Guest column: Seamless skies—The future of IFE on connected aircraft
In this guest column, Juraj Siska, CEO at IdeaNova Technologies, discusses how rapid advancements and strategic partnerships are pushing the potential of IFC.
Juraj Siska, CEO at IdeaNova Technologies
Today, when staying connected is not just a convenience but a necessity, airlines’ growing interest in connectivity offers passengers many new opportunities for productivity and entertainment. This surge is largely due to almost daily updates on Starlink’s installation and its agreements with airlines. And Starlink is not the only provider, there is Viasat, Hughesnet, Intelsat, Telesat and in the not so distant future, Amazon’s Kuiper and others.
Together these products present tremendous potential for aircraft connectivity—if not for the entire journey, then at least a part of it. To stay competitive, airlines must go beyond just connectivity. They need to up the game in personalization, content selection and application quality. Failing to do so may reduce them to mere ISPs at 30,000 feet, missing out on ancillary revenue from advertisement and service and product upsells.
“At Safran Passenger Innovations, the connected passenger experience is about much more than just providing an internet connection to the passenger. Free and fast internet provides value to both passengers and airlines,” says Ben Asmar, Vice President Products and Strategy, Safran Passenger Innovations.
He continues, “The airline must find ways to continue to engage with passengers as opposed to just losing them to the internet, meaning any opportunity for future engagement becomes significantly harder. The future must be about building connected IFE platforms, where the ‘E’ stands for engagement, allowing the passenger to engage with both airline services, third party services and the entertainment of their choice and not just what is available on board.”
Key areas airlines must focus on in the connected aircraft era
Seamless Personalization: Airlines have faced challenges with the concept of recognizing passengers from a global passenger view. We consider it an accomplishment if the seatback display can recognize and greet the customer by name and possibly accommodate their language preference.
However, airlines have access to a wealth of passenger information that can enhance inflight entertainment. It should include features such as content recommendations, playback with the desired audio language and subtitles configuration, resumption of playback, AI assisted content selection and future destinations based on passenger preferences.
For example, in case of Resumption of Playback (ROP), airlines can leverage loyalty IDs to seamlessly transition between PEDs and seatback screens, even to continue playback after leaving the aircraft. This information can also be used for in cabin and out of cabin communication using loyalty IDs. Integrating loyalty IDs with single sign on access to popular SVOD platforms will further simplify access to preferred content for passengers.
A passenger accesses inflight connectivity on a personal electronic device
Content Selection and Delivery: Content offerings should go beyond what is available on the aircraft. Content will likely be served from the ground by popular streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+. To ensure easy and reliable viewing, airlines may need technologies like edge caching to store popular content on the aircraft. This simplifies content delivery in low or no bandwidth areas or during peak network usage times when bandwidth is limited.
Onboard hosted content will also be needed, at least for the foreseeable future. Connectivity can facilitate quick and reliable uploading of this content, enabling airlines to source better and fresher content in larger quantities. At the same time, it provides the opportunity for automated content upload, removing manual and error prone efforts.
Onboard Applications: Improvements are needed for applications on both seatback screen and personal devices to allow passengers to seamlessly bridge Internet connectivity with onboard networks where airline-specific content and information resides. This might be challenging with some providers (we understand that Starlink is reluctant to make any changes to its vanilla product) but we believe airlines will need to address this with solutions such as captive portal to integrate the two networks effectively.
Additionally, existing IFE investments could be used to deliver content not only to PEDs, but also to already installed seatback screens. This option enhances passenger choice and validates the airline’s IFE investment. The increasing number of connected aircraft represents a shift in the industry. It also provides opportunities for innovative companies to introduce new products into aviation rapidly, allowing IFE to catch up with 21st century state of the art technology.
Making good on the promise
Asmar puts it like this, “How many times have we heard that passengers want to be able to do inflight, what they can do on the ground? While this is clichéd, it is accurate in many cases, in particular as the age of the flying population gets younger. Unfortunately, while the sentiment is good, it is rarely delivered to expectations. If we look at the TV, its purpose has evolved over the last couple of decades significantly, from something that families would gather around at a particular point in time to watch a show that was being broadcast, or the evening news at 6 p.m.”
He continues, “Then internet enabled TV to change that paradigm. The ‘cut the cable’ movement came along allowing consumers to watch what they wanted at time of their choice with saved preferences and recommendations. Then we add the smart phone to the mix, connected to very high-speed networks where the main engagement point is the phone and the TV became a secondary device where personalized content can shared via casting.
Ben Asmar, Vice President Products and Strategy, Safran Passenger Innovations
The interesting thing in all this is TV manufactures went form providing simple interfaces with basic software to a feature and content rich personalized environment. TV manufactures understood that by just connecting TVs to the internet they were losing engagement with consumers. They had to pivot and find a way to hold consumer engagement, in much the same way that our industry must do. We have to move from the ‘set top box’ paradigm to the multi device connected screen with personalized engagement points if we truly want to make good on the well-used clichéd phrase.”
Airlines can think of productivity tools like web meetings or entertainment applications as games that would leverage seatback entertainment and built in controllers to effectively navigate the screens. Attention has to be paid to the latency, which even with the low latency LEOs will not meet interactive demands. Here, airlines might benefit from rolling out gaming platforms that emphasize turn play. An additional airline-only bonus might be to network not only with connected passengers on the ground but also with family and friends on the same flight.
A future full of potential
The future of inflight connectivity and entertainment is brimming with potential, fueled by rapid advancements and strategic partnerships. As airlines strive to stay competitive, the emphasis on seamless personalization, diverse content selection and high-quality applications become paramount. By harnessing cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions, the aviation industry is poised to redefine the passenger experience, ensuring that connectivity at 30,000 feet is not just a luxury but a standard expectation. As we navigate this exciting transformation, the opportunities for growth, engagement and revenue generation are boundless.
