IFE
REIMAGINATION THROUGH CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
The MAYA demo featuring Astrova Curve at AIX 2024
Panasonic’s Andy Masson talks Astrova, Converix and innovation at AIX by ROBYNNE TRUEMAN
Andy Masson, Senior Vice President Product & Strategy, Panasonic Avionics Corporation
70 MAY 2025
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year after introducing the MAYA demo, PAX Tech met with Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s (PAC) Senior Vice President Product & Strategy, Andy Masson, at AIX 2025 to learn about the future of the marketdisruptor Astrova Curve IFE screen in collaboration with Collins Aerospace and PAC’s introduction of Converix. Last year’s AIX announcement from PAC was the unveiling of the MAYA Business Class concept, featuring the Astrova Curve 45-inch ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition OLED display with a headphone-less audio system. MAYA integrates Collins Aerospace and PAC’s respective design and technology knowledge to create a Business Class cabin experience that focuses on passenger immersion, accessibility and sustainability, designed to generate feedback on the future of the premium cabin. “It represented where [Pana-
sonic Avionics] and Collins believe that the future of premium travel is going,” Masson says. “MAYA is completely immersive.” He reveals that since unveiling MAYA for industry feedback, PAC has received enough data to commit to productizing the Astrova Curve aspect of MAYA, rolling out additional sizes. Masson calls premium suites like MAYA a differentiator in the market, noting that PAC currently has very close links with multiple potential customers for Astrova Curve. Masson says the biggest challenge in bringing a curved IFE screen to market is that it is a paradigm shift. It represents a new approach from the traditional manufacturing model, where IFE suppliers created IFE and seat manufacturers produced seating, independently. “In the past, this would largely be done separately and then brought together at the end,” he explains.