AIX DAY ONE – NEWS ROUND-UP

10 April 2018, London – Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX), the world’s largest event dedicated to innovation in the in-flight passenger experience, kicked-off today as world leaders in cabin interiors, in-flight entertainment and passenger comfort gathered in Hamburg to showcase their latest products and developments.

Every year, exhibitors choose AIX to announce new products and deals, and 2018 got off to an impressive start with news from organisations including:

Airbus announced today the development of a new option for A380 aircraft, ‘A380 Cabin-Flex’. The enhancement, which consists of a new cabin door area arrangement on the upper-deck, is available for line-fit and retrofit, and will be installed on Qantas’ current A380 fleet from mid 2019.
Thales announced the expansion of its inflight entertainment portfolio with CORE and PRESTIGE, offering a full spectrum of solutions and services to maximize passenger satisfaction, loyalty and airline revenue.
Immfly announced a new partnership with Pegasus Air, to bring a dynamic in-flight digital services platform to the Turkish Market.
Panasonic Avionics announced the debut of their new airline on-board loyalty platform, called NEXT Loyalty, with Singapore Airlines as launch customer, as well as a partnership with gategroup on their new retail platform NEXT Marketplace, and an IFEC commitment from Turkish Airlines for 50 wide-bodied aircraft.
Gogo announced that Air Canada has extended its agreement to install the provider’s 2Ku in-flight connectivity service on its Bombardier CSeries CS300 fleet, with the system to be line-fit during assembly.
Global Eagle Entertainment has launched the Airconnect Go video-on-demand system portable IFE system for regional aircraft, which streams content to passengers’ own devices through Global Eagle’s Airtime portal.
Geven’s Essenza economy-class seat has been ordered by Wizz Air for the Airbus A321 neos it will begin receiving in January 2019.
Acro is to supply its Series 3 ST seat to Viva Air for the airline’s 50 Airbus A320 aircraft on order.

Delegates to AIX were also able to enjoy the first day of a series of educational sessions in the Flight Global Cabin Space Live Seminar Theatre.

Consolidation and the interiors supply chain: Panellists discussed how consolidation among the cabin supply chain could provide an opportunity for agile new suppliers to enter the market, as well as the demand on suppliers to boost production while reorganising supply chains.

The future of IFE: The panel of airlines and technology providers discussed the need for airlines to have the flexibility to provide choice to the passenger, with platforms that adapt to meet the fast pace of technology development. The need for robust and stable connections for streaming in the air to meet passenger demand is critical, with embedded IFE, wireless IFE and connectivity all being part of the future mix.

Flight Ascend Market Outlook Briefing: This briefing assessed where the industry is in the demand cycle. It examined whether Airbus and Boeing are on track to hit their ambitious production-rate targets and what the prospects are for new market entrants such as the C-Series, C919 and MC-21, and new product studies such as the Boeing NMA.

AIX’s Exhibition Director, Polly Magraw, comments:

“AIX 2018 has launched with a busy and exciting day. It has been inspiring to see all the amazing innovations our exhibitors are showcasing and how they are bringing to life some of the key themes around the passenger experience we heard about in Monday’s Passenger Experience Conference.

“With passengers demanding more and more from their travel experience, today has been a great example of how many leading aerospace firms that exhibit at AIX are partnering to provide flexible and future proof solutions for their customers. We are delighted that so many organisations have chosen AIX to announce these partnerships and we look forward to hearing about many more over the next two days.”

Aircraft Interiors Expo is co-located with World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo (WTCE) and, new for 2018, Passenger Technology Solutions (PTS). Along with the Passenger Experience Conference the three expos make up Passenger Experience Week.

For more information about Aircraft Interiors Expo please visit: www.aircraftinteriorsexpo.com

About Aircraft Interiors Expo

Aircraft Interiors Expo is the world’s largest event dedicated to sourcing the latest innovations, technologies and products for the cabin interiors, inflight entertainment and passenger comfort industries. Taking place in Hamburg from 10-12 April 2018 the exhibition attracts thousands of buyers and decision makers from major scheduled, regional and charter airlines and offers the opportunity to meet face to face with suppliers and manufacturers covering the full spectrum of the industry.

www.aircraftinteriorsexpo.com

About Reed Exhibitions

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in over 30 countries. In 2016 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 38 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customer across industries.

www.reedexpo.com