We have had a strong start to 2014. In the past two months alone, three of our customers have launched Internet OnAir on their long-haul fleets and several more are in the pipeline. We are cementing our role as the leading global player, with more airline customers than any other provider. Our competition is also healthy, a strong indicator of future growth.
We all know inflight connectivity is here to stay. One of the first things people do when they wake up, before even getting out of bed, is to check their phone. It is unrealistic to expect them to spend an entire flight with no connection, particularly as digital natives enter the workforce.
But inflight connectivity is much more than checking your phone or browsing the web. The trend is for passengers to access films, TV, music, newspapers, the moving map and much more, through their own PEDs - while keeping the option of using the seat-back screen. OnAir Play, our W-IFE product, is the answer. Importantly, it will enable inflight updates to time-critical information, such as news and sport. We will also introduce the Airline TV Channel, our airline-branded video-on-demand application. It will provide ever-green content, including live updates during the flight, as well as advertising opportunities.
A significant part of our operations is that we enable airlines to use connectivity to streamline operations. The next generation aircraft - A350s and B787s - are flying data centers. On a flight from Los Angeles to London, an aircraft could generate up to 500MB of data. The questions facing both commercial and business aviation are what data is required during the flight and what can be downloaded at the airport?
Come and talk to us about all this at Aircraft Interiors next month.
Sincerely
Ian Dawkins