based passenger management platform will be implemented, allowing for passengers to board without needing to show their passports or boarding passes. Lufthansa will be the first carrier to offer the technology at JFK Terminal One, their largest USA operation, with Air France, Japan Airlines, and many others expected to follow suit, as the terminal is home to a total of 26 international carriers.

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INFLIGHT VR

In an effort to appeal to their young and increasingly technology hungry customer demographic, innovative Korean low- cost carrier Jin Air has partnered with Inflight VR to offer Virtual Reality (VR) inflight entertainment to its passengers. Jin Air will trial 10 devices on daily flights between Seoul, South Korea and Da Nang, Vietnam to get additional passenger insight on usage preferences and the adequate rental price before deploying it to their whole fleet.

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AIRBUS

• Airbus has launched first operations of a new Skywise service – Skywise Health Monitoring (SHM) – with Allegiant Air on its A320s. Dynamically coupled with Skywise Reliability Services (SRS) and Skywise Predictive Maintenance (SPM), SHM is hosted on Skywise, gathering live diagnostic feeds from the aircraft through its *ACARS link to the airline’s information system. Using the power of the Skywise aviation data platform, SHM collates and centralises the alerts, flight-deck effects, maintenance messages etc., prioritizes them, correlates any faults with the relevant troubleshooting procedures, highlights operational impacts, provides the maintenance history of the system (from the logbook and **MIS information collected through Skywise Core and stored in the data lake), allowing effective tracking of the alerts. When fully deployed, and following the in-service feedback from Allegiant Air and other ‘early adopters’, SHM will support airlines’ Maintenance Control Centers, Line Maintenance and Engineering departments in identifying, prioritizing, analyzing and handling in-service events, enabling quicker decision-making and preparation of the optimal solution to ensure aircraft on-time dispatch and minimizing AOG risks. Overall, SHM saves airlines time and decreases the cost of unscheduled maintenance. Natively interfaced with SPM and SRS to provide an integrated user-experience, and also ready to harness the new on-board Flight Operations and Maintenance Exchanger (“FOMAX”) data router which can capture over 20,000 real-time aircraft parameters, SHM enables end-to-end unscheduled event management/fixes for example by anticipating tools and parts’ availability closest to the aircraft. More early adopters will join in the months to come to pilot SHM for other Airbus aircraft, including A330, A350 and A380. *ACARS = Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System **MIS = Maintenance Information System
• Airbus appointed Julie Kitcher as Executive Vice-President Communications and Corporate Affairs, effective immediately. In this role, she joins the Airbus Executive Committee leading all external and internal communication activities, reporting to Guillaume Faury, Airbus Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• Airbus SE appointed a new Executive Committee led by Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury, following approval from the Board of Directors. The changes are effective immediately. The Executive Committee supports the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in his duty of managing the day-to-day operations of Airbus’ business and is the Company’s top executive body. It comprises the Heads of Divisions and major Functions.
  Dominik Asam, Chief Financial Officer; Thierry Baril, Chief Human Resources Officer; Jean-Brice Dumont, Executive Vice-President Engineering, Bruno Even, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Helicopters; John Harrison, General Counsel; Dirk Hoke, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Defence and Space; Julie Kitcher, Executive Vice-President Communications & Corporate Affairs; Philippe Mhun, Executive Vice-President Programmes & Services; Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer; Michael Schöllhorn, Chief Operations Officer; Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer

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OTHER NEWS

• Airbus noted at the AIX Passenger Entertainment Conference that in 2017 there were some 7,300 aircraft connected to the Internet in 2017 – by 2025, some 23,000 will be!
• Beer and flying – what could be better? BrewDog Claims to Brew ‘World’s First Beer at 40,000 Feet’ | VinePair
• New aviation electrical power systems will require a whole different approach to designing, building, and testing but the folks at Collins have figured that out –
  Collins Aerospace to build US$50m electrical systems testing lab | Aerospace Testing International

UAS, Honeywell, and Hongkong Jet to sign partnership deal at ABACE 2019   

Shanghai | April 16, 2019– UAS International Trip Support and Honeywell are joining forces to provide global connectivity to the business jet fleet of leading Asia Pacific business aviation charter and management group Hongkong Jet with the implementation of UAS LinkEvolution™ for flight services and communication combined with Honeywell GoDirect cabin services for passenger connectivity.

The agreement will be formalised at a signing ceremony on the opening day of ABACE 2019 on Tuesday April 16^that 2 pm – on UAS booth A123. 

UAS LinkEvolution provides seamless global connectivity to the cockpit using powerful datalink satellite communications networks.  The forward-looking datalink solution delivers worldwide ACARS (datalink) service, as well as unlimited access to all worldwide VHF networks, including ARINC and SITA, as well as Inmarsat and Iridium satellite networks. It will also enable Hongkong Jet’s  fleet of several Gulfstream G650/G550, Falcon 8X, BBJ’s, and ACJ319 aircraft to keep abreast of datalink regulations and remain compliant, regardless of where the aircraft are flying.

UAS’ technology partner Honeywell is a global leader in the datalink-satellite communications arena, ensuring UAS’ offering is world-class.

The strategic alliance between the two companies originated in May 2017, when UAS International Trip Support and Honeywell ratified a partnership to expand Honeywell’s flight deck and cabin connectivity services through UAS LinkEvolution.

The benefits of using this communications technology include a single-vendor solution for the entire fleet;unlimited datalink communications over all VHF and satellite networks with no per kilobit charges or satellite premiums and reliable, 24/7 technical support, powered by Honeywell.

Omar Hosari, UAS Co-Owner/Founder and CEO said: “UAS is incredibly proud of the success we’ve had in promoting UAS LinkEvolution globally. We have been delivering cost-efficiency and reliability to operators since we began this partnership with Honeywell. we’re delighted to introduce Hongkong Jet to this technology and are confident their experience will be overwhelmingly positive.”

“Honeywell GoDirect will provide cabin connectivity service for Hongkong Jet’s fleet, including Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX Ka Band service that runs on Honeywell’s JetWave terminal.” said John Peterson, Vice President, Service and Connectivity, Honeywell Aerospace. “GoDirect offers a full suite of cabin connectivity services, along with cabin routers and tools to allow customization of the user experience in the cabin to provide passengers with the connectivity they desire within a set budget. Local technical support in Hong Kong plus the GoDirect global technical support team assures customer connectivity issues are addressed quickly and correctly.”

Hongkong Jet stated:  “UAS LinkEvolution offers a customized and responsive solution to our unique flight deck communication requirements.   It was a natural choice to make the switch, both in terms of performance and cost-efficiency. At Hongkong Jet we pride ourselves on being a well-informed, passionate team of experts who focus our undivided attention on providing business jet owners with a safe, professional, personal and proactive service that allows each aircraft owner to realize the full potential of business jet ownership. Now with the introduction of LinkEvolution services for the flight deck and Honeywell GoDirect cabin connectivity services we can continue to service our clients according to our company ethos.”

April 15, 2019–The organisers of Passenger Technology Solutions (PTS), which returned to the Hamburg Messe 2-4 April 2019 during Passenger Experience Week, have today announced CloudLounge and BudJet as winners of its inaugural PAX TECH HACK, which saw around 50 international developers and innovators battle it out for their share of the €10,000 prize pool.

The PAX TECH HACK, backed by supporting organisation IATA, asked participating developers to respond to one of two challenges: the Inflight Passenger Community Challenge or Boost Airport Retail Challenge. After a short welcome and introduction to Passenger Experience Week, 12 teams were formed with developers uniting to combine ideas before undertaking 48-hours of non-stop coding on the PTS show floor.

Winners of the Inflight Passenger Community Challenge, CloudLounge, included first-time hackathon participants Tugberk Duman, Minja Silvennoinen and Tatjana Förster. Together they created an easy-to-use personal networking experience that enables passengers to use an IFE camera or QR code to join the virtual lounge of a fellow traveller.

Speaking about the win, Tugberk Duman said: “It’s a great feeling to win, especially as a team of three when we’re competing against larger teams of developers and designers. We had a good focus throughout the challenge and clicked as a team. We believe the world is moving forward and instead of creating more Apps for our personal devices, we can make use of the industry’s existing infrastructure.”

Team BudJet, which included developers Evgeny Becker, Peter Martischka, Simon Hanke, Lukas Antesberger and Natalie Moschner were chosen as winners of the Boost Airport Retail Challenge for their solution which matches passengers with products available at an airport based on a designated budget. The App helps passengers navigate through an airport passing by shops of interest, helping maximum their time at the terminal, while driving revenue opportunities for retailers.

Speaking about the winners, expert panellist Sylvain Guilbon, Head of Customer Program Management, SITAONAIR, said: “As judges, what impressed us the most was the level of professionalism and quality brought to the final project presentations, after 48 hours of non-stop work. The presentations were not only polished and thorough, but took into consideration prototype functionality and clearly identified the pain points that the projects would address, as well as the potential business models to bring these ideas to market.

“Both teams addressed specific use cases in the passenger journey with an innovative approach and clear, concise, yet out-of-the-box, thinking. Being focussed on safety, first and foremost, the aviation industry tends to move at its own pace. It’s fantastic to see game-changing ideas like these that can enable air transport to be, not only safer, but faster and more enjoyable.”

Guilbon was joined by fellow expert panellists Pierre Charbonneau, Director, Passenger Experience & Facilitation, International Air Transport Association (IATA); Dr Stathis Kefallonitis, Founder & President, branding.aero and Noesis Analysis Labs; and Katie Murphy, Portfolio Director, Passenger Experience Week.

Speaking about the PAX TECH HACK, Pierre Charbonneau said: “I believe this industry has a unique edge over many others in the fact that most people travel for business or pleasure, and everyone has their own view of what could be improved. The next generation of aviation professionals are increasingly immersed in technology, and by working with digital suppliers and software developers, the pool for which new ideas can be facilitated is unlimited. Initiatives like the PAX TECH HACK are crucial in helping to stimulate innovation for the industry.”

Archana Sharma, Exhibitor Director, Passenger Technology Solutions, added: “All of our PAX TECH HACK developers deserve a huge round of applause for their hard work and determination. The solutions presented provided a unique insight into the opportunities offered by technology and a glimpse into the future of the passenger journey and what we can expect to see onboard.”

Passenger Technology Solutions returns as part of Passenger Experience Week 2020 from 31 March – 2 April to provide a platform that enables those responsible for cabin design, in-flight entertainment, connectivity, technology, passenger comfort, travel catering and onboard retail to deliver on the demands of the 21st century passenger.

For more information visit: https://www.passengertechnologysolutions.com.

France | April 15, 2019– Reference is made to the joint press release by Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) and Gemalto (Euronext Amsterdam and Paris: GTO) dated 29 March 2019 on the results of the recommended all-cash offer by Thales for all the issued and outstanding shares of Gemalto (the Offer) in which the Offer was declared unconditional and the Post-Closing Acceptance Period was announced. Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Document.

• Following the Post-Closing Acceptance Period, which ended yesterday, approximately 97.02% of Gemalto shares have now been tendered to the Thales offer.
• Settlement of Shares tendered during the Post-Closing Acceptance Period will take place on 18 April 2019.
• Thales will initiate the statutory buy-out proceedings as soon as possible in order to obtain 100% of the Shares.
• Thales and Gemalto will ask Euronext to delist the Gemalto Shares shortly after Gemalto’s 2019 annual general meeting, to be held on 28 May 2019.

Istanbul | April 16, 2019–

The world’s largest airport is open for business and DMD Turkey is the go-to provider for a wide range of print and digital media services to airlines operating there.

Our established Istanbul-based operation delivers the full DMD range of airline services at major national airports including the prestigious Istanbul Airport, where our service portfolio now reaches multiple passenger experience touchpoints:

• In premium airside lounges
• At departure gates
• Onboard
• At home pre-departure (digital)

Our unique service offered to airlines operating at Istanbul Airport includes:

• Discounted prices for local and international newspapers & magazines
• Airside access for direct delivery to aircraft, gate or lounge – as well as to any landside location
• A selection of complimentary magazine titles for gate and lounge services
• One single monthly invoice for all services and products
• Locally managed 24/7 customer service

“Our operational capacity in Turkey has increased greatly with migration to the new airport, enabling us to offer an even more timely and responsive service to clients there”, says Cihan Akkartal of DMD Turkey. “We’re proud to be there for any carriers serving Istanbul, from new friends to more than a few of our major global customers.”

The new Istanbul Airport stands at the centre of an extensive flight network as one of the most important hubs in the world. The first phase terminal hosts an annual capacity of 90 million passengers and when complete the airport will service over 300 destinations with an amazing 200 million capacity.

As a world leading travel media provider, DMD works with airlines and other travel operators globally to give them premium access to the very best printed publications and digital content.

To find out more about how DMD Turkey can help you offer your passengers a bespoke range of superb newspapers, magazines and digital titles at this fantastic new airport contact our Istanbul office today.

IFExpress is home from a week in Germany where many new developments in the IFEC arena were on display at the Aircraft Interiors Expo Hamburg 2019. As we mentioned to many of you during the show, predominately 2019 was a ‘step change’ year verses a new product/hardware unveiling – however, there were one or two major exceptions, which we will address in upcoming issues of IFExpress.

As many of you know, this is a huge show and we never managed to get outside of the IFEC Zone but we did see some noteworthy concepts. For example, this spring there were three different companies exhibiting LiFi technology (a mobile wireless technology that uses light instead of radio frequencies to transmit data) for IFEC applications; whether it was streaming movies to an inseat screen or using LiFi to upload content to the aircraft when it was parked at the gate. All pretty amazing, and we were impressed with the rate of proliferation of the technology from APEX 2018 to now. Needless to say, we think LiFi is here to stay and anticipate the Tech Committee to establish a working group on the technology in the near term if they haven’t done so already.

An area that did have some major advancements that we were wowed by was satcom antennas. We saw an amazing new development antenna project that we are still in awe of and cannot wait to see how it will impact the industry once it is certified and flying. Having said that, there were several other companies that were also exhibiting new antennas that were much more aerodynamic and provided more performance. More on these developments in a later issue.

Another area that was addressed in many booths was the concept of Health/Wellness applications. This is a definite growth area for our industry and the IFEC venders appear to be embracing the concept. Health/Wellness is a circumstance where the aircraft is mimicking the trends on the ground and, as we know, airlines are always looking to engage their passengers with technology and services that meet their expectations and ease the stress of the travel experience. Expect to be hearing more and more on this area over the coming months.

None of the aforementioned would be possible without the new, massive solid-state drives that are embedded in today’s IFEC in conjunction with the proliferation of installed connectivity services, artificial intelligence and biometrics. As these four technologies evolve in the IFEC industry the amount of data that can be garnered about each individual traveler and their expectations will result in a tailored travel experience from the moment the ticket is booked, throughout the journey itself, until the passenger reaches his/her destination. The industry has long talked about touching the end-to-end passenger experience and how it will facilitate the airlines ability to meet, and possibly exceed, expectations of those utilizing their services whether it be for leisure or business travel. It is the belief of IFExpress that we are finally on the cusp of being able to deliver on that promise. Having said that, one of the primary areas of concern that has, and will continue to be, voiced was the issue of privacy and security around the individual traveler’s personal data. This translates to the need for an increasingly cybersecure system. As an industry, both the airlines and the IFEC vendors will be continuing to focus on the issues of hacking and maintaining the passengers’ faith and trust that their personal information is secure. This is an issue that is here to stay.

Another major announcement that was discussed last week was the news that Future Travel Experience (FTE) and the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) reached an agreement to fully integrate the FTE into APEX. “This decision to integrate FTE into the APEX family will create an end-to-end passenger experience and innovation powerhouse that will benefit the entire air transport industry, including airports, airlines, vendors and all other stakeholders who play an important role in enhancing the customer experience and optimizing operational efficiency on the ground and in-flight.” Said Daniel Coleman, Founder of FTE. FTE will continue to operate with autonomy but both organizations believe that by teaming they can strengthen and amplify their respective propositions, which provide an opportunity to consolidate yet build large-scale interactive events together. Time will tell.

Over the next few weeks, our publication will review what we had the opportunity to see and experience during AIX. We will start with the Passenger Experience Conference and the Digital Trends breakout session from April 1st. During the following weeks we will do a deeper dive into the interviewed companies and their technologies. As always, thanks for subscribing and reading IFExpress!

Editor’s Note: “With all the press and industry concern over the recent B737 MAX incidents, we have created a section lower down in IFExpress on Boeing because this subject is very important, and it is news with a great impact – safety will always be a BIG DEAL.” – Patricia Wiseman

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AIRBUS
American Airlines is starting scheduled flights with the first of its 100 new Airbus A321neo aircraft on order. These aircraft come equipped with an all-new cabin interior designed for enhanced passenger comfort and convenience, including larger Airspace XL overhead luggage bins that increase carry-on bag capacity. American is the launch customer for the Airspace XL bins, which provide approximately 40 percent more overhead storage space for passengers on board the 196-seat aircraft. In addition to equipping its new A321neos with the XL bins, American also plans to retrofit its entire in-service fleet of earlier A321 models – more than 200 aircraft – with the cabin features included on the new A321neos.

Airbus has extended its Airspace Customer Definition Centre (CDC) at its Airbus site in Hamburg, Germany for cross-program cabin customization by now including the A320 and A330 programs – to complement the existing A350 XWB customization areas. From now on operators of all these programs can experience the well-established approach for a fast, easy and state-of-the-art cabin definition which Airbus has been offering for A350 XWB customers since the original CDC first opened in 2014. Furthermore, the CDC now fully adopts the ‘Airspace’ Cabin Brand, which was first launched with the A330neo, and sets new cabin standards of comfort, ambience, service and design for airlines and their passengers. Consequently, the CDC was renamed to Airspace Customer Definition Centre.

Following the launch of this extension in April 2017, construction began to enlarge the existing CDC premises by redeveloping and equipping a large adjacent aircraft hangar into a state-of-the-art and cooperative working environment. Recently completed, the new facility adds approximately 4,500 m² of new space over two floors dedicated for A320 and A330 customers, and will foster the realization of their integrated cabin solutions. The CDC extension features new customer-specific mock-up areas as well as highly flexible presentation and conference rooms on two levels with the ambience of an industrial loft.In the CDC customers follow a unique definition process through a purposely designed array of highly dedicated zones. In line with Airbus’ track record of cabin innovation, the extension brings several new technologies and services which are now available across the different aircraft types. A key highlight is a new Airbus invented floor projection system which displays the full-scale real cabin layout on the floor. Combined with original cabin elements, customers can perform ‘live’ tests of alternative layouts and scenarios. In addition to this innovation, some configuration mock-ups have been expanded to include a cargo area to discuss solutions for the use of the space in the lower-deck. Furthermore, meeting rooms are updated with the latest VR-technologies.The combination of functional play rooms for cabin equipment testing, exhibition areas for typical airline product staging, design studios for material and mood light definitions, virtual and augmented reality technology complemented by customer-specific mock-up areas, make the Airspace CDC a unique and attractive one-stop-shop for customers.

Air Portugal – Lisbon based TAP Air Portugal received its first of twelve A321LR’s on order, becoming the first airline to operate a combined A330neo and A321LR fleet. The A321LR is the world’s most flexible and capable large single aisle aircraft. Powered by CFM engines, TAP’s A321LR is configured with 171 seats (16 full flat Business, 48 Eco Premium and 107 Ecomomy seats). The combination of the A321LR and the A330neo within a single fleet provides operators a powerful lever to cover the needs of the medium to long haul market. With both newest generation single aisle (20% fuel burn reduction) and widebody aircraft (25% fuel burn reduction) airlines benefit from an unrivaled commonality for operations whilst passengers experience a higher and harmonized comfort standards.

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ASTRONICS
Astronics Corporation, a provider of advanced technologies for global aerospace, defense, and other mission-critical industries, announced that Astronics and HAECO Cabin Solutions have collaborated to jointly integrate SmartTray passenger electronic device (PED) holder technology for inclusion on HAECO’s Vector economy seats’ in-arm tray tables.

Astronics also announced an expanded line of CorePower power conversion products for use on commercial aircraft, business jets, and rotorcraft applications. These new power converters are available off-the-shelf and certified to provide an easy path for modernizing aircraft power systems.

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BOEING
FAA was urged by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer to remove Boeing from Aviation Rule-making Advisory Committee (ARAC) until the formal investigation into MAX crashes has ended. He also demanded that FAA make public who else sits on the committee.

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OTHER NEWS

• Your mobile device might affect inflight connectivity…here is an Airbus answer- Moving towards 5G for aircraft communications – Aircraft Interiors International
• Microsoft has a FREE online AI Business School – Read about it here: Free Microsoft Online AI Business School to Educate on Power of AI
• Need population info? Try this – Countries Ordered by Population in 2019
• Too much noise on the plane to sleep – perhaps not with BOSE!
• For more travel info, you might want to try AtYourGate and App in the Air mobile travel apps: AtYourGate on the App Store and App in the Air on the App Store – and thank you SmartBrief!
• While we do not see any data on aviation usage, we note that Amazon is developing a satellite Wi-Fi system that aims: “to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” Now what if they could talk to airplanes? Amazon’s Project Kuiper aims to offer satellite broadband access – GeekWire and Amazon shoots for the stars to provide internet from space | FierceWireless
• While we do not know what the effect of forthcoming GPS epoch ending will be on airplanes, your car and phone GPS may take a hit. Just be aware that on April 6, the “week counter” got flipped back to zero – GPS “rollover” event on April 6 could have some side-effects | Ars Technica
• We thought this was a technical waste of time, till we read it! The periodic description easily shows over 20 graphic elements of every battery we have heard of – really! The elements used in batteries of the past, present, and future — Quartz
• Since pour industry is a big CO2 generator, and 450 parts per million to keep global warming below 2 Degrees C if we want to stay around – we have about 10 to 15 years, so keep this link on your computer and check it daily- co2_800k_zoom.png 1,000×600 pixels