Page 12 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018 Online Magazine
P. 12
NO LIMITS
With high-speed connectivity providing
airlines with more IFE options than ever
before, the future of seatback screens on
narrowbody aircraft has come in for plenty
of debate
Arun Sivasankaran
ith competition heating up in an over-
crowded sky and little to choose
between carriers, the quality of in-flight
Wentertainment often becomes the decid-
ing factor in choosing one over the other.
No one knows this better than the carries them-
selves, as the increase in the time and money that According to a 2016 study by Grandview
they invest in the development of quality inflight Research Inc., the global In-Flight Entertainment
entertainment (IFE) proves. With an overwhelm- and Connectivity (IFEC) market size, which was
ing majority of passengers now traveling with their just US$3.13 billion in 2015, is expected to reach
own electronic devices, connectivity and wireless US$9.82 billion by 2024. The emergence of Bring
streaming of onboard content to personal devices Your Own Device (BYOD) and the development of
is fast becoming the minimum standard expected new wireless solutions will boost market growth, as
from carriers. will the growing availability of HD content across
dynamic platforms, the study added. According to
The Numbers don’t Lie a study by IMS Research, wireless IFE will be an
The results of a 2017 “The Travelers of Tomorrow” integral part of about 9000 aircraft by 2021, with
study by Gogo, a provider of broadband connectivity the Asia-Pacific and Latin America recording the
products and services for aviation, revealed that strongest growth. Nearly two thirds of all aircraft
passengers today are increasingly making travel will have IFE by 2021, the growth spurred largely by
decisions today based on connectivity. Nearly 50 wireless IFE and connectivity, the study says.
percent of millennial travelers expect their con-
nected experience in the air to be the same as on Slow Beginning
the ground, the study, based on input from people The IFE industry has taken off in such a big way
between the ages of 18 and 35, found. in recent years that it is easy to forget that things
looks very different less than five years ago. A 2012
Connectivity anywhere and everywhere is clearly study by FlightView of over 600 business travelers
no longer a hope but an expectation; carriers must revealed that only 28 percent of them were pleased
embrace the new cabin environment or risk losing with the Wi-Fi services on aircraft while 32 percent
passengers to other more enterprising competitors. said they were satisfied with Wi-Fi in airports.
While 90 percent of those who responded to the Another FlightView survey, a year later, concluded
Gogo study said they have a preferred airline, 48 that carriers were missing a major opportunity to
percent said they would choose another carrier drive more ancillary revenue from business travelers
if Wi-Fi was not available on their preferred flight. as more than 50 percent of those interviewed said
Ninety-two percent said they were interested in they would consider purchasing in-flight amenities
using their own device in flight, while 48 percent and services, such as in-flight Wi-Fi and seats with
said they prefer to stream their own content to their extra legroom, if they received offers on their mobile
own device. devices before they boarded the plane.
12 | January/February 2018 www.GBP.com.sg/AAA
