February 28 2024  |  Events

LIVE: APEX TECH underway in Los Angeles

By Robynne Trueman

Last updated: Thursday, February 29, 6:38 a.m. (PST). Find updates below.


Jonas von Kruechten, Head of Strategy and Business Development at AERQ, and APEX Chair presents the day one welcome

The two-day APEX TECH event is underway at the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. Panasonic is the headline partner for the industry gathering focused on inflight connectivity, media content and supply chain, data capture and intelligence and ancillary and passenger experience use cases.


Delta Air Lines’ Ekrem Dimbiloglu in discussion with APEX CEO Dr. Joe Leader at APEX TECH

The first day of the industry activity kicked off this morning at 8:15 a.m. with a high-speed coffee and networking session, immediately followed by the welcome address and opening keynote speech. The address, given by Ekrem Dimbiloglu, Managing Director of Customer Experience, Delta Studio, & Wi-Fi, Delta Air Lines, in discussion with Dr. Joe Leader, CEO, APEX, introduced the pivotal features of Delta Sync and discussed how it, along with Delta’s approach to customer loyalty, is reshaping the passenger experience. Read more on Delta Sync here, in an exclusive interview with PAX Tech.

Panel 1: 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

The first panel of the day, “How Does LEO Complement GEO and Vice Versa? What is the Best IFC Setup for Airlines in the Future?” was moderated by Mary Kirby, Founder and Editor, Runway Girl Network. Panel speakers included Dermot Cahalan, Market Development Director, OneWeb, Bill Milroy, Chairman and CTO, ThinKom Solutions, Inc., Brian Kirby, Senior Technical Product Manager, Telesat, Karthik Bharathan, Director – Aviation, Terminal Product Management, Viasat and Patrick Walsh, Senior Vice President, Engineering, Intelsat.


The first panel of APEX TECH 2024 underway in Los Angeles 

Panelists looked at the relationship between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites, giving insight into how they complement each other and the challenges and advantages of each, respectively.


(Left to Right) Jonas von Kruechten, Head of Strategy and Business Development at AERQ; André Valera, VP of Business Development at Conetic, Joe Carreira, CEO of Touch Inflight Solutions; Dr. Joe Leader, CEO of APEX attend the APEX Speed Snack, sponsored by Touch Inflight Solutions 

The discussion panel was followed by the APEX TECH Speed Snack, sponsored by Touch Inflight Solutions.

Panel 2: 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Following the speed snack, Panel 2, “Elevating the Journey: Commercializing Advanced Connectivity in Aviation” began, moderated by Dr. Joe Leader. Panelists speaking on the topic included Mike Pigott, EVP Connectivity, Anuvu, Bob Reiter, Associate Vice President, Product Management & Development, DIRECTV, Tracy Trent, Chief Executive Officer, Stellar Blu Solutions, Edwin Edillon, Jr., Director of Content and Digital Partnerships, Viasat and Chris Insall, Head of Mobility Business Development, ST Engineering iDirect.


“Elevating the Journey: Commercializing Advanced Connectivity in Aviation” panel at APEX TECH 2024

Speakers highlighted how airlines can adopt next-generation IFC solutions, including factors like cost considerations, implementation strategies and revenue streams.

Networking Lunch: 12:55 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.


(Left to Right) Jonas von Kruechten, Director Strategy and Business Development at AERQ; Shafin Virji, Vice President, Lab Services at West Entertainment; Dr. Joe Leader, CEO of APEX; Kate Groth VP, Content and Client Services, West Entertainment and Rick Warren, Managing Partner, West Entertainment attend the APEX TECH networking lunch sponsored by West Entertainment

Industry leaders gathered for a networking lunch at 12:55 p.m., sponsored by West Entertainment, following the morning panels. The room was abuzz with anticipation for the afternoon's workshops, set to commence at 3:00 p.m., following the 1:45 p.m. discussion panel, “Most Promising Ancillary and Passenger Experience Use Cases and Their Dependency on IFC.” 

Panel 3: 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.


Panel three of day one, moderated by Helga Bjarnadottir, Director, Products & Service Management, Icelandair

The third panel of the day kicked off immediately following the networking lunch and was moderated by Helga Bjarnadottir, Director, Products & Service Management, Icelandair. Panelists joining the thought-provoking discussion on how airline use of IFC can improve passengers' satisfaction included Ben Asmar, Vice President of Products and Strategy, Safran; Asif Khan, Senior Vice President of Entertainment, West Entertainment; Mark Smith, Sales Director, AERQ; Marco Dorjee, Program Director, LEO, AirFi and Maneesha Bhate, VP Strategic Partnerships and Business Development for Digital and IFE, Thales

Speed snack: 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. 


Speed snack sponsored by Panasonic 

The second speed snack break of the day was sponsored by Panasonic, who is also the headline sponsor for APEX TECH 2024. The networking opportunity gave attendees half an hour to regroup before heading into the workshops for the remainder of day one. 

Workshop 1: 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.



Attendees break into smaller groups for discussion at the first workshop of the event 

The first workshop of the day, the "IFC Deep Dive Workshop", began at 3:30 p.m. with attendees breaking into smaller groups of 10 within the workshop to look at a few different questions. The three topics, each studied at a table of 10 with a specific moderator included, "How Do We Measure the Quality of Experience?", facilitated by Mary Rogozinski, Director – Business Development, Netforecast, "IFC Technology: Relevance and Readiness of ESAs, SW Defined Modems, and More", facilitated by Bill Milroy, Chairman and CTO, ThinKom Solutions, Inc. and "Portal or Not: Different Angles on a Seamless Passenger IFC Journey", facilitated by: Ekrem Dimbiloglu – Managing Director of Customer Experience, DeltaStudio, & Wi-Fi, Delta Air Lines.

"These groups of 10 will come back with their results and they'll be shared with the entire group by the facilitators in a really efficient way. So everyone gets the lessons," Dr. Joe Leader, CEO of APEX, tells PAX Tech. 

Workshop 2: 4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. 


Laura Ross, Immfly, facilitates the discussion around "Relevance of e-Commerce Use Cases and Inflight Payment" at this afternoon's workshop

The second workshop of the day, Ancillary Use Cases, was sponsored by Immfly, with a focus on three different discussion topics: "Inflight Advertising: What is the Potential and How to Realize It" facilitated by: Matthew Blay, Director, Inadvia, "Relevance of e-Commerce Use Cases and Inflight Payment" facilitated by Laura Ross, Managing Director, Immfly, and "How to Curate the Best Personalized Media Content Offering", facilitated by Ben Fuller, VP of Global Sales, Inflight Dublin

Workshop results: 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

The workshops for day one of APEX TECH 2024 concluded with all attendees reconvening to learn the results of their individual breakout discussions. It was a full house with educational takeaways for all. 

Networking reception: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 



The Hub Spafax hosted the evening network reception 

The excitement of the day continued into the evening at the day one networking reception, sponsored by the Hub Spafax where attendees had further opportunities to discuss the day's events, findings and reconnect with industry friends. 

PAX Tech will continue providing live updates from the event as the day continues. Be sure to follow along on our website, Instagram and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date.

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