APEX Experience 8.2 April / May 2018

airline passenger

volume 8, edition 2 | april – may 2018

Full Force Ahead Innovations in 3-D printing, seating and connectivity are propelling PaxEx forward

official publication of the airline passenger experience association

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

THE GROUND.

WE MAKE IT

FLY

No matter how busy the flight, your passengers will feel like they’re in a world of their own thanks to our beautifully designed Airspace cabins.

HD in-flight entertainment throughout, quieter, and with soothing LED ambient lighting, Airspace delivers first class comfort for every passenger. And not only is it available across our newest widebody fleet, it’s also being rolled out across our single aisle A320 family too.

Tranquility. We make it fly.

LIVE HIGHLIGHTS PROGRAMMING E XC LUS I V E COV E RAG E

FOR INFORMATION AND BOOKINGS, CONTACT: OLIVER.HUSON@IMG.COM or KATE.GARDEN@IMG.COM

SERENITY S1H

THE DIGITAL AUDIO ADVANTAGE The Serenity S1H expertly balances beautiful product aesthetics with a durable mechanical design engineered for the premium cabin. All this, while enabling an enthralling high definition digital audio experience and a suite of innovative sound features.

High Definition Audio • Rendering a fully immersive & personalised sound-stage.

Voice Telephony • Enabling voice calling & intelligent voice assistance.

Hybrid Noise Cancelling • Silencing more cabin noise than ever before.

Open-ear Talk-through • For enhanced convenience & practicality.

Seamless Integration • Compatible with new-fit & legacy IFEC equipment.

www.serenityheadphones.aero Serenity S1 headphones are manufactured under license by Long Prosper Enterprise, Co. Ltd and are covered by patents US29/538,163, (PRC) 201530312668.5, (EU) 0026452340001, (UK) 1519219.8, (UK) 1506206.0, (UK) 1503600.7, PCT/EP2013/055954. For further information about Serenity S1H headsets, email hdaudio@soundchip.com.

www.soundchip.com

ADVANCED

INFLIGHT AUDIO ENGINEERING

SoundChip is at the heart of the digital audio revolution. Our unique solutions combined with specialist expertise in system-level audio enable headsets from many of the world’s best known brands with class-leading sound performance and features. And, we’re busy in commercial aviation too, creating products like Panasonic HDAUDIO, which uses advanced digital techniques to render an enthralling, noise-free sound experience, while delivering an exciting array of new capabilities like seat-to-ground and seat-to-seat calling, open-ear talkthrough and intelligent voice assistance.

For professional advice, services and solutions for inflight audio, contact us online at info@soundchip.ch.

©2018. SoundChip SA. The SoundChip brandmark is a registered trademark of SoundChip SA. All rights reserved.

AD DIRECTORY

Advertisers’ Directory Airborne Interactive airborneinteractive.com See page 121

Airbus airbus.com See pages 4 and 5 AirFi

Emphasis Video Entertainment

emphasis-video.net See page 102

Entertainment in Motion skyfilms.com See page 141

Eros Inflight Media

airfi.aero See page 33

Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems astronics.com See pages 14 and 90

Astronics Connectivity Systems and Certification astronics.com See page 51

Axinom

erosnow.com See page 145

Euronews

euronews.com See page 43

Global Eagle

globaleagleent.com See IFE sponsorship on pages 130–150 and page 27

Global One Media

axinom.com See page 64

globalonemedia.co.uk See page 57

BBC Worldwide bbc.com See page 151

BBC World News bbc.com See page 151

Black Swan

blackswan.com See page 14

Bluebox Aviation Systems blueboxaviation.com See page 59

Carlisle Interconnect Technologies

carlisleit.com See four-page gatefold after page 34

Deutsche Telekom

telekom.com See bellyand and page 28

Deutsche Welle dw.de See page 102

HBO

hboinflight.com See page 137

Inflight Direct inflightdirect.com See page 85

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Long Prosper

longprosper.com See page 118

Soundchip soundchip.ch See pages 8 and 9

Lufthansa Systems

Spafax

NBC Universal

STG Aerospace

SITAONAIR sitaonair.aero See page 49

Viasat

Panasonic Avionics

Warner Bros.

Paramount Pictures

West Entertainment

Pascall Electronics

W.L. Gore and Associates

Penny Black Media

Zodiac Aerospace

lhsystems.com See page 95

nbcuniversal.com See page 135

panasonic.aero See outside back cover

paramount.com See pages 2 and 3

pascall.co.uk See page 47

IMG Worldwide

Pictureworks pictureworksindia.com See page 155

ifpl.com See infographic and page 117

img.com See pages 6 and 7

Inmarsat

inmarsat.com See page 23

Interactive Mobility interactivemobility.com See pages 10 and 11

Jaguar Distribution jaguardc.com See page 139

Kontron

kontron.com See page 25

12

Sony Pictures Releasing

linstol.com See page 82

Inflight Peripherals

kid-systeme.com See page 108

digecor.com See pages 39 and 69

Linstol

pennyblackmedia.com See page 143

KID-Systeme

digEcor

volume 8, edition 2 april – may 2018

Recaro

en.recaro.com See page 31

Rockwell Collins rockwellcollins.com See page 41

Skycast Solutions skycastsolutions.com See page 79

Skyline IFE

skyline-ife.com See page 123 and 149

Smartsky Networks smartskynetworks.com See page 17

sonypicturesinflight.com See page 129

spafax.com See pages 72 and 73

stgaerospace.com See page 45

viasat.com See page 53

warnerbros.com See page 133

westent.com See page 147

gore.com See page 111

imsco-us.com See page 21

TURN CAPTIVE PASSENGERS INTO CAPTIVATED CUSTOMERS Data-driven passenger experience software solutions We believe data will drive the future of in-flight entertainment and connectivity platforms. Our data-driven, APEX Award winning solution helps airlines create a truly personalised customer experience; one that gives every passenger the choice, control and convenience they crave – whether in the air or on the ground.

www.blackswan.aero Copyright Š 2018 All rights reserved. The above content or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Black Swan Data Limited.

get your paSSengerS out of StIcKy SItuatIonS. IntroducIng the revolutIonary Smarttray® tray-table from aStronIcS. offer your paSSengerS more room and more In-Seat convenIence wIth a buIlt-In ped holder for SmartphoneS and tabletS. the Smarttray® SyStem IS a lIghtweIght, affordable, eaSy-to-InStall way to regaIn tray Space, avoId

fatIgue

the

paSSenger

contact aStronIcS to learn paSSenger-pleaSIng InnovatIon.

more about

experIence. thIS

and

Improve

ASTRONICS ADVANCED ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS | US Office +1.425.881.1700 | Europe Office +44.1983.897647

www.astronics.com

CONTENTS DIGITAL

Part and Parcel

volume 8, edition 2 april – may 2018

The seat, the sound, the cabin air, the in-flight meal, the interiors – all the many moving parts of air travel – are constantly being tweaked and tinkered to achieve the best possible passenger experience.

61

Build It and They Will Cluster

PHOTOS: BRITISH AIRWAYS; PANASONIC AVIONICS; LIONSGATE PUBLICITY, DALE ROBINETTE; HBO; WIZZ AIR ILLUSTRATION: MARCELO CÁCERES

Tour the regions that contribute to the global industry of aircraft manufacturing.

FEATURES

C-SUITE

88

100

When it comes to innovation, numbers aren’t the only data designers can count on.

Turns out passengers like funny with a side of woke.

Beyond Measure

74

What We Watch

Printing in Progress 3-D printing technology promises faster turnaround for MROs.

83

Remote Access From bulky to bare, the IFE handset has seen many facelifts over the years.

109

Option Overload

54 József Váradi Chief Executive Officer Wizz Air

IFC offerings are aplenty.

Will standards clean up the confusion?

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

15

CONTENTS DIGITAL

volume 8, edition 2 april – may 2018

Have your snack and the packaging, too!

Suppliers look past legroom to innovate at the back of the cabin.

30 Something in the Air

38 Setting the Tone

Does aerotoxic syndrome really exist?

Put on your shades. The color of the year is ultra violet.

Passengers are not the only ones filming.

34 Target Market An aircraft cabin designed with Asian passengers in mind.

114

Travelogue: The Fault in the Eye of Sauron

12 Advertisers’ Directory 18 CEO’s Letter

46 Twisted Plot

19 Presidents’ Letters

Interactive storytelling turns viewers into filmmakers.

20 Board News

48 Live in Flight

24 Editor’s Letter

Southwest won’t stop serenading its passengers.

26 Featured Contributors

22 APEX in Action

98 Higher Hospitality

50 A Burning Question Warning! This battery will not explode.

40 Sleep Cycling Eyewear that will help passengers traverse time zones.

42 Soup Ahoy!

This brew is not your average cup of tea.

154

Throwback: Convertible Seating

119 Headlines 124 APEX News 52 Speed of Li-Fi

128 IFSA News

Internet delivered via infrared light is flashing into view.

130 IFE Listings 153 #APEXPOTD

Infographic: Making IFE Installations Count

After page 82

Q&As 70 Babar Rahman

Senior Manager, Sponsorships, CSR and IFEC, Qatar Airways

16 16

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

80 Lauren Fleming

Senior Research & Development Scientist, STG Aerospace

96 Tal Kalderon

Content and Media Manager, El Al Israel Airlines

106 Celie Navatel

VP Development Program, Thales InFlyt Experience

PHOTOS: MOLON LABE; HAECO; DELTA AIR LINES; EVOWARE; ISTOCKPHOTO; RECARO STG AEROSPACE; EL AL ILLUSTRATIONS: VICENTE REINAMONTES; BÁRBARA MALAGOLI; FELIPE VARGAS

36 Economy Pitches

32 Crew With Cameras

STANDBYS

44 All You Can Eat

REAL-TIME BIDIRECTIONAL CONNECTIVITY. THAT’S A ROUND TRIP TICKET TO HAPPINESS. People in the air want the same Wi-Fi experience they have on the ground.

Finally, they can have it. With our proprietary beamforming technology, you can offer high-speed, high-capacity throughput to and from the plane with low latency. This changes everything.

Visit smartskynetworks.com/commercial-aviation.

CEO’S LETTER

Dear Members, Welcome to the APEX Experience issue devoted to Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX), World Travel Catering Services Expo (WTCE) and Passenger Experience Conference (PEC) in Hamburg and MultiMedia Market (MMM)! As our partnership expands, APEX and IFSA will have an even more prominent presence at AIX, 10–12 April, in addition to being the official association sponsor of PEC, 9 April. APEX will also be a central part of the Crystal Cabin Award, 10 April, which will be emceed by APEX Media director Maryann Simson, and where I will serve as a judge, alongside APEX board member Ingo Wuggetzer.

APEX MULTIMEDIA MARKET TO YIELD STRONG DIVIDENDS FOR AIRLINES We look forward to seeing APEX members at MMM in Paris, 23–24 April, for an intimate gathering of industry leaders, where airlines can gain content advantages from deals that only happen at MMM. Register today at mmm.apex.aero.

IFSA WELCOMES EXECUTIVE-LEVEL PARTICIPATION VIA ACA

European Union, and deepening relationships with other government institutions worldwide. IFSA continues to lead the industry, as it develops and represents the global business interests of the onboard services market.

RECORD ATTENDANCE AT APEX TECH TO BE SURPASSED AGAIN IN JUNE For the first APEX TECH of 2018, in Los Angeles, APEX hosted more than 170 airline technology innovators, and set a new attendance record. After an opening speech from the CTO of Panasonic Avionics, keynote sessions included talks by CEOs from JetSuite and World Airways and top executives from both Finnair and Aeromexico.

APEX unveiled a new biometrics passenger initiative alongside the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection and San Jose International Airport. We look forward to continuing the conversation at our next APEX TECH, which is scheduled to take place June 19–20 in Los Angeles, featuring the CTO of Thales and a wealth of airline technology leaders, with a new focus on Latin America. Register now at tech.apex.aero.

Best regards,

IFSA welcomes the executive-level participation of airline catering giants in the Airline Catering Association (ACA), as it also advances IFSA’s core mission. For over 50 years, IFSA has been focused on furthering the airline onboard and catering industry through its work with the Joe Leader

APEX/IFSA Chief Executive Officer

18 18

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

PRESIDENTS’ LETTERS

Dear APEX Members,

Dear IFSA Members,

At American Airlines, I am invited to many events each year.

I focus on attending those that highlight new trends and products. As APEX president, I wanted to share why APEX events meet and exceed my criteria for business travel.

The 2018 IFSA Expo and Conference is quickly approaching. Save the date for our annual Expo in Boston, 24–26 September, at the Hynes Convention Center.

Attendees can look forward to three days packed with education, networking and events. Host hotel Boston Marriott Copley Place is now taking reservations. For more information, visit ifsa.aero/expo.

Planning is also underway for the 2nd Annual IFSA Compass Awards ceremony on 24 September, where we’ll celebrate and honor creativity, excellence and innovation in the onboard industry. From exceptional in-flight service to truly innovative food, our members are the driving force pushing the industry forward, and we want them to be recognized for it! Stay tuned or visit ifsa.aero/awards for more information about award nominations. Nominations are open to all IFSA member companies.

On behalf of the IFSA Board of Directors, we look forward to continuing the advancement and recognition of innovation within the onboard services industry.

APEX MultiMedia Market (23–24 April) enables airline executives to meet with a diverse set of global IFE content suppliers to hone and expand their content catalogs to be in tune with their airline’s brand.

APEX TECH (19–20 June) brings together representatives from top airlines and vendors to discuss how connectivity, ancillary revenue and industry regulations will impact an airline’s bottom line.

APEX Middle East and Africa Conference (4–5 November) provides insights on passenger experience market trends and products and services tailored for both the region and world.

APEX EXPO (24–27 September) is the largest and most comprehensive PaxEx event of the year. Attendance includes access to the APEX tradeshow floor, networking events, APEX Award ceremony, plus AIX Americas and IFSA Conference and Expo.

I hope to see you all at our 2018 events as we continue to reimagine and lead the airline passenger experience. Visit apex.aero/events for a full list of APEX events.

Best Regards,

Paul Platamone

IFSA President Harvey Alpert & Company/Oakfield Farms Solutions

Brian Richardson

APEX President American Airlines

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

19

BOARD NEWS

From Your APEX Board

Brian Richardson President American Airlines

Juha Järvinen Vice-President Finnair

The APEX Board of Directors is committed to keeping you, the APEX members, informed about board initiatives and decisions. In addition to this dedicated space in every issue of APEX Experience, the board sends direct e-mails to keep members updated. APEX is an association for the members, which is why it’s equally important to hear from you, year-round.

2020 APEX STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING Maura Chacko Secretary Spafax

Joan Filippini Treasurer

Paramount Pictures

The APEX board and staff met in early February to reconfirm and modify existing strategic objective goals, tactics and key performance indicators (KPIs). More information about the outcomes of this important meeting will be communicated in the next magazine issue, as well as the monthly president/CEO e-mail.

APEX MULTIMEDIA MARKET

Kevin Bremer Chief Advisor

Andres Castañeda Aeromexico

Boeing (Past President)

APEX is excited to announce a sold-out exhibit hall for the 2018 MultiMedia Market (MMM), 23–24 April, in Paris. Attendees can register now. New incentives for airlines and content service providers are likely to make this the best attended MMM yet.

For more details, visit mmm.apex.aero.

APEX TECH APEX TECH continues to shine a light on technical and regulatory issues affecting the airline industry. Join us, 19–20 June, in Los Angeles. Visit apex.aero/events for more information and to see our lineup of high-level airline keynote speakers.

Michael Childers

Jon Norris

Lufthansa Systems

Panasonic Avionics

APEX GLOBAL EVENTS APEX is committed to holding events around the world. To see the full schedule of events as well as APEX supported events, visit apex.aero/events.

NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE The Nominations Committee will accept applications to run for a position on the Board of Directors, 1 May–1 June. To receive a nomination form, please contact info@apex.aero.

Babar Rahman

Anton Vidgen

Qatar Airways

Air Canada

APEX AWARDS AND MORE In addition to the APEX Awards, the Official Airline Ratings and a revised Passenger Choice Awards program, APEX will be accepting member applications for both the Outstanding Contribution and Lifetime Achievement awards, 1 May–1 June. Look for applications in your inbox and on apex.aero.

Ingo Wuggetzer Airbus

20

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

ZODIAC INFLIGHT INNOVATIONS ZODIAC AEROSYSTEMS Connected Cabin Division

SOCIAL

APEX in Action The year 2018 was off to a good start for APEX members who were spotted all over the globe from Los Angeles, California, to Lapland, Finland, at events ranging from the Sundance Film Festival to the Singapore Airshow.

See more social photos on Facebook > FACEBOOK.COM/ APEX.AERO

1. Brian Richardson, American Airlines; Kevin Bremer, The Boeing Company; Juha Järvinen, Finnair; and Dominic Green, Inflight Dublin, at APEX TECH in January.

1

2. Thumbs up! Inside an Embraer E190-E2, on the way to the Singapore Airshow.

3. Steve King, Black Swan, filming something exciting for Yahoo Finance UK and media company Oath in East London.

4. United Airlines sends off professional skier Gus Kenworthy to the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang.

2

5. Viacom at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah.

6. Reaktor designers host a workshop on holistic service design in aviation at Interaction 18, a design conference, in Lyon, France.

3

4

5

7. Leanne Caret of Boeing Defense (second from right), discusses authenticity, diversity and development with Boeing employees at the Singapore Airshow.

8. BoardConnect experts prepare for takeoff to New York on a Lufthansa FlyingLab flight.

7

6

8

9. Airbus invites bloggers from around Southeast Asia to the Singapore Airshow.

10. APEX Board of Directors members get cozy at the annual strategic meeting in Lapland, Finland, hosted by Finnair.

11. Media Carrier celebrates new digs with a fun photo op.

10

117

9

22 22

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

E-mail your photos to > EDITOR@APEX.AERO

Innovation is in our DNA. For over 25 years, we’ve been at the forefront of aviation connectivity. The majority of the world’s airlines already fly with Inmarsat on board.

Now Inmarsat, with our world leading European Aviation Network, GX Aviation and SwiftBroadband-Safety, can deliver the only global, high-speed Wi-Fi for best-in-class cabin and cockpit connectivity to airlines all around the world.

And with our scalable networks, we’ll always be ready for the connected aircraft’s next evolution.

Find out more at inmarsataviation.com/AIX

EDITOR’S LETTER

Many Moving Parts

Contact APEX Media at

EDITOR@APEX.AERO

24

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

aerospace clusters, from Aerospace Valley in France to Aero Montreal in Canada, and their role in assembling aviation vendors and minds, and establishing relationships to foster innovation and a more robust industry network.

Our cover, illustrated by Gianmarco Magnani, is inspired by Jordan Yerman’s article “Printing in Progress,” on page 74, which looks at the potential of 3-D printing to bring operational efficiency to MRO. Shortened lead times, lean production schedules and quick-and-easy revival of out-ofproduction parts are just a few of the benefits touted by proponents of additive manufacturing.

And in “Remote Access” by Howard Slutsken, on page 130, we look at the ever-evolving in-flight entertainment (IFE) handset.

With companion apps and voice command emerging, will this piece of hardware hold its role in the IFE experience of tomorrow?

Indeed, every part has its time – and now it’s yours. From the team at APEX Media, we hope you enjoy this issue.

Maryann Simson

Director, APEX Media

Caroline Ku

Managing Editor, APEX Media

ILLUSTRATION: GIANMARCO MAGNANI

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is comprised of some 2.3 million parts, and the venerable 747-800 is held together by an astonishing six million. Company-wide, the airframer relies on the labor and expertise of more than half a million employees, each contributing to the production of safe and efficient aircraft, which airlines then turn into a product of their own.

In this issue of APEX Experience, which will make its way to Aircraft Interiors Expo and World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo in Hamburg as well as APEX’s Multimedia Market in Paris, we consider the different parts of the plane and the passenger experience industry: Some are moving and some are bolted down; others are visible to passengers and others are tucked away beneath cabin walls.

Perhaps, most important are the people who imagine and improve these parts and how they are brought together.

Meet some of those individuals working behind the scenes in our Q&As with Babar Rahman, Qatar Airways; Lauren Fleming, STG Aerospace; Tal Kalderon, El Al Israel Airlines; and Celie Navatel, Thales InFlyt Experience. In the C-Suite, on page 54, we feature József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, and tell the story of an airline that, 15 years ago, dared to play the part of challenger, jumping into the ring with Europe’s low-costcarrier heavyweights, yet managing to thrive.

“Build It and They Will Cluster,” written by Katie Sehl, on page 61, walks us through the world’s largest

ADVANCING THE CONNECTED AIRCRAFT WITH FEATURE RICH IoT DATA DRIVEN SOLUTIONS THAT GO BEYOND IFE&C

d

Kontron’s 30-year experience in 4,000+ commercial and business jet installations worldwide, demonstrate our expertise engineering avionics products. We offer the industry’s most advanced, cost effective and certified IFE&C open platform solutions on the market. Our innovative wireless connectivity products propel the future of the IoT “connected aircraft” to go beyond passenger entertainment to data driven solutions that create greater operational efficiencies and new revenue streams. Visit us at Aircraft Interiors EXPO 2018, Hall 2, Booth E24.

REDUCING COMPLEXITY AND COST

WITH ADAPTABLE, SCALABLE OPEN ARCHITECTURE PLATFORMS AIRBORNE SERVERS

WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS

MODMAN

ACE Flight 4600 / 4608

Cab n Connect A100

ACE Flight 4780

MASTHEAD

Featured Contributors

volume 8, edition 2 april – may 2018

APEX Experience Magazine 575 Anton Blvd, Ste 1020 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 +1 714 363 4900

FERGUS BAIRD is a freelance writer

Read Fergus’ work on pages 30 & 44

living 21,785 steps from Montreal’s airport – and his next destination.

Speaking of the future of additive manufacturing, he says he expects to one day be sitting in a 3-D-printed plane while sipping on wine from a 3-D-printed glass.

MARISA GARCIA, founder and editor

Read Marisa’s work on pages 34 & 114

of Flight Chic, says she was born and raised in a small fishing village in Northern Spain by a good witch, a saint and sailor. When it comes to onboard privacy, she says, “It would be perfectly acceptable for airlines to ask passengers to share biometric data from their smart watches, or add sensors to seats.”

BÁRBARA MALAGOLI is a graphic

See Bárbara’s work on page 52

artist based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she produces work characterized by bold colors, expressive use of texture and an exploration of forms. Thinking about what more airlines could do to help passengers fight jet lag, she says, “I would love to be treated to an iced tea or a massage after a long flight.”

Publisher Al St. Germain al.stgermain@spafax.com COVER BY GIANMARCO MAGNANI

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

Director

Director of Project Delivery Alain Briard

Maryann Simson maryann.simson@apexmedia.aero Managing Editor Caroline Ku caroline.ku@apexmedia.aero Deputy Editor Valerie Silva valerie.silva@apexmedia.aero Digital Editor Kristina Velan kristina.velan@apexmedia.aero News Editor Ari Magnusson Research Assistant Ella Ponomarov Contributors Fergus Baird, Marisa Garcia, Jasmin Legatos, Seth Miller, Katie Sehl, Howard Slutsken, Stephanie Taylor, Jordan Yerman

ART Art Director Nicolás Venturelli nicolas.venturelli@apexmedia.aero

FELIPE VARGAS is a motion designer

See Felipe’s work on page 114

and illustrator based in Santiago, Chile. His work is influenced by design in motion, art deco and artists Tim Biskup and Charley Harper. Access to a good book or a screen are his air travel fundamentals, admitting that he’ll usually end up watching five movies before falling asleep on board.

Graphic Designer Angélica Geisse Contributors Alexandre Affonso, Marcelo Cáceres, Gianmarco Magnani, Bárbara Malagoli, Vicente Reinamontes, Felipe Vargas

FSC-FPO

26

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Production Manager Felipe Batista Nunes Copy Editor Deanna Dority Fact Checkers Tara Dupuis Leah Jane Esau Proofreaders Katie Moore Robert Ronald

ADVERTISING Sales Director Steve O’Connor steve.oconnor@apexmedia.aero +44 207 906 2077 Ad Production Manager Mary Shaw mary.shaw@spafax.com Ad Production Coordinator Joanna Forbes joanna.forbes@apexmedia.aero Bookmark Content and Communications, A Spafax Group Company CEO, Bookmark Raymond Girard Senior Vice-President, Product, Bookmark Arjun Basu

IT’S NOT JUST A NETWORK FOR EUROPE IT’S A NETWORK FOR GROWTH The European Aviation Network, the world’s first integrated satellite and air to ground network, is tailor-made for Europe’s busy routes and hubs.

Ideal for narrow body aircraft, cost-effective to install and run, EAN is scalable to meet Europe’s growing inflight connectivity demand.

High-speed seamless Wi-Fi for flights over Europe gives your passengers a superior inflight experience.

By delivering real time messaging and video streaming, it will turn short-haul passengers into long-term customers.

Find out more at europeanaviationnetwork.com

WELCOME

PHOTO: ZOO STUDIO – AÉROPORTS DE PARIS

Charles de Gaulle Airport

Up Next: APEX MultiMedia Market

In-flight entertainment buyers and content service providers will be gathering for APEX MultiMedia Market (MMM) in Paris, 23–24 April. Meet international vendors for TV, movies, graphical user interfaces, games, apps, audio and more; learn about the latest media trends; and flex your entertainment trivia knowledge at the friendly but highly competitive quiz night.

For more information, visit mmm.apex.aero.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

29

INDUSTRY

Something In the Air Does aerotoxic syndrome exist?

One airline is taking action to improve cabin air quality, regardless if it does or not.

4

2

BY FERGUS BAIRD ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRE AFFONSO

The news of easyJet’s plans to outfit its Airbus A320 aircraft with PUREair advanced cabin air filters last September reignited debate on a mysterious condition some believe affects frequent flyers. Aerotoxic syndrome isn’t medically recognized, but since the publication of a scientific paper on the subject in 2000, it’s been the unofficial diagnosis for a catalog of symptoms affecting some air travelers and flight crew: blurred vision, fatigue, nausea, dyspnea, seizures, vomiting, diarrhea and more.

These symptoms are generic, so it’s difficult to blame poor cabin air quality directly.

However, there could be more to the story.

EasyJet is installing PUREair filters on its A320s.

30

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

5

3

1

How Cabin Air Systems Work 1

2

3

4

5

Bleed air enters through jet engines

Cools down in the air conditioner

Mixes with clean cabin air and flows out of overhead vents

Cycles back to air conditioner, where it is filtered 20–30 times per hour

Exits to offset incoming bleed air

Source: How It Works

At the 2017 Cabin Air Conference, Peter Childs, head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, presented several ways toxic substances might leak into a cabin’s air supply. Normally, hot bleed air circulates into the aircraft through the jet engines. It then enters the engine compressor for cooling before being recirculated into the air conditioner, where it’s cycled through HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters many times over to cleanse it of impurities before it’s fed into the cabin. Childs says that if this compressorbleed system is compromised at some stage, it could impact cabin air quality. One concern is the possibility of oil leaking from faulty seals that could pool in different parts of the airplane, like the outer casing, increasing the risk for off-gassing.

Some gases may originate in the cabin itself – from varnish on wood paneling or carpet glue, for example. “However, the majority of these scenarios could be wholly or

partially mitigated by use of filtration within a cabin circulation system,” Childs says.

EasyJet’s PUREair filters, manufactured

by Pall Aerospace, are built to eliminate odors and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) like organophosphates given off by jet fuel. However, easyJet says the filters are being introduced to “reduce incidents of unusual smell and fumes in the cabin,” which can lead to delayed flights and, on rare occasions, short-term symptoms experienced by passengers on board. Aerotoxic syndrome, it maintains, “remains an area of scientific uncertainty.”

The aerospace industry has been in denial about contaminated cabin air, says Tristan Loraine, a former British Airways captain, who claims toxic cabin air forced him into early retirement in 2006, leading him to start the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive. But easyJet’s acknowledgement of cabin air concerns is a “massive step forward,” he adds.

WE’RE RAISING THE BENCHMARK EVEN HIGHER

Endless freedom above the clouds. In so many more ways than one.

The new RECARO BL3710 opens up unprecedented freedom in the economy class. Its lightweight modular concept offers a vast selection of advanced features for outstanding passenger comfort. Curious?

Find out more in April 2018.

www.recaro-as.com

SERVICES

Crew With Cameras Heated interactions with airline staff are usually filmed from the passenger’s perspective. Now one carrier is equipping crew with recording devices to get the other side of the story.

BY JASMIN LEGATOS | ILLUSTRATION BY VICENTE REINAMONTES

The video of passenger David Dao being forcibly removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight last year spread through the Internet like wildfire. And while confrontations between airline staff and customers aren’t always so dramatic and, admittedly, disturbing, in the age of the personal recording device, passengers can now share footage of even the smallest dispute with the world. So what’s an airline to do?

Surveillance cameras that monitor the entrance to the cockpit and the airplane cabin have been around since 2002, when US carrier JetBlue installed them in the 32

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

wake of the September 11 hijackings. But Aurigny, a Guernsey-based carrier, has become the first airline to equip its cabin crew with body cameras. Supplied by Scottish outfit Edesix, the camera can be turned on when a crewmember thinks a situation is about to spiral out of control.

“Why should it just be that the passenger is the one who is recording everything on their cell phone and editing it the way they see fit?” Edesix managing director and founder Richie McBride told the New York Times in November. “The crew has no way of documenting what they went through to get to the very explosive situation,” he added.

No major airlines have thus far followed Aurigny’s lead, but that doesn’t mean their crewmembers aren’t willing to turn the tables on passengers nonetheless. Last May, another United passenger filmed a ticketing agent he claimed was “being rude.” In response to the filming, the staff member canceled the passenger’s ticket and hit record on her own device.

Gabor Lukacs, a Canadian passenger rights advocate who has filed more than two dozen successful regulatory complaints against air carriers with the country’s transportation authority, isn’t against the idea of airline staff wielding cameras, in principle. “It protects both sides,” he says, adding, however, that the selective nature of Edesix’s version is problematic. “The agent can choose to turn on the camera only when a passenger raises his or her voice and what happened before isn’t recorded; it documents an incomplete portion of the situation.”

Lukacs also worries that passenger privacy could be compromised – especially in the case where a camera inadvertently records a private conversation. “That would amount almost to accidental wiretapping.”

How will airlines use these types of recordings, how will they be stored and for how long? How will a customer’s personal information be protected? These are just some of the questions Lukacs thinks need to be addressed before moving forward.

Though some airlines prohibit passengers from filming their employees through the terms of service outlined on their tickets, it isn’t necessarily illegal (laws do vary from country to country, though). But by doing so, passengers would be in breach of the contract they agreed to when they handed over their credit card in exchange for a seat on the airplane – and that might just mean they’re grounded.

“Why should it just be the passenger who is recording everything on their cell phone?”

RICHIE McBRIDE, EDESIX

BATTERY POWER

AIRCRAFT POWER

The best of both worlds AirFi now gives you the best of both worlds. 24 hour long life battery or stay onboard with aircraft power. Find out how the world’s best selling portable wireless IFE can work for your fleet, contact us at sales@airfi.aero

SEE US AT BOOTH 2E65 You can find us on:

www.airfi.aero We bring portable inflight entertainment to a whole new level

COMFORT

Target Market A team of aviation professionals is developing an aircraft cabin tailored to the Asian traveler.

BY MARISA GARCIA

Future Cabin for the Asian Market The FUCAM initiative analyzes requirements of airlines and passengers in Japan, and the rest of Asia.

CABIN SPACE

The International Air Transport Association has projected that the Asia-Pacific market will be the biggest driver of air travel demand by 2036, supplying more than half of the 7.8 billion travelers expected to fly in the next 20 years. This growth is already underway, with China, Japan, India and Indonesia now among the world’s top 10 aviation markets.

As part of Europe’s Horizon 2020 program, European and Japanese companies are collaborating on the future cabin for the Asian market (FUCAM), designed expressly to meet the needs of the Asian market, by looking first to the Japanese customer. “Once the design of the future human-centric passenger cabin is able to satisfy the demanding expectations of the Japanese customers (regarding safety, perceived quality, comfort, connectivity, time and space), it will please the customers in Asia and consequently elsewhere in the world,” FUCAM project coordinator Helge Fromm shared at the Paris Air Show last June.

Established in 2016, the FUCAM consortium consists of nine partners: eight from Europe, including Airbus Group and Airbus in Hamburg, which coordinate the project; Stelia; Mormedi; Bertrandt; Aalto University; Cranfield University; the European Aeronautics Science Network (EASN); and JAMCO from Japan.

Like Fromm, Kyriaki Panagopoulou, dissemination, exploitation and chief creative officer at EASN Technology Innovation Services, who oversees information-sharing on the project, insists that monitoring the evolution of Japanese

34

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Air Conditioning

Lighting

Storage Compartment

Galley

Aisle

Seat

IFE

Lavatory

Passenger Segments in the Japanese Air Travel Market 12% 24%

Solo

64%

Couple

Family

Top Concerns for Japanese Travelers 1

2

Clean, comfortable aircraft interiors

Foreign films with subtitles

3

4

Quality food and beverage options

Prompt and attentive service from crew

SOURCES: FUCAM, ADARA, ELSEVIER

needs could help anticipate those of passengers from Asia more broadly, Europe and even around the world.

Responding to these market trends is expected to help advance cabin architecture, design and systems development. “This represents a unique opportunity for the EU aeronautics sector to contribute to developing the future airplane cabin and, at the same time, leveraging the resources, mitigating risks and establishing a long-term relationship with Japan,” Panagopoulou says.

The team is conducting research into several different scenarios, including cabin class differentiation – namely, in business and what it calls “super economy” – as well as use cases for the lower-deck area that could be marketed for ancillaries. “The first scenario is focused on providing a lowcost dining solution to passengers – one attractive enough to enhance their interest in buying access to the experience provided on the lower deck,” Panagopoulou says.

A second scenario explores alternative on-demand passenger experiences such as a children’s play area, a coffee corner, a yoga and stretching module and even a beauty zone dedicated to personal care and wellness. These, FUCAM stakeholders believe, could be supported through partnerships with household Asian brands that are popular with consumers.

“This is an opportunity to contribute to developing the future airplane cabin … and establish a long-term relationship with Japan.”

KYRIAKI PANAGOPOULOU, EASN TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION SERVICES

MAR K YOUR CALENDAR

apex EXPO Boston, MA USA 24-27 September 2018 EXECUTIVE K EY NOTES

Stephen Kavanagh Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director

CO-LOCATED W ITH: * Keynotes subject to change

Andres Conesa Chief Executive Officer

Calin Rovinescu Chief Executive Officer

A SATCOM UPGRADE PATH WITH LOWER TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP?

YES, WITH CARLISLEIT.

THE ARINC 791 KA/KU UNIVERSAL INSTALLATION. FASTER INSTALLATIONS FOR EVEN FASTER CONNECTIVITY. Carlisie Interconnect Technologies offers a complete, all-in-one ARINC 791 solution for Ka- and Ku-band SATCOM installations.

Benefits to your fleet operation include: » Less down time and lower overall cost of ownership » 40-50% longer flight time between inspections » Simplified upgrade path saving both time and money » Pre-certified for rapid installation* It’s no wonder our simplified, standardized installation kits are preferred by aircraft manufacturers for their line fit installations.

DISCOVER THE CARLISLEIT ARINC 791 KA/KU UNIVERSAL INSTALLATION ADVANTAGE

FlightGear™ ARINC 791 Ka/Ku Universal Installation

Contact CarlisleIT today for more information on connecting your fleet with the ARINC 791 Ka/Ku Universal Installation. Visit www.CarlisleIT.com/ARINC791.

www.CarlisleIT.com/ARINC791

COMFORT

Economy Pitches Airlines are looking past seat pitch and width to maximize comfort in tight quarters.

BY STEPHANIE TAYLOR

The growing popularity of low-cost carriers has seen legacy airlines looking at ways to maximize load factors with higher-density cabins. But as legroom decreases across the board, airlines are showing economy passengers they still care by investing in creature comforts beyond pitch and width.

“The challenge for seat vendors is to maximize living space and maintain comfort at tighter pitches,” explains Phil Hall, CEO of Mirus Aircraft Seating. Bernhardt Seiter, vice-president of Sales, EMEA, Recaro, agrees, adding, “On long-haul routes, economy-class seats are additionally supported by sleeping comfort and an extensive infotainment offer.”

Hall says features like headrests are increasingly being used as product differentiators in economy. Indeed, Cathay Pacific on the Airbus A350 and, more recently, Singapore Airlines on its new A380s – which feature 471 seats, more than in previous layouts – introduced six-way adjustable headrests to give passengers more lateral support.

HAECO’s Wave headrest, an entry for this year’s Crystal Cabin Award, could soon help airlines create the illusion of privacy without the extra space to spare. The 180-degree wraparound headrest uses active noisecanceling technology and proprietary noise-dampening materials to create a quiet bubble around a passenger’s head.

MEAL TIME Furnishings matter, but if the backlash British Airways (BA) received for teaming up with Marks & Spencer for a buy-on-board scheme on short haul is any indication, food does, too. The airline has taken a wildly different approach for its long-haul economy World Traveller passengers, who

36

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Economy cabin innovations range from seats to meals.

Clockwise from top left: Mirus Aircraft Seating, Molon Labe, British Airways, Recaro, LIFT

by EnCore and HAECO.

COMFORT

will receive a four-course meal, including a region-specific main course, followed by a sandwich or pizza wrap, with additional snacks, such as a nut mix or ice cream bar, depending on the duration of the flight.

The multimillion-pound menu investment boosts both quality and quantity, says Carolina Martinoli, BA’s director of Brand and Customer Experience, adding that increasing the number of snacks allows passengers to keep some for later in the flight. “Our customers tell us that when they’re taking a long-haul flight, great food and beverages make a real difference to them,” Martinoli says, “so we want to make sure we deliver a great experience.”

PHOTOS: MIRUS; HAECO; LIFT BY ENCORE; MOLON LABE; BRITISH AIRWAYS; SINGAPORE AIRLINES

THE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE Seat space may be limited, but the imagination isn’t, which is why airlines are leaning on in-flight entertainment to close the comfort gap. “There is an increased focus on helping passengers stay connected, stay entertained and use their time as they would on the ground,” says Elijah Dobrusin, VP of Development and Strategy, LIFT by EnCore. Air France, for its part, has announced a partnership with SkyLights to bring immersive virtual reality headsets into economy. Meanwhile, Emirates has equipped the economy cabin on its newest Boeing 777-300ER with Panasonic’s Super Eco monitors, which feature Bluetooth technology, a highresolution camera, 3-D multiplayer gaming and an integrated audio connector.

While airlines are looking to technology to improve the passenger experience, Hank Scott, CEO of Molon Labe, thinks comfort still comes back to the actual seat.

“No matter how seamless and awesome the digital aspect of the flying experience may become, at the end of the day, a passenger is a body, sitting very close to another body, often a stranger; the greatest digital experience in the world won’t make up for being stuck between two large passengers for many, many hours.”

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

37

Setting the Tone Color forecasting can be a crucial marketing tool for brands, but how influential are trendy tints in the aviation industry?

BY KRISTINA VELAN

The designation of Color of the Year (COTY) is meant to be a conversation-starter, rather than an edict, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone Color Institute, which deemed ultra violet the 2018 COTY. On the same day that Pantone revealed its 2018 COTY, Delta Air Lines published an online story about how “strikingly similar” the color is to its “passport plum” uniforms, which are designed by Zac Posen and will take flight on May 29 of this year.

“Whether it’s the plum, the design or the attention to detail Zac brought forward, the idea isn’t to remain in the current or the past,” says Tim Mapes, Delta’s SVP and chief marketing officer. “It’s really about the future of Delta and making a much bolder, fashion-forward statement that all of our people can be proud of for years to come.”

38

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

According to Mark Woodman, past president of Color Marketing Group and an accredited speaker on color and design with the Interior Design Continuing Education Council, dark blue is a popular hue for airline crew uniforms. “Blue commands more authority in its darker versions; hence, a lot of uniforms make use of the color,” he explains.

The psychology of color is complex, but warm pigments like red, orange and yellow may produce feelings ranging from comfort to anger, while cool tones like blue, purple and green tend to create a soothing atmosphere.

But cultural differences must also be considered. “Chinese customers, for example, react very positively to rich red tones in combination with gold, as these colors stand for luck and happiness [in their culture],” says Ilona Illing, director of Design at Lantal.

Color trends play a secondary role in cabin textile design, says Judith Steiner, manager of Marketing and Communication at rohi.

“When translating a design briefing into textile, our experience shows that it is more

“The decision for colors needs to be long term … it involves specific needs for the transportation market.”

ILONA ILLING, LANTAL

important to understand Delta’s “passport the corporate colors of the plum” uniforms airline, as well as the culture are on point with Pantone’s 2018 and landscape of a country, Color of the Year: than taking the Color of the ultra violet.

Year into account. As the name already indicates, the color of the year changes every year. We are, however, creating premium designs that last.”

Illing agrees, stating that, while Lantal does acknowledge short-term color trends like Pantone’s COTY, “the decision for colors in our collection needs to be long term, and therefore it is a forecast and involves specific needs for the transportation and aircraft markets.”

According to Illing, subtle tinted grays have emerged as a trend in cabin textiles over the last few years. “The airline industry was very much dominated in the past by blue hues; however, we do see the trend of blue changing into gray and anthracite of any intensity and brightness,” Steiner echoes.

Rohi has no plans to follow in the footsteps of roofing specialist Owens Corning and flooring dealer Shaw Floors, which declared Sand Dune and Gold Rush, respectively, as COTYs to generate media attention and push product.

“Color is one important element of aircraft cabin textile design, but not the only one,” Steiner says. “When it comes to a specific project, it is key to listen to customers and to understand their needs.”

PHOTO: DELTA AIR LINES

AMBIENCE

POWER INTEGRATED FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

USB Power Satisfy escalating customer expectations & stay competitive in the air with our reliable in-seat USB & 110V power solutions Lowest cost, lightest weight, 2.1A USB power complete solution AML STC installation No dynamic or static seat test required No impact on passenger legroom Standalone USB Type A & C or integrate with GLIDE embedded IFE Ancillary revenue stream options

Visit us at Aircraft Interiors Expo Stand 4B30, Hamburg Set up a meeting sales@digecor.com

Be sure to enter our USB Power Competition at the Stand to win during AIX!

COMFORT

Sleep Cycling Could a smart sleep mask be the key to jet lag prevention for passengers, and extra revenue for airlines?

BY JASMIN LEGATOS

LumosTech’s sleep mask is based on science from Stanford University.

While Burns was unable to share the names of interested parties, there is one airline that has already made a step in the direction of better sleep: Lufthansa handed out Polish startup Neuroon’s sleep masks – which, like LumosTech’s version, use light therapy to minimize the effects of jet lag – on its inaugural FlyingLab flight from Frankfurt to San Jose in 2016.

If other airlines follow suit, we may begin to see sleep masks as an added perk for frequent flyers and business travelers, who may be interested in renting them as they would a virtual reality headset. Instead of having to arrive at their destination two or three days in advance of a big meeting, or risk being groggy in the boardroom, they could arrive the day before feeling as if they’ve traveled through time.

“With short light pulses, we are able to control the timing of melatonin.”

VANESSA BURNS, LUMOSTECH

40

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

of light to reset the body’s clock as users sleep. “The sleep cycle is controlled by light – we’ve known this for a long time,” Burns says. “With these very short light pulses, we are able to control the timing of melatonin, the hormone that controls when you feel tired and when you feel awake.”

The amount of time a passenger needs to wear the mask prior to departure depends on where they’re going. “For jet lag, we can actually shift the sleep cycle three or four hours in a single night,” the Stanford alumnus explains. Traveling from San Francisco to New York City? That’s one night with the sleep mask. Going to London? You’ll need two nights with the mask, which, despite its high-tech function, looks and feels like other low-tech versions on the market. In the San Francisco–New York City scenario, that means instead of forcing themselves to hit the pillow when it only feels like 8 p.m., passengers would actually feel tired at 11 p.m. New York time.

Here’s how many nights a passenger would have to sleep with LumosTech’s mask if he or she were traveling from New York City to the following places: San Francisco: 1 night

Calcutta: 4 nights

London: 2 nights

Seoul: 4 nights

Dubai: 3 nights

Auckland: 2 nights PHOTO: LUMOSTECH

Every passenger has his or her own way of dealing with jet lag upon landing. But what if airlines could offer something that would eliminate the effects of jet lag altogether? California startup LumosTech promises that its smart sleep mask can do just that. And with the product set to hit the market in mid-2018, the company has already received quite a bit of interest from airlines, says Vanessa Burns, the company’s co-founder and CEO. Applying science licensed from, and patented by, Stanford University, the LumosTech sleep mask pulses short bursts

Not sort of connected. Not most of the time connected.

Simply connected.

Our product is yours – the passenger experience.

CABINCONNECT™

To her, the best trip is the least eventful. She doesn’t know

> IFE systems for today and tomorrow

Rockwell Collins technology made her Wi-Fi® experience seamless. And she doesn’t need to know our name. Just yours. When she’s old enough to book a flight. See how simply connected your airline can be.

Visit us at Aircraft Interiors Expo, hall B4, stand 4C30.

rockwellcollins.com/simplyconnected © 2018 Rockwell Collins. All rights reserved.

> Global broadband connectivity > Applications and value-added services

CATERING

Soup Ahoy!

Will the trend of drinking broth as tea receive a warm welcome from passengers?

BY JORDAN YERMAN

Soup Stock Tokyo on Japan Airlines (above) and Mr Lee’s Noodles on Jetstar Airways (below).

42

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

serve Hokkaido corn stew to premium economy and economy passengers, while Korean Air has been proudly serving a traditional seaweed soup, called miyeok guk, for years. All Nippon Airways, however, may be more in tune with the latest development in the trend: The carrier is serving Kayanoya’s vegan onion-based stock by the cup. Jetstar Airways also offers savory vegan soups, such as Dragon Fire Vegetables from Mr Lee’s Noodles. “I think plant-based broths are in the nascency of their evolution,” Helfend says. “As the merits of a plant-based diet become universally known and embraced, The Art of Broth and other plant-based broths will see an exponential growth.”

Having garnered support on the ground, Helfend is now eyeing broth after takeoff: “We’re currently running a pilot test with several airlines. We look forward to serving airline customers in the months to come.”

Perhaps there’s space for broth on the beverage cart after all. Coffee, tea or broth, anyone?

“Our broths are for someone to bring to a business meeting or on an airplane.”

JODY HELFEND, THE ART OF BROTH

PHOTOS: THE ART OF BROTH; JAL; MR LEE’S

Broth can be sipped as a tea or served with noodles for a heartier meal.

The artisanal broth trend has simmered up in recent years, with travelers now drinking hot and savory stock from tumblers at the airport while waiting for their flights. But broth has a far longer culinary history. Indeed, what is widely accepted by historians as the first-ever restaurant, opened in Paris by a certain Mr. Boulanger in 1765, served only one dish: broth. The word “restaurant” referred to the restorative nature of Mr. Boulanger’s bouillons, not the place where they were served.

Today, consumers are divided into two camps: fans who swear by the stuff and detractors who decry it as an overpriced version of stock cubes. The former celebrate it for improving skin, aiding digestion and boosting the immune system – benefits many frequent flyers crave. The latter suspect that, like macarons and Cronuts, broth will attract queues of the hungry and curious, before being glibly dismissed as a hipster fad.

The Art of Broth can be credited for popularizing the trend in the air travel sector, after a partnership with HMSHost saw it bring steepable broth bags to 30 US airports last autumn. Unveiled at the 2017 International Flight Services Association Conference and Expo, the company’s Gourmet Sipping Broths are non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan and certified kosher.

“We designed The Art of Broth for consumers to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

Our broths are for someone to bring to a business meeting or on an airplane,” the company’s founder, Jody Helfend, says.

“The travel industry and office workers were the two most logical business channels for us to develop.”

But soup in the sky is a well-established phenomenon, especially among Asian carriers: Japan Airlines partnered with Soup Stock Tokyo in March last year to

IN CHALLENGING TIMES, TRUST AND UNDERSTANDING CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE Being the most trusted global media*, we deliver our TV and digital news and content in 12 bespoke editions created for our audiences in their native languages. In doing so, we shed light on current affairs while making sure all voices are heard and understood. We do journalism without judgement, so that everywhere you go, you feel reassured that you know the world around you better.

*Source: Ipsos Affluent Europe 2017 – engagement-base monthly brand reach

euronews is available worldwide in 10 TV editions and 12 digital editions

A

L

L

V

I

E

W

S

Jenny Delcambre +33 1 53 96 92 74 jenny.delcambre@euronews.com

All You Can Eat Could edible food packaging mean less cleanup for airlines post-flight?

BY FERGUS BAIRD

Airlines spend half a billion dollars dealing with cabin waste each year, with most of the trash being traced back to in-flight catering. About 350 plastic cups are used on an average US domestic flight; nationwide, that’s four million plastic cups per day. When you include food wrappers, coffee creamers, and disposable plates and cutlery, the garbage really starts piling up.

Airlines are stepping up recycling efforts, but they’re also exploring ways to reduce the quantity of plastic waste they produce, period. Could new edible options of storing and serving food redirect trash from the landfill into passengers’ stomachs?

Significant advancements in edible packaging have come from biotech companies like Evoware. Based out of 44

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Jakarta, Evoware leverages Indonesia’s huge seaweed harvests – more than 10 million tons per year – to produce seaweed-based packaging that’s so eco-friendly it dissolves in hot water.

Evoware’s edible product line includes food wrappers, instant coffee packets and sachets for dry seasonings, and it’s all nutrient-dense, containing high levels of fiber, calcium, and vitamins A and C. In its base form, the edible packaging is tasteless and odorless, but it can be infused with different flavorings. The company also produces fully biodegradable packaging for non-edible items like soap and toothpicks.

Edible-grade packaging from Evoware: Waffle wrappers (top) and coffee sachets (bottom).

Ariane van Mancius, a hospitality marketing expert from Now New Next, says this type of packaging could be particularly useful for in-flight snacks: “On intercontinental flights, any packaging that comes into contact with food or drinks has to be burned, so it being simply biodegradable isn’t truly sustainable.

What’s interesting about edible packaging is that passengers could be the solution to that problem, making it an appealing offer for airlines.”

Other biomaterials like sugarcane represent an alternative to plastic but, unfortunately, they don’t always hold up when traveling between substantially different climates. “I tried a sugarcanebased tray, but it had buckled in the humidity,” van Mancius says. “Edible cups and cutlery made of sugar might taste nice, but they won’t necessarily last flying from a colder country like the Netherlands to a hot climate like Dubai. The challenge is finding an edible substance that will hold up across different environments.”

It’s safe to say that edible packaging is having a moment, and the idea of “waste consumption” is being turned on its head.

As airlines continue to investigate ways to reduce waste, it’ll be interesting to see if garbage can become gourmet.

PHOTOS: EVOWARE

CATERING

ENTERTAINMENT

Twisted Plot When it comes to interactive storytelling, viewers can choose which subject earns the leading role.

BY JORDAN YERMAN

You sneak a peek at your row-mate’s seatback screen, and she’s watching the same show as you... but the protagonist is a different character. Welcome to what could be the next big trend in in-flight entertainment (IFE), where narratives are under the audience’s control. A captive viewer needs only a touch-sensitive screen and the right kind of content in order to take charge.

Steven Soderbergh’s new series, Mosaic, sees HBO challenging the notion of perspective itself. Viewers use an app to switch viewpoints at particular points as the murder mystery progresses, following one of two main characters. The choice in protagonist will shape the viewer’s experience of the show, which is peppered with “Easter eggs” of hidden content, adding depth to the overall story.

Mosaic’s user interface (left).

Writer Ed Solomon with film storyboard (above). Sharon Stone and Paul Reubens in Mosaic (bottom).

46

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

“Soderbergh’s vision taps into key facets of entertainment: choice, interaction and surprise.”

DUNCAN ABELL, GLOBAL EAGLE

PHOTOS: HBO

Duncan Abell, VP of Creative at Global Eagle, dubs this “interactive reality,” saying, “Soderbergh’s vision and complex execution taps into key facets of entertainment: choice, interaction and surprise.”

Meanwhile, Netflix is exploring chooseyour-own-adventure storytelling, with Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale. Viewers guide Puss in Boots through chapters in an immersive storybook, with their decisions affecting the course of the story as he tries to escape. Smaller children have grown up in the presence of touch screens, so interactive entertainment comes naturally to them. For those of us old enough to file tax returns, there’s novelty to be found in a film or TV show whose experience changes with repeat viewings.

Touchscreen IFE systems are now de rigueur in the cabin, with bring-your-owndevice interfaces growing in popularity.

Newer IFE systems running on easily modified platforms such as Android have been ready and waiting for narrative interactivity, and now content creators outside the airline industry are stepping up to provide those stories.

“The adoption in the travel space is highly likely, with the time to become addicted even greater, and especially where the investment can come with sponsorship to offset the cost,” Abell says. “Whether this happens in the seatback or portable devices remains to be seen and will be driven by ease and speed of deployment, as well as update friendliness.” Looking at synergies with other cabin tech trends, he adds, “Virtual reality will certainly increase the immersive nature of the experience, and any additional 3-D or 180-degree vision could define a new genre of program-andgame-blended media.”

your solution provider for...

ConneCtivity | Power | Control

Reliable PoweR

IFEC & PED Power Solutions 280W, 115VAC to 28VDC Power Supply • Space Saving Design enables more comfort/space for passengers... fits in cabin wall or ceiling, eliminating the need for below seat boxes, brackets or shrouds • Best in-Class Power Efficiency (>92%) optimizes power utilization and generates less heat than competing units

New

JaNu a Ry

• Safe, Reliable Power - Built in over-current protection

!

2018

- Thermal shut-down - Short circuit protection protects passenger and aircraft electronics • Complete Seat MRO Package available, including sidewall mounting, seat wiring harness and USB sockets • Universal Design applies to all installations

Applications • Passenger Seat USB PED Charging • Display Power • Lighting

• Galleys • Cockpit • Connectivity Systems

P/N: 1-14683-R

See us at Stand# 2E90 Hamburg, Germany | Apr. 10-11, 2018

Meet with us at AIX, email: appointment@ddc-web.com

54

years of service

To learn more, visit www.ddc-web.com/280WPSU/APEX

Pascall is a brand of Data Device Corporation

ENTERTAINMENT

Live in Flight Do impromptu performances on board captivate passengers or hold them captive?

BY JASMIN LEGATOS

48

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

@temecularoad on my @SouthwestAir flight yesterday. Don’t get that on other airlines. #Liveat35,” @carpenjt wrote.

Southwest’s music partnerships with the likes of Warner Music Group, the Grand Ole Opry and Live in the Vineyard mean that performers are high-caliber – think Imagine Dragons, Atlanta hip-hop artist Raury and rising stars – not your local cover band. “We provide entertainment and an activity for our customers, and at the same time connect our artist partners with new audiences,” Eliasen says. And while the press has described the initiative as an amenity, Southwest doesn’t see it as a loyalty tool – it’s just part of its DNA, Eliasen explains.

Southwest has been hosting live concerts in flight since 2011.

Icelandair also puts on a show for its passengers: APEX.AERO/ STOPOVER

The American low-cost carrier isn’t the only airline to bring live entertainment to the cabin midair. Other examples include a performance by the Reduced Shakespeare Company on a 2014 easyJet flight from Gatwick to Verona, a 2016 TEDxSydney talk for Australian technology and science innovators on a Qantas hop to San Francisco and, most recently, a 10-hour-long immersive retelling of Icelandair’s history during a transatlantic flight from London to New York.

Southwest, however, is the only airline to offer this type of entertainment with some regularity. There are about 20 Live at 35 events per year, with each lasting about 10 minutes – artists will play two songs at the front of the cabin and one at the back, time permitting. “We like to keep them limited to a small amount so they stay special and unique for our customers and for the artists we work with,” Eliasen says. And to keep the customer experience a happy one, Southwest won’t schedule a concert on a 6 a.m. flight, for instance, she notes. “We try to keep them to midday.” For those passengers who simply don’t want to participate, no pressure, Eliasen adds; they can simply keep their headphones on and tune out.

PHOTOS: SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Southwest Airlines has extended its Live at 35 in-flight concert series, an initiative started in 2011, now collaborating with Warner Music Nashville. A good time by the looks of the passenger-filmed videos on the Internet, but certain Twitter users and media outlets paint the experience as distressing.

“I often wish I could be strapped to a bad chair listening to someone else’s favorite genre of music while hermetically sealed in a sky tube,” @STEPD0C snarked.

“Literally nobody asked for this,” @ComicOzzie58 replied to a tweet sent out by Minnesota radio station The Current. A headline on vice.com read: “Southwest Airlines Will Regularly Inflict Live Music on Trapped Passengers.”

But airline spokesperson Alyssa Eliasen says passengers aboard Live at 35 flights usually respond with delight rather than derision.

“People immediately pull out their phones and start filming.” Twitter reactions by those actually in attendance are also generally positive. “Loved the in-flight concert by

Unlocking connected aircraft value With SITAONAIR, it’s personal.

Deliver your best-possible passenger experience with our digital and data expertise.

Grow ancillary revenues

Enhance passenger experience

Improve operational efficiency

Increase safety

www.sitaonair.aero

INDUSTRY

The risk of explosion associated with lithium-ion batteries has been a dilemma for the airline industry. Could one company’s solution put out the fire?

BY HOWARD SLUTSKEN

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are ubiquitous portable powerhouses in the world of rechargeable energy storage, with billions of cells produced annually. Found in everything from wireless earbuds to in-flight entertainment tablets, their pervasiveness extends to the aircraft cabin – but maybe not for long.

50

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

A Li-ion cell has a liquid electrolyte that saturates the battery’s key components, but is highly flammable. If a Li-ion cell is physically damaged, or if a battery’s charging circuitry malfunctions, the cell can become a raging inferno, spewing molten material with temperatures up to 1,985 degrees Fahrenheit – a thermal runaway that can destroy equipment and injure people.

The safety risks associated with the use of Li-ion batteries have been known since Sony introduced the first one in 1991, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reporting 160 air or airport incidents involving Li-ion batteries from that point to mid-2017. The issue gained widespread attention in 2016, when Samsung announced a global recall on its Galaxy Note 7 after reports that the smartphone was selfcombusting on the ground and in the air.

“If we can provide an inherently safe technology, that’s going to bring a lot more comfort.”

ERIK TERJESEN, IONIC MATERIALS

PHOTO: ISTOCK

A Burning Question

The threat of thermal runaway in batteries has since led to a controversial US electronics ban, the Airline Passenger Experience Association’s subsequent call for solutions to the ban and, as of February, decisions made

by Delta, American, Alaska, Southwest and Hawaiian airlines to prohibit baggage with non-removable Li-ion batteries.

“There is enough known about lithiumion batteries to acknowledge that in the current architecture, they are a risk in an airplane,” says Erik Terjesen, senior director, Licensing and Strategy, Ionic Materials.

To solve the problem of thermal runaway, Ionic Materials has developed a unique polymer material – a solid plastic – that would entirely replace the liquid electrolyte in the battery. “You basically create a battery that is entirely solid, with no liquid component, that is non-flammable,” Terjesen says.

Ionic has tested the newly configured batteries to destruction, cutting cells in half, and firing bullets into the battery packs.

Not only are the batteries stable, with no resulting explosions or fires, remarkably, the cells continue to provide power.

A next-generation “lithium-metal” battery using Ionic’s polymer could have roughly two to three times the energy density of a current Li-ion cell. And thanks to the polymer, even decades-old alkaline battery technology could see a reboot, becoming a rechargeable and inexpensive alternative to Li-ion cells. According to Terjesen, we could see safe and even more powerful batteries in the next few years.

“We’ve been in dialogue with people at the FAA and others – airlines and aviation players – and I think there’s the same view: If we can provide an inherently safe technology, that’s going to bring a lot more comfort,” Terjesen says.

CONNECTIVIT Y

Speed of Li-Fi An alternative power source for cabin electronics is coming to light.

BY JORDAN YERMAN ILLUSTRATION BY BÁRBARA MALAGOLI

“Wireless data from every light.” That’s how Professor Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh describes Li-Fi, the term he coined for bidirectional visible light communication. Li-Fi uses light waves to transmit data, encoded in changes in brightness too fast to be noticed by the human eye. That data is read by a light receiver – or even potentially a solar cell – and is transmitted much faster than it would be over Wi-Fi, which uses radio communication.

Li-Fi is well suited for the airline cabin: The use of visible light spectrum means it won’t cause electromagnetic interference with the airplane’s crucial instruments. The cabin’s lighting system could also deliver in-flight entertainment (IFE), duty-free shopping and communications. Even when

it seems to be switched off to the human eye, these cabin lights would be pulling double duty.

A startup called Velmenni is working with Airbus BizLab to develop Li-Fi solutions for the aviation industry. Velmenni CEO Deepak Solanki recalls a glowing response to his company’s presence at APEX EXPO last year: “Most of the big IFE providers and airlines visited us to understand how Li-Fi can play an important role in IFE or cabin communication.” So far, Velmenni has achieved data transfer speeds of 1 Gbps in lab tests – 10 times faster than Wi-Fi. Solanki identifies the current lack of standardization as a major obstacle to widespread Li-Fi adoption. “Once the standardization process is done,” he says, “it will be much easier for smartphone, laptop and other industrial manufacturers to adopt the technology.” One reason for the delay is that the standardization process moves more slowly than the leaps forward in technology.

“Currently, Li-Fi is in the testing phase for aircraft cabin applications, mostly for wireless IFE, wireless headset and

passenger calls,” Solanki says. “Most of the big players in the industry are evaluating Li-Fi technology for cabin communication.”

One misconception around the technology is that direct line of sight is needed for transmission. This isn’t the case: A Li-Fi signal can be bounced between sending and receiving devices, but the light cannot penetrate walls. This makes Li-Fi ideal when working with sensitive equipment or sensitive information.

Transmission over visible light makes the technology more secure against hacking (the attacking device would have to be in the room or peeping through a window to access the channel), but it also limits the range of Li-Fi communication.

“In my point of view, Li-Fi can play an important role in specific niche markets where Wi-Fi or radio systems are prohibited or have certain limitations such as aviation, healthcare, hazardous environments or congested areas,” Solanki says. “By seeing Li-Fi’s evolution, I can see a mass-scale adoption happening in the upcoming two to three years.”

Pros and Cons of Li-Fi CONS

PROS Up to 10 times faster than Wi-Fi, and uses less power

52

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Transmitted through light bulbs, which are ubiquitous in homes and offices

Wider spectrum than Wi-Fi, and can support more devices on a single network

Blocked by walls, so Li-Fi networks would be best suited to indoor LANs (local area networks)

Signals bounce, resulting in slower transmission speeds

Not yet standardized, so consumer electronics have no Li-Fi capability

Life.

Uninterrupted.

At Viasat, we believe fast, reliable connectivity should follow wherever you go. That’s why we took a system designed to deliver tomorrow’s internet and brought it to the skies.

We have higher standards because you do.

Find out more at viasat.com/airlines

PHOTO: WIZZ AIR

C-SUITE

54

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

C-SUITE

József Váradi Chief Executive Officer, Wizz Air

József Váradi’s career in aviation took off on the back of Eastern Europe’s shifting political winds. After a brief stint at Malév Hungarian Airlines, he launched Wizz Air. Fifteen years later, it’s now the largest low-cost carrier in Central and Eastern Europe.

BY ARI MAGNUSSON

I

t was 11 p.m. on a July evening in 2001.

József Váradi was bowling with colleagues when his phone rang. It was the chairman of the board of Malév Hungarian Airlines, Hungary’s former flag carrier. “Hey, we need to meet… We need to meet now,” he said. Having had a few drinks, Váradi hesitated. But the chairman insisted and so Váradi left his colleagues to meet him in a restaurant, somewhere in the center of Budapest.

“We had a board meeting today,” the chairman told Váradi at the restaurant. “The chief executive’s contract was not extended. We need a new CEO. So, do you want to take the position?” It was only recently that Váradi had become the airline’s chief commercial officer. He answered honestly: “I don’t know. I’m kind of half drunk. I’m not sure I’m really in a position to be making a decision.”

But by eight o’clock the next morning, Váradi had made a decision. As he told the audience during an interview at the World Travel Market (WTM) in 2014, he went to the chairman and said, “Of course I’m taking it.”

József Váradi was born in Debrecen, Hungary, in 1965. He graduated from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 1989, the same year Hungary’s communist state was dismantled, ushering in a new era of free-market liberal democracy. Shortly after, he

joined Procter & Gamble (P&G), where he spent the first 10 years of his career. His entry into aviation came when he was headhunted for the role of chief commercial officer at Malév, which became defunct in 2012.

“I always felt that the airline business wasn’t as good as it should have been … I still cannot explain why I decided to get into this business. I came from a highly profitable, exciting, multinational business at P&G into something that was struggling day in and day out, making huge losses,” he explained in the WTM interview. “When you work for a huge multinational, 80 percent of the success is done at the point you show your business card. That is certainly different in the airline sector. You need to fight for your survival, you need to prove yourself, and I think that’s the personal challenge in what I did.”

In his brief time at Malév, the state-owned airline began replacing its aging fleet of Russian jets, Fokkers and classic Boeing aircraft. He also oversaw the introduction of Boeing 737s, in addition to a radical restructuring of the business and costcutting measures. When a new center-left coalition government came into power in 2002, it was time to leave. “The company was state-owned. The new regime had a different view on life and we said goodbye to each other.” >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

55

C-SUITE

Wizz Air announced a full brand rejuvenation on its 11th anniversary.

was still a service offered to privileged people. “We believed that flying should be much more accessible.

We thought we could reform travel by making it more affordable,” he said. The second was the EU’s eastward expansion, which opened new markets to fly to underserved central and eastern European destinations with growing economies. During the 2014 WTM interview, Váradi elaborated on why timing was crucial to launching Wizz Air: “I don’t think we could have done it before, because the regulatory environment was just not available for such initiatives, and we couldn’t have done it later, because competition would have taken over the market by that time.”

“To succeed in the airline sector, you need to fight for your survival, you need to prove yourself, and I think that’s the personal challenge in what I did.”

56

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

LOW-COST HIGH AMBITIONS

On May 19, 2004 – the month that Hungary, along with seven other central and eastern European countries joined the European Union – Wizz Air launched its first commercial flight, from Katowice International Airport in southern Poland, an airport Váradi described as being “literally in the middle of nowhere.” Given Váradi’s history with Malév, he said that Wizz Air chose to begin operations from Poland “in case the Hungarians would go against the initiative and potentially kill it.” >

PHOTO: WIZZ AIR

The following year, Hungarians went to the polls to vote in a referendum that would steer the nation’s course for decades. The country voted overwhelmingly (83.3 percent) in favor of joining the European Union.

It meant Hungary would be a member of the world’s largest economic bloc and its citizens would be free to live and work anywhere in the EU. Spotting an opportunity, Váradi teamed up with five other people, and three months later registered an airline under the name Wizz Air. The group had decided from the get-go to operate Wizz Air as a low-cost carrier (LCC). The airline had managed to secure financial backing from Indigo Partners, a US-based private equity firm that also holds stakes in other LCCs around the world.

“We concluded very quickly that we would pursue the low-cost airline model,” he said in the WTM interview. Aware of what Ryanair and easyJet were doing in Europe, Váradi traveled to North America to get a perspective on what LCCs like WestJet, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines were doing on the other side of the Atlantic.

In a 2016 interview with Emerging Europe, Váradi explained that the idea for Wizz Air was predicated on two factors. The first was that in the early 2000s, flying

C-SUITE

József Váradi (center) with Fabrice Brégier (left) and John Leahy (right) of Airbus in 2015. Wizz Air signed a memorandum of understanding for the biggest single order of the A321neo aircraft.

“We believed that flying should be much more accessible. We thought we could reform travel by making it more affordable.”

PHOTO: AFP

The other reason was he wanted travelers to view Wizz Air as a pan-European airline. In the past 15 years, the carrier has sustained double-digit growth in its passenger numbers and expects to increase its current fleet of 87 Airbus aircraft to 300 by 2027.

In Wizz Air’s first few years, its customers primarily consisted of eastern Europeans moving westward in search of better job prospects and higher salaries.

The airline was competing against LCCs such as Bratislava-based SkyEurope and Warsaw-based Centralwings, both of which folded in 2009. Váradi says an obsession with keeping costs low also explains the airline’s success. “You have to be very focused and very good at executing your business model,” he explained in his interview with Emerging Europe. “The business model also has to be right for the market you operate in, and I think Wizz Air has got it right compared to the others.”

There are only two types of LCCs, Váradi observed during the 2014 WTM interview: “true” LCCs, which are fixated on cost-cutting and ancillary charges, and “lazy” LCCs, which allow full-service carrier expenses to creep into their business models. “Only Wizz Air and Ryanair are genuinely low-cost,” he said.

His stance has softened slightly since then. Last year, Wizz Air announced it would no longer charge for hand baggage. Speaking to Bloomberg TV in July last year, Váradi said Wizz Air often received negative feedback over the policy. “We’re falling in line with the rest of the industry. It will pose some operational challenges, obviously, but I think the industry has

figured out how to do it. We encourage people to travel in an efficient way and we’re going to incentivize efficient travel.”

These days, Váradi divides Wizz Air’s customers into three groups: those traveling for study or work, leisure passengers and business travelers. He finds it interesting that the last segment is now a typical customer, “because people think that business travelers are inclined to fly more on [full-service] flights,” he told Globes, an Israeli business news publication, last September.

Váradi also anticipated consolidation among European carriers following the insolvency of Monarch Airlines, airberlin and Alitalia. He says the emergence of sub-brands such as KLM’s Transavia, Lufthansa’s Germanwings and Air France’s Joon is an example of this. “The reason why legacy airlines are moving in the low-cost direction is simple: The lower the operating costs are, the easier it is to show good results. From an efficiency, market cap and growth potential standpoint, Wizz Air is now reporting the best results in the industry,” he told Globes.

Váradi is clearly confident in his airline’s future.

Last November, he announced his airline had placed a huge aircraft order for 146 Airbus A320neos at the Dubai Air Show. The order is worth $17.2 billion at list prices and is part of a 430-jet deal negotiated

by Indigo Partners. Váradi said the order would be a game changer for Wizz Air. “Our ambition is to become the undisputed low-cost leader in Europe, and this order is a significant milestone.”

58

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Bluebox IFE More than In-Flight Entertainment

Visit us in Hall B2 Stand 2D70

Offer your passengers Bluebox IFE and they won’t just be entertained.

They’ll be engaged.

IFEC Zone

Engagement. We think about that a lot as we develop

Choose how you want to engage your passengers

new ways to engage your passengers.

on board and Bluebox will deliver.

With over a decade delivering award-winning IFE

On tablets or streamed to passengers’ devices,

innovation to airlines around the world, we’ve ensured

Bluebox IFE enhances your in-flight service, generates

Bluebox IFE does more than entertain passengers.

revenue, and reveals your passengers’ interests.

It informs, educates, distracts and entices – with movies, music, destination guides, moving maps, advertising, shopping and more.

Want in-flight engagement your passengers won’t want to put down? Contact Bluebox.

Contact us to discuss your portable & wireless IFE requirements / info@blueboxaviation.com / blueboxaviation.com

WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

As an APEX Member, gain instant access to the most exclusive airline industry directory today!

Visit: apex.aero/directory

HUBS

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL CLUSTER Building, fitting and servicing aircraft is a global effort. So much so that aerospace companies the world over have formed strategic alliances, finding strength in numbers.

BY KATIE SEHL ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARCELO CĂ CERES

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

61

HUBS

T

he first US A321 rolled out of its hangar in Mobile, Alabama, to the tune of a marching band, flanked by pom-pom waving cheerleaders, Airbus crew in football jerseys, and red, white and blue balloons. The only thing missing as Airbus handed the aptly named BluesMobile over to JetBlue in the spring of 2016 might have been Bruce Springsteen chanting “Born in the USA.” But the anthemic chorus wouldn’t have been entirely accurate. The A321 wasn’t exactly born in the USA. Sites in France, Germany, China, the UK and Spain all contributed to its development; but the aircraft itself was built in the USA. “Already we are seeing a ‘build-it-and-they-willcome’ syndrome,” said Barry Eccleston, president and CEO, Airbus Americas, in an interview with the Seattle Times. “Suppliers are grouping themselves around us.” In the year of the opening of Airbus’ $600-million assembly plant at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, at least 19 companies followed suit, including Francebased Zodiac Aerospace and Safran. In December, Airbus supplier Hexcel announced it would be investing $200 million in an expansion in nearby Decatur, creating 90 jobs.

“WE ARE SEEING A ‘BUILD-IT-ANDTHEY-WILL-COME’ SYNDROME. SUPPLIERS ARE GROUPING THEMSELVES AROUND US.” BARRY ECCLESTON, AIRBUS AMERICAS

PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE

As a nonprofit financed mostly through membership, PNAA receives less public funding than other clusters.

While Washington State is North America’s largest commercial aviation cluster, 15 percent of companies in the state are PNAA members.

FOUNDED: 2001 MEMBERS: 178

Manufacturing at a rate of four narrow-body aircraft per month – on par with Airbus’ assembly line target in Tianjin, China – and with plans to bring a C Series assembly line to Mobile through the company’s recent agreement with Bombardier, the centripetal forces of a budding aerospace cluster are at work. And with a healthy research and development landscape, a government keen on offering major incentive packages for new companies and a widening network of industry stakeholders with mutual interests in close proximity, the textbook conditions for an aerospace cluster to form and thrive are in place.

62

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

131,500 approx.

MAIN ACTOR:

Boeing CORE INDUSTRIES:

Aircraft assembly, components

HUBS

AERO MONTREAL Arriving this year, Airbus will join Aero Montreal as its fifth OEM. Montreal represents more than 50 percent of Canada’s employment in the aerospace industry and is one of the only cities in the world where an entire aircraft can be designed.

FOUNDED: 2006 MEMBERS: 245 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

39,130 approx.

MAIN ACTORS:

Airbus, Bombardier, P&WC, Bell Helicopter

SWEET SPOTS Production in Mobile may be ramping up, but the scope of the city’s operations is far outpaced by Boeing’s output in Renton, Washington, where forty-seven 737 aircraft come off the assembly line each month, or Toulouse, France, where up to four jumbo A380s can be manufactured in a month. The rise of Toulouse and Seattle as leading global aerospace capitals dates back to World War I. In France, government officials requisitioned Toulouse as a site for ammunition and military aircraft production, since the battle in northeastern France froze industrial activity in that area.

In Boeing’s case, Seattle was less a strategic wartime post and more a harbor whose shipyards facilitated expansion fast enough to allow the burgeoning airframer to accept contracts for military aircraft and solidify its base in the Pacific Northwest.

CORE INDUSTRIES:

Aircraft assembly, supply chain

“THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE SUPPORT FROM MUNICIPAL, STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS IS A

HAMBURG AVIATION With the second anniversary of the ZAL TechCenter in view, Hamburg Aviation and its partners are strategically investigating the UAV market, additive manufacturing, fuel cell technology and digitalization.

FOUNDED:

2011 MEMBERS: 159 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

40,000 approx.

MAIN ACTORS:

Airbus, Lufthansa Technik, Hamburg Airport CORE INDUSTRIES:

Aircraft and aircraft systems, cabin and cabin systems, MRO modification, air transport systems, aviation-related IT and comms tech

HUGE ADVANTAGE.” JAVIER URQUIZO, COBHAM MICROELECTRONIC SOLUTIONS

These sites, along with Hamburg, Montreal, northwestern England and parts of Mexico, remain important aerospace centers, thanks in part to the geographical inertia that comes from heavy sunk costs and a largely immobile infrastructure. Unlike other industry clusters such as Silicon Valley, Wall Street or Hollywood, which tend to rely more on human capital, the aerospace hubs for the most part stay put.

But it’s not the case that the aerospace world has made a few very large and expensive beds and now has to sleep in them: They also happen to be very nice beds – hotbeds, even, of innovation. “A typical advantage of a cluster is funding,” says Lukas Kirchner, head of Marketing for Hamburg Aviation. “Through our network, we are able to group together different consortia and project teams with different backgrounds – setups that are mandatory to apply for many larger funds from the federal or European Union level.” >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

63

HUBS

AEROSPACE VALLEY With new members such as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies arriving in Toulouse, Aerospace Valley leadership is also exploring bilateral expansion through agreements with, among others, Hamburg Aviation, Aero Montreal, Farnborough Aerospace Consortium and OSSA (Turkey).

FOUNDED: 2005 MEMBERS: 859 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

120,000 approx.

MAIN ACTORS: Airbus, Dassault-Aviation, Stelia Aerospace, Thales Alenia Space, Safran, Turbomeca CORE INDUSTRIES:

Aircraft assembly, satellite production, embedded systems

“THROUGH OUR NETWORK, WE GROUP DIFFERENT CONSORTIA AND PROJECT TEAMS TO APPLY FOR LARGER FUNDS FROM THE FEDERAL OR EU LEVEL.” LUKAS KIRCHNER, HAMBURG AVIATION

As an example, Kirchner points to a 2017 research partnership between Hamburg Aviation and Aero Montreal that will receive a total of $15 million in funding from the German and Canadian governments.

Small to medium-sized enterprises especially stand to gain from the lobbying power of a cluster. According to Javier Urquizo, Mexico plant manager for Cobham Microelectronic Solutions, the “opportunity to have interaction and support from municipal, state and federal governments” is a huge advantage. Cobham, and other members of the Baja Aerospace cluster, recently requested a meeting with Carlo Humberto Bonfante Olache, Baja California’s secretary of Economic Development. “He shared his interest to support our companies with incentive programs and funding,” Urquizo says.

THE NETWORK As the center of the European aerospace industry, Aerospace Valley, the French cluster comprising companies in the Toulouse and Bordeaux region, boasts more than 850 companies, 80 research centers and an accumulated 123,000 employees. And the cluster has an export value 15 times larger than the second-largest cluster in the country: Bordeaux wine.

So, socializing has its perks.

“I keep saying that the most important added value of our cluster is actually the network,” explains Thilo Schoenfeld, deputy director of International Affairs for Aerospace Valley. “We organize hundreds of events each year for our members, and they are an excuse to get our members to come together, exchange business cards and to converse.” These kinds of events can also stimulate internal competition. “We have more and more activities now related to helping our smaller companies do business,” Schoenfeld says.

For larger companies, access to the network can help find suppliers and ancillary support without looking too hard. >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

65

HUBS

“Hamburg Aviation is an important network platform for its members,” says Wolfgang Reinert, head of External Communications for Lufthansa Technik, an MRO and anchor company within the German cluster. “It bundles the interests of a variety of players coming from completely different areas in the aviation business and gives them the possibility for a regular exchange of information or for initiating common activities or campaigns.”

To succeed in the aerospace industry, it’s a little bit of what you know and a little bit of who you know. Put differently: “It’s not about knowing everything, but knowing who might have an answer to a particular question,” Kirchner says. And sometimes it’s about finding subcluster communities. “We also host women’s conferences in addition to promoting women’s working groups,” says Fiona McKay, business development director for the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance. In other cases, as with Aerospace Valley’s inclusion of automotive and rail companies, there can be cross-sector cluster pollination.

There are also clusters of clusters. Established in 2009, the European Aerospace Cluster Partnership brings together 42 clusters from 15 countries. Not stopping there, the consortium organized the first Global Aerospace Cluster Manager Meeting at the Paris Air Show last year.

BAJA AEROSPACE Unlike more traditional clusters, many of the aerospace companies established in Baja California, Mexico, are from elsewhere – 70 percent of which have direct relations with California. But leaders are upfront about their plans to eventually produce a Mexican-made aircraft.

FOUNDED: 2006 MEMBERS: 104 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

45,000 approx.

MAIN ACTORS:

Cobham SATCOM, Gulfstream, Zodiac Aerospace CORE INDUSTRIES:

Component parts, including fuselage, ranging gear, engines; interior parts; avionics; cables; harnesses

COME AND THEY WILL BUILD IT Reduced transportation costs may appear to be one of the more obvious benefits of a cluster, but with the global emergence of low-wage economies, where the cost of labor can be as much as three to five times lower, this is no longer the case. >

“IT BUNDLES THE INTERESTS OF A VARIETY OF PLAYERS IN THE AVIATION BUSINESS AND GIVES THEM THE POSSIBILITY FOR A REGULAR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION.” WOLFGANG REINERT, LUFTHANSA TECHNIK

66

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Read about another tech-centric aerospace cluster: APEX.AERO/ SILICONVALLEY

HUBS

MORE MUSTER THAN CLUSTER Whether they are part of an alliance or not, local manufacturers and international heavyweights are congregating across Asia, putting new aerospace scenes on the map.

TIANJIN

SHANGHAI

CHUBU REGION

ABU DHABI INDIA

BENGALURU BANGALORE AFRICA SINGAPORE

ABU DHABI, UAE

Thanks to its advantageous geographical position, Abu Dhabi has been rapidly rising as a global air transport hub, with Abu Dhabi International Airport rated as the fastest growing airport over the past decade.

Opened in 2016, the Nibras Al Ain Aerospace Park plans to create 10,000 jobs by 2030 and is home to several aerospace manufacturing and service providers.

BENGALURU, INDIA

Home to sites from Airbus, Boeing, GE Aviation, Honeywell and more, Bengaluru now accounts for roughly 65 percent of the nation’s manufacturing output. Launched December last year in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry, TRIGO Group’s “Made in India” aerospace development program aims to accelerate growth, especially for small and media enterprises.

SINGAPORE

In January, the Singapore government launched an Aerospace Industry Transformation Map, which aims to make one of Asia Pacific’s largest aerospace hubs even larger. Centered around the 320-hectare Seletar Aerospace Park, more than 100 aerospace companies employ upward of 21,000 people within a cluster that boasts an output value of more than $8 billion.

SHANGHAI AND TIANJIN, CHINA

The dominance of Boeing and Airbus in the expansion of the Chinese airline market (the companies control 95 percent of airline sales in the country) has seen a corresponding growth in their manufacturing footprint in Shanghai and Tianjin, and has given rise to an airframer competitor in Comac, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China.

CHUBU REGION, JAPAN

The Chubu region produces approximately 80 percent of aircraft parts manufactured in Japan, with companies in the region playing a primary role in the development of Boeing aircraft and engines such as the V2500, Trent1000 and GEnx. On target for its first delivery in 2020, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) is the first commercial aircraft that will be made in Japan in over half a century.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

67

HUBS

“WE HAVE MORE AND MORE ACTIVITIES NOW RELATED TO HELPING OUR SMALLER

NORTH WEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE

COMPANIES DO BUSINESS.” THILO SCHOENFELD, AEROSPACE VALLEY

International outsourcing from OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and other large manufacturers has given rise to new poles of growth in China, India, Mexico and elsewhere, and as a result, the original build-it-and-they-will-come cluster model is being flipped on its head.

Prior to the opening of Bombardier’s facility in Querétaro in 2010, Mexico lacked the traditional makings of an airline cluster. Despite that, the export numbers for aerospace parts and supply to Canada and the US are strong, and fostered the industry’s growth from 150 aerospace factories in 2007 to more than 300 by the end of 2016. With a skilled workforce – more engineers per capita graduated in Mexico in 2012 than in Germany – growth in the market appears to be on a sky-high trajectory.

The factories are expanding, too. “Back in 2005, we reflected on our industrial strategy with the intention to develop content in cost-competitive countries,” says Baptiste Valois, general manager of Zodiac Aerospace’s branch in Mexico. “For logistical reasons, our approach has been focused on countries that are either close to the homeland and systems control or close to our customers.” Zodiac Aerospace’s Chihuahua campus is now the manufacturer’s largest site, with around 3,000 employees and five plants covering 600,000 square feet (with 77,000 square feet reserved for additional expansion).

Perhaps soon – as in China, where outsourcing from Boeing and Airbus led to the development of a Chinese-born and Chinese-made passenger aircraft, Comac C919 – Mexico will have its own airplane. “We are not shy of sharing our desire to build our own aircraft,” says Tomas Sibaja, executive president of the Baja Aerospace cluster. “This way, we will align our strengths and expertise in improving our ecosystem with national pride.”

68

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Contributing more than $10 billion to the UK economy, the alliance is bracing for the shake-up that may ensue with Brexit on the horizon. “In the UK, we have cooperated and collaborated with Europe for over 30 years,” says David Bailey, chief executive of North West Aerospace Alliance.

“We need to be a part of it.”

FOUNDED: 1994 MEMBERS: 220 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:

50,000 approx.

MAIN ACTORS:

Airbus, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce CORE INDUSTRIES:

Military aircraft systems integration, airframe components, engine subsystems and components

LIGHTING

INTEGRATED FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

LED Cabin Lighting Reduce maintenance costs & refresh your cabin with easy-to-install & economic LED lighting Like-for-like, maintenance driven low cost white only LED Enhanced white plus one colour mid-range solution Premium, yet affordable full RGB with millions of colour & intensity permutations to re-create sunrises & sunsets to offer a truly unique brand experience As standalone or integrated with GLIDE embedded IFE

Visit us at Aircraft Interiors Expo Stand 4B30, Hamburg Set up a meeting sales@digecor.com

Be sure to enter our USB Power Competition at the Stand to win during AIX!

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BABAR RAHMAN

Q&A

70

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Q&A

Babar Rahman

SENIOR MANAGER, GLOBAL SPONSORSHIPS, CSR AND IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT/CONNECTIVITY QATAR AIRWAYS

Babar is responsible for driving global sponsorships, community relations and in-flight entertainment strategies at Qatar Airways.

Under his leadership, the airline relaunched its IFE system, enhanced content selection, introduced connectivity and launched the region’s first onboard Wi-Fi sponsorship. He is also a member on APEX’s Board of Directors.

Every job has a cool factor. What’s yours?

Being able to contribute creatively. Not being afraid to think outside the box has resulted in several key initiatives for the airline, some of which include our next-generation in-flight entertainment (IFE) graphical user interface (GUI), the Oryx One IFE app and becoming the first airline in our region to launch broadband connectivity on board.

What differentiates Oryx One from other systems?

It’s easy to navigate and driven by content – it basically changes every month, so there is always a fresh look.

We entirely reprogrammed the way our channels are categorized for ease of use, creating special collection categories (like “Marvel Movies,” “TED Talks,” and “Love-Is-in-the-Air”), which was very well received by our passengers. We also introduced the Oryx One IFE app, which offers passengers a wide array of digital newspapers and magazines for free.

The introduction of near-field communication (NFC) will bring further enhancements, so watch this space.

How can NFC personalize the IFE experience?

The majority of our latest fleet, including aircraft with our premium Qsuite

“Fast broadband will enable our passengers to use social media, watch their favorite program, shop and Google away in an uninterrupted environment.” product, is fitted with NFC technology.

Passengers can create playlists on the ground and enable them on board from their seats, allowing for greater ease of content selection and a personalized IFE experience.

Why is connectivity important to the passenger experience?

It offers an opportunity for live experiential storytelling. Abundant and fast broadband on board will enable our passengers to use social media, finish watching their favorite television program, shop and Google away in an uninterrupted environment.

LOCATION:

DOH

YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY:

15

BRAND OF SUITCASE:

Tumi

PASSPORT STAMP YOU WISH YOU HAD:

New Zealand

FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORK:

LinkedIn

What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?

The airport – the journey starts there.

The best airports will not only offer a seamless travel experience, but also build a relationship with passengers by offering a comfortable and relaxed environment.

This will not only generate repeat customers for the airport, but also for the airlines (particularly the hub airline).

What’s something that never ceases to amaze you in the industry?

How far behind seatback technology is compared to the developments in technology on the ground. Change is not easy. To make a small technological enhancement on board, it takes an immense amount of effort and time, in addition to being a massive expense.

If you could sit next to anyone on a plane, who would it be?

Elon Musk. I admire his resilient goalfocused and forward-thinking strategy to ensure technology is not limited to basic uses, but enhanced for the betterment of the human race. He has become quite a disruptor in ground transportation, and I am eager to see what he brings next (perhaps to the air?).

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

71

MRO

74 74

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

MRO

I

PHOTO: ETIHAD AIRWAYS ENGINEERING

magine it, build it and attach it to an airplane. This basic sequence is more and more becoming the process of manufacturing new cabin fixtures and replacement components.

Additive manufacturing, more widely known as 3-D printing, has been around since the 1980s, but it’s only really having a moment this decade. Leaps forward in both 3-D printing technology and the materials with which we can work have opened vast horizons of potential. What was once mainly a design and prototyping technique can now also be used for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) across the airline industry.

“When we prototype, we have to take many steps to bring that design into reality,” says Bernhard Randerath, VP of Design, Engineering and Innovation for Etihad Airways Engineering. Etihad was the first airline to get certification for placing 3-D printed parts in the cabin, an enterprise that began in September 2016. The journey to 3-D printed plastic in-flight entertainment

housing took six rigorous months, Randerath says: “We had an unbelievable amount of testing to do!” Randerath’s department designs for Etihad as well as for other airline customers. “Two customers are already flying with our 3-D printed parts, with more coming up.”

OUROBOROS OF INNOVATION Product design influences material choice, which influences 3-D printer technology choice, which turns back around to inform design – like that M.C. Escher image of two hands drawing each other. “It’s really a chicken-and-egg scenario,” says Khaled Abdel-Motagaly, manager of Innovation and Technology for Etihad Airways Engineering.

“Right now, you have one machine and one material that goes with it. We’re looking at how we can change this, so we can have multiple materials for one machine, as well as qualifying cheaper materials.” AbdelMotagaly envisions this happening within the next 10 years. >

A 3-D printed display shroud from Etihad Airways Engineering in multiple views.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

75

MRO

PRINTABLE PARTS

WAREHOUSING AND SUPPLY CHAINS REIMAGINED Obviously, 3-D printing a part can do wonders for your schedule. “Lead time is one of the biggest advantages of 3-D printing,” Abdel-Motagaly says. “We’ve seen this with items we’ve designed. If we did this with conventional manufacturing methods, it would have taken months.

With 3-D printing, once you have the certification, all you need is the machine and the CAD [computer-aided design].”

Bringing out-of-production parts back to life is also easier, he adds.

“Because you can print nearly any shape, additional operations like milling are limited only to functional surfaces,” says Nicolas Bonleux, managing director and chief sales officer for Liebherr-Aerospace and Transportation. “The development of factory structures for additive manufacturing applications – with regard to lean production and new machines coming to market – offers possibilities to exploit the full potential of the technology and decrease the overall processing time and costs.” He notes that traditional manufacturing is still currently less expensive. Abdel-Motagaly agrees, adding that high-volume, simple parts are cheaper and easier to mass-produce by conventional means, such as injection molding.

As additive manufacturing gets cheaper and more widely certified, the economies of scale will move more parts from traditional manufacturing into the 3-D arena.

76 76

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

A wide range of aircraft interior parts are being printed today, but designers and manufacturers are always looking for new applications.

Here are some of the parts making their way into the cabin.

Cabin vents

Electrical housing

Clips & clamps

Cosmetic components

Display shroud

Bezels

Source: Stratasys

ILLUSTRATION: MARCELO CÁCERES

Donovan Weber, co-founder and chief operating officer of Forecast 3D, reckons the egg will hatch soon: “As specific uses for a business case can be built, we will continue to see the materials field open up. We see additive manufacturing continue to help disrupt supply chains in a positive way. The early adopters and forward-thinking groups are utilizing companies like Forecast 3D to manage on-demand needs and quick-turn lots quite well.”

MRO

Environmental control system ducting Air filter boxes

Warehousing will change considerably, says Weber, whose company is working with SAP and Deloitte to analyze supply chains for constructive disruption: “It truly feels like we are standing at the front lines of the next industrial revolution as these programs are starting to get some legs on them.”

Bonleux agrees, saying, “Through functional integration, different components could be merged into one single part. Additional warehouse capacity and part suppliers would not be necessary anymore.”

SUPER-SCIENCE, BUT NOT SUPERNATURAL Additive manufacturing allows for the creation of complex parts that would otherwise be very expensive to craft from components, but the technology can be slow. “If additive manufacturing gets faster, the limitations for its application will drop,” Bonleux says. “Starting with engineering, every designer could print a current design to help visualize it. Concerning serial

production, more components could be replaced through additive designs, reducing weight and costs over the whole life cycle of the component. Furthermore, the parts for repair activities may be produced on demand and the need for important inventories of spares across several locations worldwide may be substantially reduced.”

“In the short term, 3-D printing is enabling us to plan for out-of-production parts – especially low-volume, high-cost plastic cabin parts – allowing us to reduce weight, shorten turnaround time and produce them at a lower cost,” AbdelMotagaly says. He cites certification as one of two main limitations to widespread adoption of 3-D printing in the MRO space.

The other limitation, he says, is material selection. A 3-D printer tends to work with only one particular type of material, so spinning up a bespoke part will at first require a small-scale, high-cost production run of its own. >

Drain fairings

PHOTO: FORECAST 3D

Forecast 3D’s printing facilities

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

77

MRO

Bonleux adds, “Because of high technology costs for the build process and postprocessing, currently additive manufacturing for spare parts is limited.” Abdel-Motagaly says that Etihad is using 3-D printing for plastic cabin parts, at least for now: “Our vision for the future is to do 50 percent or more of cabin parts on demand. We won’t need a lot of stock anymore, the supply chain will be completely simplified, and the cost will significantly go down as well.” While ergonomics must be taken into account for parts such as headrests, Randerath adds, those aren’t as critical as the structural components of the airplane itself – hence the interplay between design, certification and material selection.

Especially, Bonleux adds, when every kilogram counts: “Freedom, light weight and functional integration are key. There are far fewer design restrictions, and thus the achieved ‘complexity-for-free’ is a main benefit. Additive manufacturing offers

78

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

weight optimization as well as assembly and life-cycle cost reductions.” Paving the way to scalability, though, requires artisanal prototyping explorations. “We find that in any market or application that has lowvolume needs, we generally can provide a compelling manufacturing solution no matter what vertical it is,” Weber says. “We can typically meet aesthetic and time-tomarket needs; it typically comes down to part requirements and materials used with the engineering team.”

For his part, Weber says, he loves being involved in projects where each team really groks design for additive manufacturing to unlock state-of-theindustry outcomes. Beyond design, prototyping and tooling, production is the holy grail of additive manufacturing.

This will in turn re-envision supply chains and good old-fashioned bureaucracy. The theoretical limits of 3-D printing, however, ultimately lie in the user’s imagination.

PHOTO: FORECAST 3D

A 3-D printed mold used to produce carbon fiber parts for aircraft.

Skycast Solutions Is Pioneering the Tablet Friendly Cabin From powerful portable IFE Tablets, to innovative tablet holders, nobody knows personal devices like Skycast Solutions

TrayVu9

™

• Sophisticated user-interface including multi-tasking.

• Seamless Wi-Fi integration with onboard server or internet connection.

• Early window movies, TV, Xbox® games, music, maps, and much more.

• Complete program management available.

• Aluminum security shell can be customized for any airline branding.

Since 2011, Skycast Solutions has been innovating portable IFE and tablet holder solutions which allow an airline to create the “tablet-friendly cabinTM.” With over 10,000 Windows IFE tablets flying successfully every day, Skycast's latest 9" custom portable IFE tablet sets the new standard in low cost portable IFE.

Skycast offers a wide range of TabCaddyTM PED holders, including the “Clip” product line that accommodates coach and premium class seats with folding meal trays.

TabCaddy™ Clip

• Lowest cost fixed tablet holder available.

• Fast and easy installation.

• Customized for specific tray tables.

• Supports phones and tablets of all sizes securely.

• New branding and advertising platform.

TabCaddy™ ClipFC

• Lowest Cost folding meal tray holder option.

• Fast and easy 'stick on' installation.

• Frees entire meal tray for use.

• Supports phones and tablets of all sizes securely.

www.SkycastSolutions.com | 1-855-487-2988 © Skycast Solu ons, Inc. TabCaddy™ product line is exclusively distributed by Skycast Solu ons, Inc. Patents Pending. All other trademarks are the property of their respec ve owners.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LAUREN FLEMING

Q&A

80

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Q&A

Lauren Fleming

NOW LISTENING TO:

No Such Thing as a Fish (podcast)

SENIOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT SCIENTIST STG AEROSPACE

FAVORITE AIRPORT:

Lauren graduated from the University of Dundee with a PhD in experimental physics. At STG Aerospace, she is involved in developing new products, researching the next big thing in electrical lighting, and all things related to human-centric lighting.

AMS

SEATBACK OR PED?

Seatback

THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT WILL BE:

Simple

FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORK:

Instagram

Every job has a cool factor.

What’s yours?

I really enjoy the variation my role has to offer, from working on-wing, carrying out tests of light levels within the cabin, to meeting with universities to discuss development projects. One day I’ll be using our state-of-the-art photometric equipment as part of the development process of our products, the next I’ll be discussing the future of lighting with university students, and there’s lots more in between. It never feels boring.

How is aircraft lighting being misused?

According to a report by Counterpoint, the cabin lighting industry was worth $961 million in 2015, with the industry witnessing a strong switch from fluorescent to LED. From our experience, airlines are keen to upgrade, but are not interested in complexity. Retrofit systems offer millions of different colors, but airlines do not want to offer disco lighting; in fact, when it comes down to it, they don’t use anything close to the full extent. As a result, lighting within the cabin is misused and oversaturated, with little to no consideration for human-centric aspects.

Typically, we have found airlines will only select four light settings, which usually include a shade of blue and white.

“From our experience, airlines are keen to upgrade, but are not interested in complexity.”

By considering all aspects of lighting within these four shades – such as saturation levels, color temperature and the depth of hue – we can provide a high-quality, simple lighting solution.

What kinds of experiments are you running these days?

At present, we’re researching humancentric lighting in collaboration with the Delft University of Technology. Lighting can elicit all sorts of responses, from feeling happy, refreshed and alert when outside with plenty of sunshine to the migraines and fatigue associated with bad indoor lighting. We want to make sure that passengers have the best possible experience when flying, and we’re certain that lighting plays a big part in that, even if it is subconsciously. We are looking into

how to improve the experience from the very second passengers enter the plane and how to use lighting to reduce the stress of air travel.

What are some of the challenges with aircraft lighting?

One of the biggest difficulties in the cabin is accommodating the many different activities that passengers could be doing, from sleeping to reading to watching their pre-loaded content on their mobile devices. We need a light that works for all of the above tasks and more.

Our patented reading light has a highly uniform light output that not only reduces glare and improves the onboard reading environment, but also minimizes light spill onto neighboring passengers, helping to make having forty winks a little easier.

What opportunities are there for aircraft lighting in the future?

While our appetite for data continues to grow, I think airlines and passengers alike will soon start to benefit from Li-Fi. For passengers, improved data streams will enable them to fully submerge themselves into their digital worlds, while for airlines, it eliminates complex wiring to in-flight entertainment systems and offers a number of environmental benefits.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

81

It is with great excitement that we announce an exclusive partnership with Meridian Audio. Since 1977, Meridian has been crafting innovative, elegant, high-performance audio solutions, driven by the desire to put the listener at the heart of every performance.

Visit us at WTCE Booth 4E30 for a personal introduction to Meridian and to preview concepts of our ground-breaking collaboration.

www.Linstol.com United States United Kingdom Hong Kong China

| +1.239.530.7865 | +44.1252.620630 | +852.9355.1002 | +86.21.5508.9020

| | | |

LinstolUS@Linstol.com LinstolUK@Linstol.com LinstolHK@Linstol.com LinstolCN@Linstol.com

HARDWARE

Access In-flight entertainment handsets have had many facelifts over the years– and yet another is within arm’s reach.

PHOTO: PANASONIC AVIONICS

BY HOWARD SLUTSKEN

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

83

Making IFE Installations Count

S OLUTIONS

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Despite media frenzy around the death of the seatback screen, numbers show that both embedded and wireless in-flight entertainment will continue well into the future.

SOLUTIONS

SOLUTIONS

SPONSORED BY

Making IFE Installations Count

*Number of active IFE systems

A look at in-flight entertainment installations from 2014–2026.

Source: Valour Consultancy

Global Installed Base* of Seatback Systems by Geographic Region 8,666

15,128

Global Installed Base* of IFE Systems

6,012

Seatback Wireless

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Global Installed Base* of Wireless Systems by Geographic Region

8,666

2026

15,128

6,012 2,950

2,950

2014

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

New IFE Installations Including Linefit and Retrofit

Seatback

11,127

2019

2020

2021

Single- and Twin-Aisle Split

Wireless

13,538

Seatback:

Wireless:

40%

94%

60%

6%

single-aisle twin-aisle

2023

2024

twin-aisle

(approx. 1,200 as of the end of 2017)

2025

Asia Pacific

2026

2016

2017

North America

2018

2019

Central & South America

2020

2021

Middle East

2022

2023

Western Europe

2024

Central & Eastern Europe

2025

2026

Africa

Influential Events in IFE 2011

2014

2016

2016

2017

2017

First wireless IFE systems emerge.

Philippine Airlines decides to install a wireless IFE system across its long-haul fleet of A340s and A330s.

Delta Air Lines becomes first US airline to offer wireless IFE content for free.

American Airlines offers wireless IFE content for free.

Philippine Airlines announces the return of seatback screens on eight A330s.

SkyLights’ VR headsets launch on Air France’s 777s for business-class passengers, and on Joon’s A340s as a rental service.

single-aisle

Airline With Most Wireless Installations Delta Air Lines

2022

2015

2014 AirFi launches first portable wireless IFE system.

2015 Lufthansa Technik partners with Qantas to develop a seatback mount for tablets.

2016 More than 70 Eurowings aircraft are equipped with Lufthansa Systems’ BoardConnect Portable.

2016 Emirates announces plans to install 4K screens at every seat on the one hundred fifty 777X aircraft that will enter its fleet by 2020.

2017 American Airlines ditches seatback screens on one hundred 737 MAXs in favor of wireless IFE.

HARDWARE

E

ON THE SMALL SCREEN The technology has come a long way since the mid-90s. The introduction of smartphones and the landslide of available content and applications has transformed our lives on the ground and in the air, where these changes are being reflected in IFE controllers.

“Handsets are perpetually evolving, and today we are seeing three major trends,” says Jon Norris, senior director, Corporate Sales and Marketing, Panasonic Avionics, and APEX board member. “A while back, the trend was to increase functionality, include video or map capabilities and provide second-screen 84

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

entertainment to passengers. Today, that cycle seems to have run its course, and we now appear to be going back to simple designs.”

Norris explains that handsets are now designed with a focus on ergonomics, showcased by Panasonic’s introduction of a smoothly curved, “pebble-inspired” controller for Emirates’ recently announced upgrade to its first-class suite.

While these premium cabin screens may be touch-enabled, they’re just too far away for a seated passenger to comfortably reach. One, if not two control units are often available to bring a second or even multiscreen experience to the passenger, mirroring content viewing habits from the ground.

An interactive second screen is the second trend, Norris says. “For airlines that still want to offer a more premium experience, a slim tablet design seems to be gaining traction. We’ve developed tablet designs that can act as a second screen for seat and cabin environment control and to navigate the IFE system.

These are typically larger, 13-inch capacitive touch screens offering Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a high-definition camera, microphone, speaker and other options.”>

Panasonic Avionics’ Waterfront seat offers a tablet controller and dedicated handset (previous page and below). The handset from Thales’ Avant IFE system offers second-screening capabilities (above).

“We now appear to be going back to simple designs.”

JON NORRIS, PANASONIC AVIONICS

PHOTOS: THALES; PANASONIC AVIONICS

arly remotes were buttonfestooned slabs of plastic that liberated TV viewers from the excruciating exercise of getting up from the couch, walking across the room and changing the channel. Now, remotes are sleek, high-tech, touchscreen-enabled devices that likely have the computing power to calculate an orbital trajectory – and still change the channel.

Up in the air, there have been remote controls for as long as in-flight entertainment (IFE) has been in the cabin.

Long before touch screens, control buttons for an IFE system were either installed in a seat’s armrest or on a tethered remote unit that retracted into a recess.

“I think the first purpose of handsets for Emirates was probably as an in-seat telephone, in 1995 or ’96,” says Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ divisional vicepresident of Customer Experience, In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity. “We added passenger control unit buttons for efficiency, and even a keyboard. The games controls were added, but I’m not sure games even worked in those days.”

HARDWARE

According to Dave Pook, director, Marketing, IFE Systems, Thales InFlyt Experience, “Passengers will demand more second-screen applications to augment their experience on the IFE display. They will want second-screen applications on the smart controllers in first- and business-class seats, but also on their personal devices.”

It’s no surprise that the ubiquitous smartphone is the third trend Norris identifies in IFE controllers. Brian Simone, vice-president, IFE Product Line, Zodiac Inflight Innovations, agrees, saying that, in addition to a handset, the company developed a RAVE mobile application that allows passengers to pair a personal device to the IFE system to be used as a remote or second screen in flight.

DOWN TO THE WIRE Then there’s the debate between wired and wireless controllers. “Wireless is always better from a user perspective, but tough practically, from an airline perspective: managing losses, but more importantly the ability to keep devices charged enough to last a long flight, quick turnaround and return flight,” Emirates’ Brannelly says.

86

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

“Wireless is always better from a user perspective, but tough practically, from an airline perspective.”

PATRICK BRANNELLY, EMIRATES

Simone says that while the tether on a wired controller is the most common failure point, “It is also the feature that keeps the handset from walking off the aircraft. I believe this to be a love/hate relationship – we all hate the fact that it is wired, but love the simplicity of the system.” At the same time, the pace of upgrades to consumer devices makes it difficult for airlines to develop and

deploy wireless controllers that meet consumer expectations.

“A purpose-built wireless controller is a challenge for suppliers and airlines.

These devices are often larger and less capable than the equivalent consumer devices and are obsolete by the time they enter in service. This leaves the passenger underwhelmed compared to the amount of effort spent to develop, deploy and manage these units,” Simone says.

Back in economy, embedded touch screens and Wi-Fi-enabled IFE systems that stream content to passengers’ personal devices are eliminating the need for remotes. “We see decreasing demand for controllers in the economyclass seats, with the exception of firstrow economy-class seats, with displays mounted on the bulkhead. This is largely due to the basics of human anatomy, as it’s easy to reach out and touch screens in economy. Personal devices and associated applications synchronized with the IFE display experience is the bigger trend in the economy-class cabin,” Thales’ Pook says.

PHOTOS: EMIRATES; PANASONIC ILLUSTRATIONS MARCELO CACERES

Handsets with second screens complement Emirates’ IFE system.

HARDWARE

Handset Handiwork

The bring-your-owndevice trend has influenced the design of IFE systems.

A rundown of the IFE controller designs that have appeared in the cabin.

Button Up Button-festooned handsets were designed to increase functionality and display every feature available to the passenger.

Second-Screening IFE controllers with built-in video displays allow passengers to keep watch of the moving map on their remotes, while enjoying the content catalog on the embedded screen.

FAST FORWARD

Minimalist

With the advent of touch screens came the appearance of mobile devices, such as tablets, as large control panels.

Dedicated Controllers Despite the popularity of the BYOD trend and companion apps, airlines are still keeping dedicated controllers around – providing passengers with multiple points of entry into the IFE system.

Looking ahead, personal smartphones will take on a greater role in enhancing passengers’ IFE experience by enabling customized pre-flight planning, and serving as an onboard remote control, Norris says. Describing Panasonic’s companion app, he explains that “Passengers can preview content, set up custom playlists, order special food, and even resume entertainment from a previous flight. Once on board, they simply sync their device to the IFE system, load their custom content and then begin their entertainment experience.”

And while the number of devices on our tray tables might eventually match the number of remotes we have scattered at home, the dedicated IFE controller will still be there, and will benefit from smartphone technologies – with improved user interfaces and cursor navigation, touchpad tech, accelerometers and motion tracking, even gesture and voice control.

“Voice recognition has become very good – directional microphones and the

Companion apps allow passengers to navigate the IFE system from their smartphone.

‘abilities’ of voice-controlled devices are amazing in the consumer world. On the aircraft, it is still unproven if the noise increase is going to be manageable,” Zodiac’s Simone says. After all, you don’t want that loud talker next to you changing the channel on your screen.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

87

PHOTO: ACUMEN

DESIGN

88

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

DESIGN

P

“

eople don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” So said former CEO and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, referring to the efficacy of focus groups in design, and echoing another famous quote commonly dredged up during debates on innovation: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Henry Ford is purported to have said that one, although there’s some dispute there. Either way, the case for the lone visionary who overlooks the facts and feedback in search of something more profound is as old as it gets.

Designers have been mistakenly cast in a similarly prophetic light, says Martin Darbyshire, CEO of London-based design consultancy tangerine. “Everything we do in design is based around context,” he says. “That is the difference between art and design: Art essentially has unbounded context – apart from limitations like how much money is needed to create something.

Meanwhile, what design is about, and should be about, is creating the best possible outcome for a given context.”

A MATTER OF FACT Arriving at a successful design, Adam White, director and owner of Factorydesign, says, requires that fine balance between the empirical and the imaginative.

“Some people view the world, and therefore design in the world, by thinking in very measured and definable strokes, while others rely on inspired, visionary jumps,” White says. “There’s a clash, but it is a very healthy one. What you need to do as someone running a design business is make sure you have all the bases covered.” >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

89

‘Celebrity On Board’: The Adventures of EmPower Man, episode 7 Hi, EmPowerMan, welcome aboard! What’s new?

Thanks! How about something new and exciting for you and your passengers?

What if I told you we’ve added wireless charging to the EmPower System, so you can recharge your new phone without plugging it in?

Great! And, knowing you, I’ll bet it’s good!

It is! We’ve come up with two cool new “futureproof” EmPower® in-seat power systems!

And what if you could connect your new laptop to one of our latest 60-watt USB-C outlets? Voila, no more bulky power brick!

That would lighten my backpack and be amazing!

Sweet! I love anything that eliminates those annoying cables while I travel!

And best of all, these new features are compatible with most existing EmPower systems!

Wow, that’ll keep our finance and maintenance folks happy! Installing the latest technology and future-proofing our investment…all while adding new features for our tech-savvy customers!

Well, we never stop thinking of ways to make you and your passengers happy!

Thanks, EmPowerMan! EmPower® in-seat power systems make every flight a great one!

Join Astronics at the 2018 Aircraft Interiors Expo, April 10-12, stand #3B30, and see how our new EmPower in-seat power systems help you stay ahead of the future!

Get Started Today US Office +1.425.881.1700 Europe Office +44.1983.897647 AESsales@astronics.com www.astronics.com

DESIGN

PHOTO: FACTORYDESIGN

CONCEPTS THAT COUNT

Nowhere do “measured and definable strokes” matter more than in the aircraft seating business.

“You are trying to design a mechanical system which overcomes a 9g downward drop and stops every part of the skeleton from hitting the mechanics below.

Whatever you do beyond that point is going to be incremental,” Darbyshire says. “It doesn’t matter how many people write ‘innovative,’ ‘the latest,’ ‘more this, more that’ on their adverts; the truth is that what most companies are actually talking about is very limited because of the restrictions imposed in a highly regulated industry.”

Apart from ensuring that safety protocols are met, hard data has proven useful in laying bare the merits of one design over another to airline clients. As White puts it: “When you introduce something that is empirical in its nature, it acts like a salve for people who have decisions to make.” Hard data has certainly helped seating designers reassure clients in the boardroom, but its usefulness at the drafting table has some limits.

Focus groups, surveys and interviews can clue designers into which aesthetic details – color, material and finish, for example – will go over best with a certain community. Indeed, such market research has led to the many permutations of Thompson Aero Seating’s Vantage and Vantage XL seats, developed in partnership with Factorydesign, and adopted by the likes of Delta Air Lines, Scandinavian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and others.

Barring smaller-scale customizations, current quantitative research falls short in providing aircraft seating designers with the insight needed to create something truly innovative, Darbyshire says. “We find that we learn an awful lot more as designers from observing people than from reading reports completed by market research agencies.” And this is true for most industries, he says, citing a project the firm is working on in the cosmetics sector. “One client presented a massive market research report for us to wade through. When we got to the end of it, I thought, ‘What am I actually learning here? What is this really doing to push the boundaries forward?’” >

Factorydesign and Thompson Aero customized the Vantage XL seat for SAS’s new business class in 2015.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

91

DESIGN

92

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Sometimes market research is vapid (and that’s bad enough), but other times it’s just plain wrong, Darbyshire observes. In the year 2000, when British Airways (BA) presented tangerine with a brief requesting it to “find us the holy grail of airline travel sprinkled with a bit of pixie dust – and astound us along the way,” the agency responded with “Project Dusk,” a design for fully lie-flat beds in an unprecedented yin-yang formation. BA recruited a market research agency to present tangerine’s mock-up, as well as that from a competing agency, to some 100 customers.

“The recommendation from the agency was to not go ahead with our route, the yin-yang design, because 10 percent of the people interviewed said they categorically would not fly facing backward,” Darbyshire says. “Of course, that was very alarming.

But the leader of the project said, ‘I want to check that out. We have to make sure that is actually correct.’”

And so some secondary research was conducted, including interviews with approximately 2,500 travelers in an airport lounge. This time the question – Would you fly facing backward? – was buried in the questionnaire, and the results varied widely. “Now only one percent said they categorically wouldn’t do it, and

Invented by Acumen for BA in 1996, the “Bed in the Sky” was the first lie-flat seat in the history of commercial aviation.

PHOTOS: TANGERINE; ACUMEN

Clockwise: A sketch, cardboard mock-up and model for BA’s Club World businessclass seat by tangerine.

that changed BA’s mind about whether this was a big risk or a smaller one,” Darbyshire explains.

“The way information is presented to people and the way questions are asked can lead to a dramatically different outcome.”

Ian Dryburgh, CEO and founder of Acumen Design Associates, agrees that quantitative research hasn’t always been the best barometer for success, pointing to his work on BA’s first-class cabin in the mid-1990s, which gave rise to the world’s first lie-flat seat. Although existing data suggested upping the number of seats in first class would increase revenue for the airline, the firm’s designers decided to follow their intuition, reducing the passenger count from 18 to 14 instead. “’The Bed in the Sky,’ as it came to be known, won every design award going and, crucially for BA, led to a waiting list full of passengers wanting to fly the product,” Dryburgh says.>

J U S T

L A U N C H E D !

CONNECTING STARTUPS WITH CORPORATE INNOVATORS IN TRAVEL

CO-LOCATED

RDS DUBLIN 6-8 JUNE 2018

INCORPORATING:

CONNECTIVITY & IFE

BU$INESS CAS€

LAUNCH CORPORATE PARTNER: Jo i n t h e c o m m u n i t y a t w w w. f t e - h u b . c o m

HOSTED IN PARTNERSHIP BY:

2 18 OVERVIEW

DELIVERED WITH THE SUPPORT OF:

w w w. F u t u r e Tr ave l E x p e r i e n c e. c o m

MARINA BAY SANDS SINGAPORE 13-14 NOVEMBER 2018

ADVISORY BOARD

SALVADOR BRITANICO Vice President for Inflight Services, Philippine Airlines

VIVIAN LO GM Customer Experience and Design, Cathay Pacific Airways

BABAR RAHMAN

Head of Global Sponsorships/ CSR and In-Flight Entertainment/ Connectivity, Qatar Airways & APEX Board Member

EVENT THEME:

JON NORRIS

Sr. Director Corporate Sales & Marketing, Panasonic Avionics Corporation & APEX Board Member

MANDALAY BAY LAS VEGAS 10-12 SEPTEMBER 2018

JOE LEADER CEO, APEX & IFSA

DESIGN

Acumen conducting seat length research (top). Acumen’s social space concept (top right).

LIVING PROOF

94

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Tangerine conducts numerous ergonomic and sleep trials (left).

what proportion of time passengers were resting, working or out of their seat socializing, we could in theory develop an interior with designated zones for these activities,” he says. The firm imagines a space with a viewing deck that passengers could reserve, as well as areas for working, sleeping and eating, which they could freely enter and exit. “With a better understanding of how people interact with the cabin environment on a granular level, designers have the potential to create something truly revolutionary.”

Data collection that unlocks microinsights about the lived, subconscious experience of space may just be the only way for airlines to move beyond incremental tweaks when it comes to aircraft interior design. As Darbyshire puts it: “There is an intimacy between live data and the physicality of what people are actually doing that simply cannot be replicated with any other research technique.”

PHOTOS: TANGERINE; ACUMEN

Current mechanisms for data collection and analysis in the aircraft interiors sector can yield clues as to what might or might not succeed, but fail to provide a clear picture of what will radically improve the passenger experience. That brings us back to Jobs and Ford, and to the reality that consumers may be unable to articulate what it is that they actually want. “Focus groups can provide insight into how passengers perceive certain elements of a design, but a design’s success is about more than what passengers say – it’s about what they do,” Dryburgh says.

Predicting the future may forever be outside the realm of design – and human capability, for that matter – but the advent of on-demand processing of vast amounts of data may direct designers to the “why” of human behavior, without the information being diluted by recall bias. Real-time monitoring using beacons, sensors and other such technologies has already emerged in commercial aviation, with major airports around the world using it to better manage and understand traveler flow through security zones, airline lounges and retail environments.

This type of data, gathered from connected devices rather than people, is still in its infancy in the aircraft interiors sector. But introducing something as simple as low-cost sensors in the cabin could have major implications, Darbyshire says, including changing how airlines plan their meal service, logging how much passengers move in their seats and developing new ways to gauge their level of happiness.

Dryburgh says that closely monitoring how passengers interact with their material environment could help designers devise spaces that better reflect how humans actually behave in the air: “If we knew

Finalist of the Onboard Hospitality Awards 2018 – Best Use of Onboard Technology

Visit us at AIX 2018 Booth 4B11

Pick and Mix BoardConnect –configure your cabin platform See a movie. In the stratosphere. Listen to music. Check the news. Or go shopping.

A world of digital experiences.

Easy to access. At 450 miles per hour. Satisfy many demands.

With a single platform. Completely flexible.

BoardConnect. Wishes come true.

Lufthansa Systems GmbH & Co. KG | Marketing & Communications | Am Messeplatz 1 | 65479 Raunheim info@LHsystems.com | www.LHsystems.com

PHOTO: SIVAN FARAG

Q&A

96

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Q&A

Tal Kalderon

NOW WATCHING:

The Handmaid’s Tale

SEATBACK OR PED?

CONTENT AND MEDIA MANAGER EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES

Tal has worked in the media field for more than 25 years. He began as a television producer and director, and in 2006 was invited to be El Al’s consultant for upgrading its IFE user experience. He has since developed several concepts for entertainment platforms, the latest of which is on El Al’s Dreamliners.

You were part of the team that designed the graphical user interface (GUI) for El Al’s in-flight entertainment (IFE) system. What was the process like?

My dream is that when passengers touch the screen and discover the IFE system, their jaws will drop. That’s how I opened my first meeting with the team at Global Eagle, who designed the IFE interface on El Al’s new Dreamliner aircraft.

Developing an IFE system is a long and complex process with hundreds of items to consider. Many partners are involved, so the key to success is understanding each of their roles and integrating them into the project while adhering to a tight schedule. We did not leave a single detail to chance. We could have taken an offthe-shelf interface, but I did not want to use an interface design similar or identical to that used by another airline.

What are some consumer electronic or viewing trends you think are going to influence your decisions over the next five years?

Without a doubt, all connectivity technology will improve. The bandwidth problem will be solved and the size of files will shrink.

As viewing options expand and get closer to the viewing experience at home, content platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the like will become more

“The moment passengers link up to the content they like, they are more relaxed, quieter and less likely to need the attention of flight attendants.” dominant on aircraft as well. I can’t say whether this will happen within five years, but it is a reasonable assumption. When it does, in-flight content will undergo a transformation, with IFE managers able to control content directly from their desks, on a day-to-day basis, integrating relevant online content. We can already see the first signs of this process.

How do content and entertainment expectations change for people when they travel?

This is the million-dollar question: To construct content that will meet the expectations of all passengers is certainly

Both. Seatback for movies, PED for Internet.

FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORK:

Facebook

WINDOW OR AISLE:

Window in business, aisle in economy LOCATION:

TLV

a complex matter. Some passengers can watch several films one after another, and some (like me) don’t have the patience to watch films during a flight; they want something lighter. For all of these different passengers, you have to provide solutions. The moment passengers link up to the content they like, they are more relaxed, quieter and less likely to need the attention of flight attendants.

What did you do the first time you used in-flight Wi-Fi? Like everyone else, I sent a selfie and then immediately started to search the IFE system. This was a good number of years ago. I wrote to my engineers at El Al: “Look, it’s so simple. So why aren’t we there yet?” I am delighted that today we are.

If you could sit next to anyone on a plane who would it be?

I would love to host Sir Richard Branson on one of El Al’s Dreamliner aircraft and would love to hear his opinion. Branson is an intriguing and exciting personality and I am certain we would find many subjects to discuss. Apart from him, I have a long list of people who I’d want to fly with: Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Phil Collins, Adele and, of course, my wife Greti.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

97

TRENDS

INSIDE: EXPERTS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, SKINCARE, NUTRITION AND SUSTAINABILITY TALK WELL-BEING – FOR PASSENGERS AND THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE. MICHAEL R. SOLOMON

Michael R. Solomon holds a PhD in social psychology and is a professor of marketing at the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He’s been writing about the customer experience for 30 years and his book, Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, now in its 12th edition, is one of the most widely read books on the subject in the world. Michael has also worked as a consultant for United Airlines, and has given a keynote speech at the Hamburg Aviation Conference.

DR. MARIANO SPIEZIA

Dr. Mariano Spiezia graduated in medicine and surgery in Italy in the early 1980s, and has since worked on combining orthodox medicine with the extraordinary power of nature as a medical herbalist and skin expert. Now based in Cornwall, Mariano is considered the father of the organic beauty movement in Britain. His organic skincare brand, Inlight Beauty, was the first to gain COSMOS organic accreditation from the Soil Association, the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for health and beauty standards, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use.

ARIANE VAN MANCIUS

Ariane van Mancius is the owner of Now New Next, an agency that helps multinational companies in the airline, retail and food service industries with product innovation and management. She refers to herself as a “slashie” – someone who fulfils multiple, often totally unrelated, roles simultaneously. Before setting up her company, Ariane worked for Helios MPPD for 13 years until it was acquired by gategroup in 2012. She has a degree in hospitality management from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

SIMON HEPPNER

Simon Heppner is an associate director at responsible business consultancy Good Business and a resident judge for the Mercurys, the most prestigious award in travel catering. Following a degree in environmental economics and an early career managing restaurants in London, Simon founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association with 30 pioneering restaurants in 2010. The association now works across 7,500 food service locations worldwide, influencing the sustainability of over 500 million out-of-home meals a year and providing the sustainability rating for the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.

98

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

TRENDS

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

99

MOST-WATCHED

What We Watch In flight, passengers tend to choose light-hearted comedies over other genres of entertainment, but with all that’s going on in the world, conventional humor can feel a little bland.

BY CAROLINE KU | COLLAGE BY NICOLÁS VENTURELLI

100

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

MOST-WATCHED

PHOTOS: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX; LIONSGATE PUBLICITY, DALE ROBINETTE; DREAMWORKS THE BOSS BABY © 2017 DWA LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; SONY PICTURES; HBO, BELLMEDIA

E

very year, Qantas publishes the results of its most-watched movies and TV shows, and every year, new releases that thrill and make audiences laugh-cry top the list.

In 2013, The Internship, a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as laid-off salesmen who join Google as interns, was the number one film. In 2015, Despicable Me 2 was the most-watched family film despite having been released two years prior.

Passengers continue to look for a laugh in the TV category, in which Modern Family has been one of the mostwatched programs on the airline’s in-flight entertainment (IFE) system, with 151,334 hours of the sitcom consumed in 2017.

“Light comedies are consistently popular throughout the year, although we make sure they’re of a high quality and have a reasonable degree of recognition by Australians,” says Kristin Carlos, head of Digital and Entertainment, Qantas. “Beyond that, the spectrum of popular films and TV shows on Qantas range from very serious to very silly in tone and complexity.”

“Light comedies are popular throughout the year ... beyond that, films and TV shows range from serious to silly.”

KRISTIN CARLOS, QANTAS

For more on content trends, attend APEX MultiMedia Market:

Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory and Peppa Pig are some of the most-watched TV shows on Qantas flights.

MMM.APEX.AERO

CROWD-PLEASERS To better understand what its passengers like to watch in flight, Qantas uses a TV-ratings-like system to gather insights about viewing habits beyond which titles get the most play. Last year the airline noted that following English-language films, Japanese, Mandarin and French films were the most sought after.

Having access to this data helps Qantas tailor its entertainment experience to its passengers, who spend about 80 percent of their time on the IFE system on longhaul flights. “It’s absolutely essential we provide content that they’re going to enjoy,” Carlos says. “The data suggests that our passengers prefer a diverse mix of

genres.” And within the genre of lighthearted comedies, it’s family-friendly titles, such as The Boss Baby and Zootopia, that do well among its audiences. Those “were some of our most popular,” Carlos adds.

The Boss Baby, a DreamWorks Animation picture about a baby with an adult brain, voiced by Alec Baldwin, was Qantas’ mostwatched movie in 2017. Critics expressed backhanded appreciation for the comedy.

“The Boss Baby has a few good jokes, but these elements never transcend an odd premise that fails to deliver big laughs or emotional heft,” went one review from the website Empire, and “The Boss Baby will test your threshold for quirkiness,” went another review, from Times of India. >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

101

APEX HP Hor.indd AD_Dunjiat_210x144_Aw.indd 3 Apex 1-2 1

7/2/18 5:41 2018-02-21 9:19 PM AM

The spirit of competition Let your passengers discover the interesting games, contests and sports celebrated around the world with Need to Compete. It’s just one of the many fascinating documentaries that DW Transtel has to offer.

Deutsche Welle | 53110 Bonn | Germany ife @ dw.com

dw.com

MOST-WATCHED

More From the Top 10 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2015), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) and Baby Driver (2017) were among Qantas’ most-watched movies in their respective years.

PHOTOS: KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP; SONY PICTURES; LATINSTOCK

Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman” and “Side to Side” were the top songs on board Qantas in 2017.

The movie might not have glowing reviews, but what it surely has is mass appeal – with fans including both kids and adults. After Qantas revealed its 2017 list, Carlos says that “there were a lot of people confessing via our social channels that they helped The Boss Baby reach number one!“ Perhaps one of the reasons for the movie’s success in flight is that it has the key indicators of a light-hearted comedy: a literal title that suggests an absurd plotline and an equally absurd character to match.

While kids are drawn to the animations in The Boss Baby and Zootopia, adults get to enjoy the films’ underlying themes, such as stereotypes and equality in the former and subversive PG-rated elements in the latter. And for what it’s worth, The Boss Baby is an Academy Award contender for Best Animated Feature Film – alongside The Breadwinner, Coco, Ferdinand and Loving Vincent.

CONSCIOUS CONTENT There are other factors that influence what we choose to watch, including what’s happening around us. A visual essay produced by The Pudding in partnership with Viacom, entitled “Analyzing Plot Trends for Every Top-Grossing Film From the Past 50 Years,” attempts to show how film plots mirror – or even shape – world events by analyzing keywords in descriptions of the top 200 box-office hits from 1966–2016 and grouping them into 16 cultural themes, ranging from terrorism to space. Questions that sparked the study included, “Has movie representation of Islam changed with war and politics in the Middle East?” and “Did the lunar landing in 1969 incite a wave of space-related films?”

“Entertainment has a tendancy to reflect what’s going on socially, culturally and politcally.”

LAUREN MARRIOTT, VIACOM INTERNATIONAL MEDIA NETWORKS

However, there are shortcomings in the data, such as Finding Dory being tagged as a film about computers due to “computer animation” being used in descriptions about the movie. But some correlation can be drawn between the events of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the Rodney King case acquittal, Barack Obama becoming the president of the United States, the Black Lives Matter movement and the presence of movies with a “race/civil rights” theme released after those events.

“Entertainment has a tendency to reflect what’s going on socially, culturally and politically,” says Lauren Marriott, vicepresident, International Programme Sales, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). And with the Trump administration dominating the news in 2017, politics proved to be a popular theme. >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

103

MOST-WATCHED

Qantas’ Most-Watched The airline uses a TV-ratingslike system to gather insights on viewing habits. Here’s what its passengers watched from 2013–2017.

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

MOVIES

MOVIES

MOVIES

MOVIES

MOVIES

The Internship

Divergent

American Sniper

Spectre

The Boss Baby

The Bourne Legacy

Wolf of Wall Street

Taken 3

Logan

The Great Gatsby

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Batman v.

Superman: Dawn of Justice

Skyfall A Good Day to Die Hard Silver Linings Playbook Argo Lincoln Life of Pi White House Down Planes TV SHOWS

Noah The Other Woman The Lego Movie Blended Godzilla X-Men: Days of Future Past The Grand Budapest Hotel The Lego Movie Frozen

Modern Family Big Bang Theory Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Get Hard Spy Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron Focus Blackhat The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Inherent Vice TV SHOWS Big Bang Theory Modern Family

TV SHOWS Modern Family Big Bang Theory Peppa Pig

104

Still Alice

Game of Thrones Sex and the City Ballers

X-Men: Apocalypse

Hidden Figures Beauty and the Beast

Mother’s Day

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Deadpool

Lion

The Revenant

La La Land

Captain America: Civil War

Baywatch

Zootopia

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens TV SHOWS Big Bang Theory Family Guy Modern Family Game of Thrones Keeping Up With the Kardashians

Kong: Skull Island Baby Driver TV SHOWS Modern Family Game of Thrones Peppa Pig

MOST-WATCHED

“The key to great in-flight programming is to provide a diverse slate of content.”

JOVITA TOH, ENCORE INFLIGHT

Encore Inflight saw a trend among airlines choosing foreign, arthouse and festival-type films. Its biggest title in 2017 was Luck-Key, a South Korean comedy about an assassin who suffers from amnesia. “Perhaps it was a tough year all around the world and a feel-good movie simply struck a chord,” Toh says, also mentioning that plotlines about underdogs winning were especially popular last year.

DIVERSITY OF CHOICE VIMN saw increased interest in titles such as The President Show, which features a fictional president bypassing the mainstream media and addressing America via a weekly show direct from the Oval Office, and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, where the host regularly tackles American politics. And with headlines about political antics, the #MeToo movement, terrorism, racial tension and climate change dominating the news throughout 2017, there was a desire among passengers to see these themes mirrored in their entertainment, too.

Among Qantas’ most-watched list of 2017 – which includes movies such as Logan, Hidden Figures, Beauty and the Beast, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Lion, La La Land, Baywatch, Kong: Skull Island and Baby Driver – are movies that feature people of different ages, cultures and genders, Carlos notes.

“The year 2017 was a year where diversity of leading cast members was distinctly noticeable among the most popular titles,” she says.

On the other hand, some viewers sought to immerse themselves in a different kind of reality. “Reality TV gave audiences some much-needed escapism from the political happenings in the world,” Marriott says, adding that the genre experienced a resurgence last year. But ultimately, “It is not possible to pinpoint any specific patterns in viewership,” says Jovita Toh, CEO of Encore Inflight. “The key to great in-flight programming is not to narrow down what is popular, but to provide a diverse slate of content.”

With so many entertainment options available to passengers, and storage capacity no longer a major issue, airlines are looking to bring more media channels on board, from viral YouTube channels and Vice Media’s alternative brand of lifestyle content to educational videos on computer coding.

Thanks to in-flight connectivity, passengers

can also access their subscription media services while traveling. In addition to introducing Netflix, Spotify and Australian video streaming platform Foxtel on flights last year, Qantas has added Stan (another Australian video streaming platform) and Apple Music to its IFE mix, exponentially multiplying its entertainment options – even for passengers who aren’t subscribers of those platforms.

While Qantas licenses content from Asia, the Middle East and Europe, and even from Australia’s many regions and urban and rural communities, Carlos emphasizes that it’s diversity of choice that’s important.

“Passengers are free to choose between platforms, and between their own devices and apps and airline-supplied technology.

Diversity of choice also means a diversity of voices and stories.”

Qantas passengers consumed 151,334 hours of Modern Family in 2017.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

105

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CELIE NAVATEL

Q&A

106

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Q&A

Celie Navatel

FREQUENT FLIGHT:

LAX–CDG

VICE-PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT THALES INFLYT EXPERIENCE

Born and raised in France, Celie joined Thales as an intern during her last year of engineering school. She has held several roles at the company including as system engineer, sales manager and program manager for British Airways and Air France. She is the proud mother of three daughters, including twins.

Did you choose the airline industry or did it choose you?

I chose the industry. I always loved planes and wanted to be a pilot when I was young.

What adjacent industry trends do you have your eye on right now?

Virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

I’m excited about the technology and how reality is getting closer to the concepts of Isaac Asimov, my favorite author as a child.

How does your background in engineering benefit the work you do today?

I’m able to understand the issues, challenges and processes of our business. In turn, I’ve had the opportunity to lead and inspire young women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

How do airlines use in-flight entertainment (IFE) to differentiate their offering?

When I worked with Air France, the airline was looking for something chic and consistent with its branding; meanwhile, British Airways was looking for an integrated passenger and crew

“I’ve had the opportunity to lead and inspire young women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”

YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY:

Almost 20

PASSPORT STAMP YOU WISH YOU HAD:

Fiji

FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORK:

Facebook

THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT WILL BE:

Supersonic

If you could make any change to the air travel experience, what would it be?

I would revolutionize the entire airport experience, from security to the boarding process.

What’s the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?

The comfort of passengers in the aircraft, from personal space to air quality.

experience. Over the years, IFE systems have evolved so much and we offer capabilities that enable airlines to differentiate themselves through their unique brand.

What have you learned about what passengers like to watch in flight or how passengers use the IFE system?

Tourists are looking for an escape and enjoy the entertainment aspect – watching the latest movies, playing games and following their flight on the live map. Business passengers and younger generations are more focused on having connectivity, so they can remain active at work and on their social networks.

What are some of the challenges with the industry at the moment?

Thales InFlyt Experience has grown so much in the last 15 years, from 200 employees to 2,200 today. Our challenge is creating and ensuring a culture of innovation and risk-taking.

We are solving this through an internal and external digital transformation.

Describe your best and worst air travel experiences.

My best experience was the very first time I flew on an Airbus A380 during a flight test; I got goose bumps. My worst experience was flying a small aircraft over the Pyrenees in France and realizing I would never be a pilot because of my motion sickness.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

107

IFEC

Op ti on Could standardization help level the playing field for airlines in the IFEC space?

BY SETH MILLER | ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLĂ S VENTURELLI

v O e rload APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

109

IFEC

W

hen it comes to in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC), airlines are spoiled for choice.

However, systems are measured by a variety of metrics, few of which align. Babar Rahman, Qatar Airways’ senior manager of Global Sponsorships, CSR and In-Flight Entertainment/Connectivity, recently commented on the array of connectivity options, and how difficult it is for airlines to understand the more technical details. How can providers make it less confusing for them? And, more importantly, can industrywide standards become part of the IFEC ecosystem, replacing the alphabet soup of frequency bands with metrics that speak more directly to airlines and passengers?

WHAT AIRLINES WANT Despite varying marketing mumbo jumbo surrounding frequencies, bandwidths and satellite systems, providers display a common desire to define the metrics that matter most to airline customers. Gogo CTO Anand Chari says that three main areas drive this discussion: “We know that what matters to airlines is the speed delivered to each passenger device, system availability and coverage of global flight routes.” Global Eagle’s SVP Aviation, Per Noren, adds, “The most important metrics for airline customers to consider are user experience (beyond speed) and consistency of performance over time.”

Noren’s suggestion to look beyond the megabits measurement is important to consider for developing standards around network performance. Megabits within a network, to an aircraft or even to an individual passenger might be less important than the much harder to measure “experience” of the passenger.

Viasat’s VP Mobile Connectivity, Don Buchman, agrees, adding that it is important to ensure that the kit installed

110 110 experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

today lasts for the duration of the agreement an airline has invested in. “We don’t want to write a contract where seven years later you’re still meeting your obligations, but the passengers aren’t happy because something has fundamentally changed in the Internet,” he says. “You’ve got to be building the experience factor into it as well.”

Indeed, most metrics today account for what a passenger successfully consumes while paying little attention to what a passenger was unable to load or chose not to pursue because a service was blocked or a previous experience of poor performance dissuaded such efforts. >

“What matters to airlines is the speed delivered to each passenger device, system availability and coverage of global flight routes.”

ANAND CHARI, GOGO

GORE Aerospace Cables ®

Take off and stay

connected

Connectivity and In-Flight-Entertainment GORE® Aerospace High Speed Data Cables keep passengers connected anytime, anywhere while traveling. Ensure they get the ultimate in-flight experience on their laptop, tablet or mobile phone no matter where they sit on a plane.

GORE and designs are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates. © 2016 W. L. Gore & Associates GmbH

GO R E® Ass Micr emb owa ve/R lies F

GO R E™ Ant Leak enn y Fe as e de r

GO R E® Fibe Aero r Op spac tic C e able s

GO R E® USB Aero Cab spac e les

GO R E® Ethe Aero rne spac t Ca bles e

GO R E® HDM Aero I Ca spac bles e

Passengers can watch movies and videos in ultra high definition, charge devices quickly and easily, conduct business online faster, and stay connected to family and friends in real time.

IFEC

“The key with the ability to standardize is the expectation that the march of technology will maintain a logical, organized pace.”

PER NOREN, GLOBAL EAGLE

A HARD SELL? Does a standardized hardware configuration deliver a better product for airlines and passengers? Aircraft manufacturers like commonality to reduce complexity, while airlines enjoy the potential to mix and match suppliers. And IFEC suppliers generally support some commonality of systems, though not unconditionally.

Gogo’s Chari suggests that “commonality in characteristics like size, power, cabling, mounting and installation options” would benefit the industry, helping “seat

experience 112 112

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

manufacturers, device manufacturers, IFEC service providers and airlines in terms of innovation and costs.” Deciding on what those power and cabling standards might be, however, is a delicate balancing act.

Industry veteran Peter Lemme is intimately familiar with the push for standardization on the hardware side, having chaired the committee that developed the ARINC 791 standard for connectivity antenna mounts, wiring and other aircraft equipment. It is a standard rarely followed precisely, but a sufficient number of players follow it closely enough that it is now part of nearly all implementation discussions. Could similar standards be extended to IFEC wiring or seatback integration?

“IFEC suppliers must reveal enough of their design to achieve consensus on form, fit and function,” Lemme says. “While one manufacturer may appeal for changes that favor its own parochial interests, it must convince the community that the change is worthwhile.” Driving the community to such decisions is a slow and thankless task; while many talk of the value, it is unclear that anyone is willing to commit to such an effort without some external influence.

Inmarsat’s David Coiley warns that efforts to develop strict standards for onboard hardware have the potential to “stifle, slow and possibly kill some of the drivers” of progress in the industry’s growth. And Global Eagle’s Noren similarly cautions against prescribing too many technical details for IFEC system design.

“All providers and customers will likely want to maintain flexibility in versions of components and to offer differentiation in software and service solutions,” he says.

“The key with the ability to standardize is the expectation that the march of technology will maintain a logical, organized pace.”

IFEC

Ultimately, the push for standardization must come not from a desire for airlines to swap vendors on a whim, but for vendors to deliver better and interoperable solutions to airlines and passengers. As Panasonic Avionics’ Jon Norris says, “If you only look at standardization from the view of being able to switch vendors, you’re missing the point of all the other solutions and services that are enabled by connectivity.”

“We don’t want to write a contract where seven years later you’re still meeting your obligations, but the passengers aren’t happy.”

DON BUCHMAN, VIASAT

THE 90% ENDGAME The next generation of installations will bring the number of connected aircraft to 12,500 – nearly half of the entire global fleet, according to SITAONAIR. With that eventual outcome in mind, when it comes to making decisions about in-flight connectivity, service begins to outweigh hardware. Indeed, Eutelsat’s SVP AeroGlobal Mobility, Jags Burhm, is looking beyond hardware standardization for what’s coming next in the industry. “At some point, when nine out of 10 aircraft are equipped, it is really not a hardware game,” he says.

“It is about monetizing connectivity for efficiency and empowering the passenger.

The question becomes, do you wait it out or decide to be an early adopter because you feel in your gut that getting ahead of the curve will mean reaping monetary benefits sooner than the competition?”

Making the decision to equip now, with minimal established standardization, is risky, Lemme says. However, as consumer demands and the pace of technology move far faster than industry standards can evolve, taking the connectivity plunge is becoming a necessity for some airlines.

Soft standards that guide rather than regulate hardware and implementation could be valuable to industry stakeholders, as long as they are designed to evolve as technology changes. For now, one thing is clear: Developing parameters for the technology itself won’t do much good until vendors can reach a consensus on how to speak of their offerings to airlines.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

113

PHOTOS:

TRAVELOGUE

114 experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

TRAVELOGUE

The Fault in the Eye of Sauron A Lord of the Rings superfan named his airline after Gandalf the wizard and made an unusual request for seat covers emblazoned with the Eye of Sauron.

An industry insider tells how a standard dress-out call went wrong.

BY MARISA GARCIA | ILLUSTRATION BY FELIPE VARGAS

B

efore everything else, I should say that the Eye of Sauron was never really suited to a blue-gray leather inset on a baby blue leather back.

It was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and all I wanted was to spend the weekend with my husband in Connecticut in our tiny cabin in the woods. My flight out of Miami was booked for that afternoon.

I went into work at 5 a.m. to get the mountain of Mordor off my desk while the aircraft interiors factory, part of the now defunct Hoover Industries, was quiet. I read memos, authorized invoices and signed a few checks. By the time the office was full, I’d pared the paper mountain by half.

Just before 10 a.m., my assistant transferred a call from German aircraft manufacturer Dornier. Stefan was in a panic, refusing to speak to anyone but me. “The eyes on the Gandalf Airlines seats are all wrong! Some look left, others look right, others are blinking. Some are skinny, others are fat, most are sideways,” he said. “The CEO of Gandalf will be here on Monday. He won’t take delivery of this sloppy mess.” My weekend plans evaporated: “I’ll be there in the morning,” I said.

On the shop floor, I gathered the troops, while checking patterns and the second shipset. Betsy, the chief inspector, the knower of all things and worker of miracles, assured me there was nothing wrong with the product. It was a dress-out issue – not something we controlled.

She agreed to come along to help sort it out. This wasn’t the biggest job she and I had tackled; it was only a 30-seater, a Dornier 328 – not a Boeing 737. We were optimistic.

But after lunch, Betsy came into my office, distraught. “I’m really sorry. I can’t leave my family this weekend,” she said. “We had plans.” I knew how she felt, and reassured her that I could do the work on my own.

She took a steel wand out of a pocket of her apron. Holding it in both hands, she handed it to me. “This is my secret weapon,” she said. “The flat part is just right for tucking the leather under the tray table notch. The pointy end will fix corners.

Please don’t lose it.”

“I promise I’ll keep it safe,” I said.

In retrospect, I wish I had sent someone else to do the job. If I’d known that my husband and I only had a few more years together before he passed, I might have

chosen differently, but we never know these things when we should. And so, without reluctance, by 5 p.m., I headed to the airport.

Out of habit, I fell asleep on the plane immediately after the meal service. When we landed in Munich, I was rested enough to get to work. The cab driver headed straight to Oberpfaffenhofen. The Eye of Sauron needed handling; AOGs (code for aircraft on the ground) are urgent things!

There were a few light pleasantries exchanged with Stefan and his manager at the hangar. The shop boss made faces at the shame of the Gandalf seat covers. I walked around the flawed seats, all lined up in the order in which they would be mounted onto the aircraft. They looked as if they’d spent a rough night drinking with friends and woke up hungover with bags under Sauron’s eyes and wrinkles pressed on their leather cheeks.

“I can fix them,” I said, with the confidence of a young woman stuck in a hangar with three men who know better than she does. The shop boss made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough. I ignored him. >

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

115

TRAVELOGUE

“It’s only the dress-out,” I said. “I’ve done this before.”

I discreetly took Betsy’s wand out of my pocket, and cracked my fingers as if I were getting ready to play chopsticks on the piano. The three men watched as I pulled the back cover from the cushion and reset it, adjusting the seams on the headrest, aligning the Velcro properly and putting everything in place. Betsy’s wand remained hidden in the palm of my hand and under my index finger, helping me force the leather into submission. Fifteen minutes later, the first Eye of Sauron opened up to its full blue-on-blue majesty.

“See?” I said to the three.

Stefan smiled, his boss raised an eyebrow. The shop boss huffed and said, “That one was not so bad.”

“They will all look like this,” I said.

I was less confident than I sounded. Some would need to be removed completely and reset before I could straighten them out, but the men didn’t need to know that. While I worked on the second seat and then the third, Stefan’s boss left and the shop boss gave up on shadowing me. Stefan left last.

“My wife is expecting me at home. Will you be OK?” “Yes,” I said. “I’ll be here a while. You go.”

With an apologetic smile, he set off, and I started on the fourth.

A silent hangar is like a temple. I meditated on the hard metal, stubborn leather and

116

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

rough fire-blocking, and was lulled by the scent of suede and the fumes of oil and grease. The cold made me numb and grated at my knuckles. Time passed quickly, and I wasn’t there for most of it: My body did the work while my mind wandered through the clouds, flying to Connecticut.

I meditated on the hard metal, stubborn leather and rough fire-blocking, and was lulled by the scent of suede and the fumes of oil and grease.

When I was more than halfway done, I paused to find the toilet and reprimanded myself for not having change for a snack from the vending machine. I drank some water to fill my stomach and faced off with the rows of seats. Most of the eyes were clearly focused on me now. If I had conquered those, I could tackle the rest.

Tiredness and hunger threatened to beat me, but adrenaline and pride won out. Three required full re-dressing. It was painful, but I pushed through. When I was done, I stood back and grinned at Sauron vanquished. It was now past 5 a.m. All I wanted was a shower, a good meal and some horizontal sleep. The

private-home-turned-inn where I stayed when in town had all three.

I headed for one of the offices to call a cab but couldn’t get in. The next office was locked, too. I went to the side door in hopes of walking down the tarmac to the guard’s desk, but that was also locked. The main hangar door had been closed all along.

While I was distracted with Sauron, someone had come to close up shop. They must not have seen my head between the seats. I couldn’t find a way out. There was no way for me to call Stefan for help. This was a time before everyone had a cell phone.

There was one thing left to try, though I was loathe to do it. I hesitated, staring at the alarm button, knowing all hell would break out when I pushed it. Could I wait?

Would someone come by on Sunday morning to find me? Would I have to sleep on the floor of the hangar until Monday?

Maybe inside the hollow jet? No. With a deep breath and scrunched up eyes, I sounded the alarm. The bell was deafening, but I thought I heard Sauron laugh in the echo of the hangar’s belly.

My German was just enough to apologize to the firemen for the fuss. The guard shook his head at me as I waited for my car. But at the inn, they greeted me like family and gave me the honeymoon suite. I wished my husband was there so we could have a good laugh about the day, but settled for the next best thing: a quest told by phone.

S OLU TION S

SOLUTIONS

S OLU TION S

h�p://www.longprosper.com

Serenity S1

S - 10NC

INSERT-1038

F-35

LPE-P16NC

LPE-P20NC

LPE-599

INSERT-1036

LPE-596

INSERT-1027

AIRBUS A350-900 1:100 1:200

INSERT-1025

INSERT-1023

NEWS

Headlines

LOT POLISH AIRLINES FIRST TO FLY WITH LIFT’S TOURIST CLASS SEATING

Top news stories from the airline and passenger experience industries

LIFT by EnCore announced in late December that LOT Polish Airlines is the first carrier to fly with its Boeing 737 Tourist Class Seating product, which was developed in collaboration with Boeing and designed for the Boeing Sky Interior.

“Our passengers appreciate the unique level of their comfort,” Rafał Milczarski, CEO of LOT, said. “Seats manufactured

by LIFT perfectly suit our strategy to be perceived as the most modern, comfortable and hospitable airline in the European skies.”

PHOTOS: LOT POLSH AIRLINES

RYANAIR VOWS TO BECOME PLASTIC-FREE WITHIN FIVE YEARS Ryanair has vowed to become plastic-free by 2023 and will introduce a voluntary carbon offset program during the booking process. In January, the low-cost carrier pledged to eliminate non-recyclable plastics, switching to biodegradable cups, wooden cutlery and paper packaging on board. Ryanair’s CMO, Kenny Jacobs,

said the airline’s environmental plan also goes beyond in-flight food and drink.

“We’re looking at the plastic parts within the aircraft and what’s non-recyclable and how we can work with original equipment manufacturers to move to more recyclable plastics within the aircraft and in our operations,” he said.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

119

NEWS

BOEING FORMS AIRCRAFT SEATING JV WITH ADIENT Boeing formed a joint venture (JV) with Adient in January to develop, manufacture and sell seating products to airlines and aircraft leasing companies. The JV will be based near Frankfurt and will offer seats for linefit and retrofit. Boeing said the JV with Adient was prompted by seat production delays that pushed back aircraft deliveries to airlines. “Seats have been a persistent challenge for our customers, the industry and Boeing, and we are taking action to help address constraints in the

market,” said Kevin Schemm, senior vice-president, Supply Chain Management, Finance and Business Operations, and chief financial officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

EAN’S LTE-BASED GROUND NETWORK COMPONENT UP AND RUNNING Deutsche Telekom, Inmarsat and Nokia announced the LTE-based ground component of the European Aviation Network (EAN) is fully functional. Inmarsat said that passengers will likely begin using the hybrid air-to-ground and satellite system by the end of the second quarter in 2018. “Bringing connectivity to the skies is a complex effort and we could only realize this through strategic collaboration with our European partners,” Frederik van Essen, SVP at Inmarsat Aviation, said.

A 292 percent tariff imposed by the US Department of Commerce on Bombardier’s C Series aircraft has been dismissed by the US International Trade Commission (USITC). The decision, made in January, follows a trade case filed by Boeing, which said Bombardier received multibilliondollar subsidies from Canada and the UK that negatively impacted Boeing.

A spokesperson for the Seattle-based aerospace manufacturer said the company was “disappointed” by the USITC’s decision, while a Bombardier spokesperson described the ruling as “a victory for innovation, competition and the rule of law.”

120

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

PHOTOS: BOMBARDIER, DEUTSCHE TELEKOM

C SERIES TRADE DISPUTE: US INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION RULES IN FAVOR OF BOMBARDIER

NEWS

LUFTHANSA MAY REVISE NEW LIVERY DESIGN and that the new version will combine the Lufthansa word mark and crane logo. At the initial unveiling of the new livery, CEO Carsten Spohr had said it would take eight years to paint all 330 of the airline’s aircraft.

PHOTOS: LUFTHANSA

Weeks after Lufthansa unveiled a new livery in early February, the airline may be revising its design. Sources say “Lufthansa Blue,” which replaced the airline’s iconic yellow to mixed reviews, was deemed too dark,

Application development specialists for in-flight entertainment and communications systems.

Our software is installed on hundreds of aircraft and used by thousands of passengers every day in every corner of the world all in their own languages.

Applications we have developed allow passengers to view their location on the map, watch on-demand video & audio, play games, go shopping, reserve a hotel, car or just browse for information all from 30,000ft.

Established in 1998 with development facilities in Chichester, UK and Lake Forest, CA and a team of over 40 experienced developers we provide unrivalled expertise in the IFEC industry.

NEWS

SINGAPORE AIRLINES’ BLOCKCHAIN WALLET FOR KRISFLYER MILES Singapore Airlines (SIA) is planning to launch a digital wallet based on blockchain technology for its KrisFlyer frequent flyer program.

The app, which is expected to be rolled out within six months, will allow SIA’s frequent flyer members to use “digital KrisFlyer miles” for point-of-sale transactions at participating retail merchants. “This groundbreaking development, in which we will be using blockchain technology to digitalize KrisFlyer miles, is a demonstration of the investment we are making to significantly enhance the digital side of our business,” the airline’s CEO, Goh Choon Phong, said.

EMIRATES DEAL SECURES FUTURE OF AIRBUS A380

The future of the Airbus A380 is secure after Emirates placed an order for up to 36 superjumbos, worth a combined $16 billion at list prices. The deal, announced in January, includes 20 firm orders for the A380, with options for a further 16. The announcement comes after Airbus acknowledged it might shut down its A380 program if no new buyers could be found. Airbus said the Emirates deal shows its commitment to produce the aircraft for at least another decade.

CHINESE AIRLINES LIFT RESTRICTIONS ON IN-FLIGHT SMARTPHONE USE Several Chinese airlines have started allowing passengers to use smartphones during flights, following the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s decision to relax rules related to onboard mobile device usage. Hainan Airlines was the first to lift restrictions, on a flight from Haikou to Beijing on January 17.

Panasonic Avionics introduced its third-generation satellite communications network at CES in Las Vegas in January. The network will offer bandwidth up to 20 times greater than previously available. Several of Panasonic’s airline partners, including United and Southwest airlines, will begin installing the system on aircraft in the first quarter of 2018.

122

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

PHOTOS: EMIRATES, KRISTINA VELAN

PANASONIC AVIONICS UNVEILS THIRD-GEN SATCOM NETWORK AT CES

Imagination takes flight.

AVAILABLE NOW

MADEMOISELLE PARADIS

GERMAN

100% Rotten Tomatoes WW Rights Available

SUMMER 1993

SPANISH

100% Rotten Tomatoes 7.6/10 IMDB

Rights avail. WW excluding Mexico, Jordan, Thailand, UK, Germany, Austria, Hong Kong, Spain, France, USA/Can, Aus/NZ.

SKYLINE IFE www.skyline-ife.com +44 1449 711011 RICHARD BARSBY richard.barsby@skyline-ife.com LORRAINE LEECH lorraine.leech@skyline-ife.com DENA BLAKEMAN dena.blakeman@skyline-ife.com

APEX Events

APEX MULTIMEDIA MARKET

23–24 April 2018 Paris, France

APEX TECH

APEX EXPO

19–20 June 2018 Los Angeles, US

24–27 Sept. 2018 Boston, US

#APEXTECH

#APEXEXPO

#APEXMarket

APEX MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

4–5 Nov. 2018 Dubai, UAE

APEX EXPO

16–19 Sept. 2019 Los Angeles, US #APEXEXPO

Tweeting from one of our upcoming events? Be sure to use the designated hashtag so other members can join the conversation.

124

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Follow us on Twitter @THEAPEXASSOC

Interested in Becoming an APEX Board Member?

When considering potential service on the APEX Board of Directors, carefully evaluate your time and willingness to fulfill the following requirements: LENGTH OF TERM • Depending on the position, you will be required to serve a one- or two-year term.

TIME COMMITMENT • Travel to APEX board meetings throughout the year in addition to attending APEX EXPO. • Expect to spend 10 or more hours monthly on APEX activities.

• Attend the new board members orientation prior to (or at) EXPO 2018.

BOARD ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTATIONS • Prepare for each board meeting by carefully studying the agenda and supporting materials.

• Support all board decisions publicly even if you may not have voted in favor of the decision taken.

• Serve as a goodwill ambassador at EXPO and throughout the year.

• Fulfill any assignments.

• Ensure availability for conference calls, complete assigned tasks within the timelines agreed upon and respond to all board, staff, members and media requests in a timely manner.

• Complete all board reports and duties.

?

The 2018 application period will be open 1 May–1 June. All applications will be reviewed and considered by the APEX Nominations Committee. A member of the Nominations Committee will be in contact with each nominee to discuss

qualifications. Based on the application and discussions, the committee will finalize a slate of candidates, subject to board approval, to be included on the election ballot distributed in August/September.

For more information, e-mail APEX executive director, Katie Goshgarian at kgoshgarian@apex.aero.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

125

Content Options Are Soaring Above 35,000 Feet at APEX MultiMedia Market Passenger expectations for entertainment options are sky-high, and no event in the world offers the selection of in-flight content on display at APEX MultiMedia Market, 23–24 April, at the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel and Conference Center. Join us for the event, where 55 exhibitors will showcase vast content libraries – including thousands of new and classic titles – to entertain passengers around the world.

The following content distributors are confirmed to exhibit this year:

APPOINTMENT

Entertainment in Motion

Pilot Film and TV Productions

NON-APPOINTMENT

all3media

Euronews

Rai Com

Accentus Music

ARTE

Fairdeal Multimedia

BBC Global News

ARTEDIS

Flame Distribution

Red Arrow Studios International

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

FremantleMedia

Scripps Networks Interactive

C Major Entertainment

Sky Vision

CBS Studios International

Sony Pictures

CPB International

Terry Steiner International

Eros International

The Television Syndication Company

Hat Trick International

BBC Radio International BBC Worldwide Television Bloomberg Blue Ant Media Bonneville Distribution Digital Rights Group Discovery Communications Eagle Vision Encore Inflight

HBO IMG Media Interactive Mobility Massive Mediatoon Millimages Monster Entertainment Off the Fence Picture Tree International Pictureworks

Beyond Distribution

Turner Inflight Services Twentieth Century Fox Films / Fox Non-Theatrical

Just for Laughs Library Media Solutions Panasonic Avionics

Viacom International Media Networks

Paramount Pictures

Warner Bros. Pictures

TV5Monde

Pitch International

MULTIMEDIA MARKET ATTENDEES GET EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO: • A sold-out exhibit hall packed with distributors from all over the globe • Networking lunches and breaks • Offsite networking event and popular quiz night

To register for MultiMedia Market or for any further information, contact APEX staff at info@apex.aero or visit mmm.apex.aero.

126

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Will Your Company Take Home an APEX Award This Year?

APEX members will be recognized at the APEX Awards ceremony for their excellence in cabin comfort, entertainment options, connectivity, overall experience and more, on 24 September at EXPO in Boston. The 2018 application period opens 1 May. Look out for the application forms in your inbox and on apex.aero.

OFFICIAL AIRLINE RATINGS AND PASSENGER CHOICE AWARDS

PHOTOS: VANCE WALSTRA

APEX partnered with TripIt from Concur to create the Official Airline Ratings. Using the TripIt app, passengers can anonymously rate their flight experience using a five-star scale. Passengers may rate their overall experience, as well as five categories: seat comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, entertainment, and Wi-Fi. The rating for the overall flight experience is used to recognize global, major regional and low-cost airlines. The Passenger Choice Awards are determined by the ratings of the additional five categories.

APEX AWARDS Awards will be presented to airlines and/ or their vendor partners for specific achievements that have been successfully implemented in the past year.

Best Original Audio Best Original Video Best Cabin Innovation Best Passenger Comfort Innovation Best Personalization Innovation Best Video Curation Best In-Flight Entertainment Innovation Best In-Flight Connectivity Innovation

HONORARY AWARDS

Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to a senior-level executive whose long-term commitment to the airline passenger experience clearly establishes their career as a lifetime industry achievement

Outstanding Contribution Award Presented to an individual whose contributions and leadership have improved the airline passenger experience Newcomer of the Year Award Recognizes a specific achievement by a new APEX member CEO Lifetime Achievement Award Recognizes an airline CEO who has advanced the passenger experience beyond their own airline, creating a positive ripple across the industry Cool Award Recognizes innovative spirit showcased at EXPO

Visit apex.aero/ratings for more information.

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

127

IFSA

Save the Date: Regional Event IFSA kicked off 2018 with a fantastic regional event in San Francisco. With 106 attendees, this marked our most successful networking event yet!

Attendees enjoyed visiting with colleagues, meeting new members and enjoying sponsored treats and snacks. Thanks to our sponsors AirlineMporium, Beemster, DFMi, McGuire & Associates, Savile Row and Somerdale. Mark your calendar for our next regional event on 1 July, 2018, in New York City, in conjunction with the Summer Fancy Food Show. Please plan to join industry colleagues at this informal event to build relationships and learn more about how IFSA can benefit you and your business. To register visit ifsa.aero/events.

IFSA Foundation Scholarships IFSA is now accepting applications for the 2018 IFSA Foundation scholarships. Since its inception in 2000, the IFSA Foundation has raised nearly $825,000, awarding scholarships to over 165 deserving students.

Thanks to the foundation board members for raising these funds, and for the generous donations of our many sponsors. This is a truly wonderful way that IFSA supports its community.

The scholarships range from $2,000 to $10,000 and are open to families of all our member companies. Whether you or a family member is entering college for the first time, or returning as an adult learner, please take advantage of this wonderful program. The deadline for submissions is 11 May, 2018. More information, including a link to the application, can be found at ifsa.aero/scholarship.

IFSA Has a New Home!

We’ve upgraded our website and moved to ifsa.aero. Look out for an improved user experience, easy navigation and a mobile-friendly design. Visit ifsa.aero for the latest industry news, up-to-date information on membership, the 2018 Expo and other events!

128 128 experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

Engage With IFSA Contact us at info@ifsa.aero Facebook International Flight Services Association Twitter @IFSAOnBoard LinkedIn International Flight Services Association

What to look for in the months ahead

Coming Attractions 1987: When the Day Comes W

In 1987, under an oppressive military regime, a college student dies while being interrogated and tortured by the Anti-Communism Investigations Bureau.

The incident ignites ordinary citizens to fight for the truth. Their actions set off a massive wave of chain reactions that ripples across society.

DISTRIBUTOR: EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT CONTACT: GIGI LEE * EXCLUDING KOREA

W w

Alita: Battle Angel

Director: Robert Rodriguez Cast: Rosa Salazar, Eliza González, Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Connelly, Christoph Waltz, Ed Skrein Set in the 26th Century, Alita is a female cyborg that is discovered in a scrapyard by a scientist. With no memory of her previous life except her deadly martialarts training, Alita becomes a bounty hunter, tracking down criminals.

W

Annihilation

W

Anon

Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson

Director: Andrew Niccol Cast: Clive Owen, Amanda Seyfried, Colm Feore, Iddo Goldberg

Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s best-selling Southern Reach Trilogy books, a group of scientists sets out to explore an area that has been overtaken by a mysterious force and is full of strange sights – and terrors.

In a world where everyone’s life is transparent and traceable by authorities, crime almost ceases to exist. But while trying to solve a series of murders, Detective Sal Frieland stumbles upon a woman with no digital footprint, and must find her before he becomes the next victim.

DISTRIBUTOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES CONTACT: JOAN FILIPPINI

DISTRIBUTOR: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX CONTACT: JULIAN LEVIN

DISTRIBUTOR: CINESKY PICTURES CONTACT: MARK HORTON * EXCLUDING US AND CANADA

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

130 130

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT; © 2018 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES; COURTESY OF CINESKY PICTURES

Director: Jang Joon-hwan Cast: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Yoo Hae-jin, Kim Tae-ri

PHOTOS: © 2018 MARVEL; COURTESY OF CINESKY PICTURES; COURTESY OF CINESKY PICTURES; © 2018 BEIJING JINGXI CULTURE & TOURISM, CHONGQING SHUIMU CHENGDE CAPITAL, BEIJING SPARKLE ROLL MEDIA, COOLBOY (SHANGHAI) CULTURE COMMUNICATION, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 MARVEL; : COURTESY OF EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT

Avengers: Infinity War

The Ballad of Lefty Brown

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Zoe Saldana

Director: Jared Moshé Cast: Bill Pullman, Peter Fonda, Tommy Flanagan, Kathy Baker, Jim Caviezel

W

The ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time is about to take place. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

DISTRIBUTOR: DISNEY STUDIOS NON-THEATRICAL CONTACT: MELINDA MEYER-GILMORE

A Better Tomorrow 2018

W

Lefty Brown, a loyal, crotchety 63-year-old cowboy, has been riding with Western legend Edward Johnson his entire adult life. But when Frank, a rustler, kills Johnson, Lefty is forced from his partner’s shadow. Devastated by guilt, Lefty sets out after Frank.

Brothers Kai and Chao are on opposite sides of the law. Kai is a smuggler, while Chao is a rising star in the police department’s narcotics division. After a botched drug deal leads to the death of their father, Chao, who had always looked up to his older brother, swears off all contact with him.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENCORE INFLIGHT CONTACT: EDWIN CHEUNG * EXCLUDING MAINLAND CHINA, NORTH AMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA

Basmati Blues

Director: Dan Baron Cast: Brie Larson, Donald Sutherland, Scott Bakula, Tyne Daly, Saahil Sehgal, Utkarsh Ambudkar A young scientist is sent to India to sell the genetically modified rice she and her father created – only to learn it could destroy the farmers she had hoped to help.

DISTRIBUTOR: CINESKY PICTURES CONTACT: MARK HORTON * EXCLUDING US AND CANADA

DISTRIBUTOR: CINESKY PICTURES CONTACT: MARK HORTON * EXCLUDING US AND CANADA

W

Director: Ding Sheng Cast: Wang Kai, Ray Ma, Talu Wang

W

W

Black Panther

Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman T’Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to become king. But when a powerful old enemy reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king – and Black Panther – is tested when he is drawn into a formidable conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk.

DISTRIBUTOR: DISNEY STUDIOS NON-THEATRICAL CONTACT: MELINDA MEYER-GILMORE

The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful W

Director: Yang Ya-che Cast: Kara Wai, Wu Ke-xi, Vicky Chen Mme. Tang runs an antiques business to cover dirty deals with local businessmen and politicians. Her elder daughter is her sidekick, while her younger daughter quietly observes the schemes. When one of their plans ends in murder, the women work to cover up the crime.

DISTRIBUTOR: EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT CONTACT: GIGI LEE * EXCLUDING TAIWAN

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

131

The Bookshop

I

Chappaquiddick

Director: Isabel Coixet Cast: Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer

Director: John Curran Cast: Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan

In 1959, Florence opens a bookshop in a small seaside town. By exposing the townsfolk to the best literature of the day, she brings about a cultural awakening – and conflict, leading to a struggle for the bookshop and the heart and soul of the town.

Ted Kennedy’s life and political career derail in the aftermath of a fatal car accident in 1969 that claimed the life of a young campaign strategist, Mary Jo Kopechne.

DISTRIBUTOR: PENNY BLACK MEDIA CONTACT: CATHIE TROTTA

DISTRIBUTOR: JAGUAR DISTRIBUTION CONTACT: FRANCE CAPOR

I

Charming

Director: Ross Venokur Cast: Wilmer Valderrama, Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale, Avril Lavigne, John Cleese, G.E.M. With Prince Charming compulsively proposing to every woman he encounters, including Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, a trail of scorned lovers wreaks havoc on the Kingdom.

Exasperated, the king pressures his son to find love before his 21st birthday, or lose all claim to the throne.

DISTRIBUTOR: JAGUAR DISTRIBUTION CONTACT: FRANCE CAPOR

* EXCLUDING SPAIN, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND

* EXCLUDING CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN

W

The Clapper

W

The Commuter

W

Curvature

Director: Dito Montiel Cast: Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, Brenda Vaccaro, Tracy Morgan, Alan Thicke

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Cast: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern

Director: Diego Hallivis Cast: Lyndsy Fonseca, Linda Hamilton, Glenn Morshower, Alex Lanipekun, Zach Avery, Noah Bean

Eddie Krumble works as a “clapper,” a paid audience member for infomercials.

But when a late-night talk show host publicizes his frequent infomercial appearances, he experiences an unexpected whirlwind of overnight fame and radical life changes.

Insurance salesman Michael is on his daily commute home, which quickly becomes anything but routine. After being contacted by a mysterious stranger, Michael is forced to uncover the identity of a hidden passenger on the train before the last stop.

DISTRIBUTOR: CINESKY PICTURES CONTACT: MARK HORTON

DISTRIBUTOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES CONTACT: JOAN FILIPPINI

Helen is an engineer struggling with the recent suicide of her husband, who was on the cusp of his greatest professional triumph – a time machine. The film is a mind-bending time-travel drama that examines the difficulty of letting go, and how much one would risk to do what is right.

* EXCLUDING US AND CANADA

* EXCLUDING US

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

132 132

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

DISTRIBUTOR: TERRY STEINER INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: NADJA RUTKOWSKI

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2017 CELSIUS ENTERTAINMENT; COURTESY OF PENNY BLACK MEDIA; © 2017 SC FILMS INTERNATIONAL; COURTESY OF CINESKY PICTURES; © 2018 LIONSGATE; © 2015 CURVATURE TRAVEL

W

NON-THEATRICAL SALES

JEFF CRAWFORD jeff.crawford@warnerbros.com

ANGELICA MCCOY angelica.mccoy@warnerbros.com

wbnts.warnerbros.com

© 2018 Warner Bros. Pictures.

All rights reserved.

all the

mone y wor l d IN THE

Dance Academy

Director: Jeffrey Walker Cast: Alex Acosta, Alicia Banit, Chris Bartlett Tara Webster was destined to become one of the top dancers of her generation before a devastating injury crippled her career. In her quest to defy the odds and make a comeback, Tara will discover what being defined by a dream really means.

DISTRIBUTOR: TERRY STEINER INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: NADJA RUTKOWSKI

W

Deadpool 2

Director: David Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Simon Kinberg After a near fatal bovine attack, a cafeteria chef dreams of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender despite having lost his sense of taste. He must battle ninjas, the Yakuza and a pack of sexually aggressive canines to discover the importance of family, friendship and flavor, and to earn the coveted coffee mug title, “World’s Best Lover.”

DISTRIBUTOR: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX CONTACT: JULIAN LEVIN

W

Den of Thieves

Director: Christian Gudegast Cast: Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Brian Van Holt, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson The intersecting and often personally connected lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the state’s most successful bank robbery crew plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank of downtown Los Angeles.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENTERTAINMENT IN MOTION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS

Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura W

Director: Takashi Yamazaki Cast: Masato Sakai, Mitsuki Takahata Masakazu and his wife, Akiko, communicate with the supernatural to solve mysteries. After Akiko disappears one morning, Masakazu decides to journey to the underworld himself. What awaits him there are the otherworldly creatures who took his wife, and someone else he recognizes...

W

Death Wish

Director: Eli Roth Cast: Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Mike Epps Dr. Paul Kersey is a surgeon who only sees his city’s violence as it’s rushed into his ER – until his wife and daughter are viciously attacked in their suburban home. As anonymous slayings of criminals surface in the media, the city wonders if the deadly avenger is a guardian angel or a grim reaper.

DISTRIBUTOR: TERRY STEINER INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: NADJA RUTKOWSKI

W

Every Day

Director: Michael Sucsy Cast: Angourie Rice, Maria Bello, Debby Ryan Based on the acclaimed best-seller, Every Day tells the story of 16-year-old Rhiannon, who falls in love with “A,” who inhabits a different body every day.

The reality of their situation takes a toll, however, leaving the couple to face the hardest decision either has ever made.

DISTRIBUTOR: TERRY STEINER INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: NADJA RUTKOWSKI

DISTRIBUTOR: EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT CONTACT: GIGI LEE * EXCLUDING JAPAN

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

134 134

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2018 CINEDIGM ENTERTAINMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2017 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2017 STXFILMS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; COURTESY OF EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT; © ORION PICTURES

W

The Final Year

Director: Greg Barker Cast: Barack Obama, John Kerry, Samantha Power, Ben Rhodes, Susan Rice Featuring unprecedented access to the White House and State Department, the documentary is an insider’s account of President Obama’s foreign policy team and offers a view of the Obama Administration as they prepare to leave power after eight years in office.

DISTRIBUTOR: PICTUREWORKS CONTACT: AVINAASH JUMANI

*

Foxtrot

W

Director: Samuel Maoz Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonatan Shiray Michael and Dafna are devastated when army officials show up at their home to announce the death of their son. While his sedated wife rests, Michael spirals into a whirlwind of anger, only to experience one of life’s unfathomable twists, which rivals the surreal military experiences of his son.

DISTRIBUTOR: SONY PICTURES RELEASING CONTACT: RANA MATTHES * CARIBBEAN ISLANDS, LATIN AMERICA, SCANDINAVIA, US, EXCLUDING FRENCH GUIANA/FRENCH, GUADELOUPE/ FRENCH, MARTINIQUE/FRENCH, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES/ DUTCH, SURINAM/DUTCH

* EXCLUDING CANADA

The Girl in the Fog (La ragazza nella nebbia) W

Director: Donato Carrisi Cast: Toni Servillo, Alessio Boni, Lorenzo Richelmy, Galatea Ranzi, Jean Reno, Michela Cescon When Anna, 16, disappears in Avechot in the Alps, investigator Vogel, known to bring widespread media attention to his cases, is brought in. Journalists and television broadcasters arrive to cover the case – and local school professor Loris Martini, on whom the main suspicions fall.

The Gospel According to André W

Director: Kate Novack Cast: Andre Leon Talley, Anna Wintour Occupying the front row of runway shows, long-time Vogue editor André Leon Talley, a six-foot-six black man, stands out “like the black Rockette” (as Whoopi Goldberg said). From the segregated American South to the fashion capitals of the world, Talley’s life and career are on full display.

DISTRIBUTOR: JAGUAR DISTRIBUTION CONTACT: FRANCE CAPOR

Game Night

Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury For Max and Annie’s weekly couples’ game night, Max’s brother, Brooks, arranges a murder mystery. So, when Brooks gets kidnapped, the six gamers set out to solve the case and win, but they soon discover that neither this “game”nor Brooks are what they seem to be.

DISTRIBUTOR: WARNER BROS. CONTACT: JEFF CRAWFORD

W

Gringo

Director: Nash Edgerton Cast: Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton While in Mexico, mild-mannered businessman Harold Soyinka finds himself at the mercy of backstabbing colleagues back home, local drug lords and a morally conflicted black-ops mercenary. Becoming a wanted criminal, he battles to survive his increasingly dangerous situation.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENTERTAINMENT IN MOTION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS

* EXCLUDING CANADA

DISTRIBUTOR: PICTUREWORKS CONTACT: AVINAASH JUMANI * EXCLUDING ITALY & NORTH AMERICA

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

136 136

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF PICTUREWORKS; © GIORA BEJACH. COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS; © 2018 WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; COURTESY OF PICTUREWORKS; © 2017 MAGNOLIA PICTURES; © 2018 STX FINANCING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

W

NEW IN 2018

MOSAIC

HERE AND NOW

FAHRENHEIT 451

BARRY

SUCCESSION

CONTACT: KALLIOPE.DIAKOS@HBO.COM · 212.512.1741 ® & ©2018 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky Cast: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi It’s smooth sailing for Drac’s Pack as the monsters enjoy cruise activities, from volleyball to moon tanning.

But the dream vacation turns into a nightmare when Mavis realizes Drac has fallen for the ship captain, Ericka, who hides a secret that could destroy all of monsterkind.

W

The Hurricane Heist

W

Isle of Dogs

Director: Rob Cohen Cast: Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace, Ryan Kwanten, Ralph Ineson, Randy Couture

Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Kara Hayward

Thieves attempt a massive heist against the US Treasury as a Category 5 hurricane approaches one of its mint facilities.

Set in Japan, Isle of Dogs follows a boy’s odyssey in search of his dog.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENTERTAINMENT IN MOTION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS

DISTRIBUTOR: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX CONTACT: JULIAN LEVIN * EXCLUDING CHINA

* EXCLUDING US AND CANADA

DISTRIBUTOR: SONY PICTURES RELEASING CONTACT: RANA MATTHES

W

Jane

W

Director: Brett Morgen Cast: Jane Goodall, Hugo van Lawick Drawing from over 100 hours of neverbefore-seen footage from the National Geographic archives, award-winning director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, whose chimpanzee research challenged the scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.

DISTRIBUTOR: FNG NON-THEATRICAL LICENSING CONTACT: MICHAEL GARRITY

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

W

Journey’s End

Director: Victor Salva Cast: Stan Shaw, Gabrielle Haugh, Brandon Smith, Meg Foster, Chester Rushing

Director: Saul Dibb Cast: Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, Paul Bettany, Tom Sturridge, Toby Jones, Stephen Graham

On the last day of the Creeper’s 23-day feeding frenzy, skeptical Sargeant Tubbs joins a taskforce hell bent on destroying the Creeper for good. The Creeper fights back in gory glory as Tubbs and his team get closer to learning the secret of its dark origins.

In the frontline trenches in March 1918, tension builds in the officers’ dugout as the soldiers await attack, and Lieutenant Raleigh joins the Company commanded

by Captain Stanhope, his childhood friend and hero. Based on the seminal 1928 play about WWI.

DISTRIBUTOR: PICTUREWORKS CONTACT: AVINAASH JUMANI

DISTRIBUTOR: CINESKY PICTURES CONTACT: MARK HORTON

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

138 138

Jeepers Creepers 3

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

© 2017 CTMG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 FORESIGHT UNLIMITED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2017 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; COURTESY OF PICTUREWORKS; COURTESY OF CINESKY PICTURES

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation W

Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Toby Jones When a dormant volcano in Jurassic World begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from the extinction-level event. Their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return the entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.

*

Kings

I

Kodachrome

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven Cast: Daniel Craig, Halle Berry, Kevin Carroll

Director: Mark Raso Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris, Elizabeth Olsen, Bruce Greenwood

Millie is a single mother raising a dozen children in South Central Los Angeles against the backdrop of the Rodney King trial. When the accused are acquitted, the city explodes, and the love tribulations of Jesse, William and Nicole mingle with the fireworks that ignite the country.

Set during the final days of the admired photo development system known as Kodachrome, the film follows the journey of a father and son who hit the road to reach the Kansas photo lab before it closes its doors for good.

DISTRIBUTOR: TERRY STEINER INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: NADJA RUTKOWSKI

DISTRIBUTOR: PENNY BLACK MEDIA CONTACT: CATHIE TROTTA

* US AND CANADA

DISTRIBUTOR: NBCUNIVERSAL CONTACT: CYNTHIA KLAR

Let It Snow (La deuxième étoile) W

Director: Lucien Jean Baptiste Cast: Lucien Jean Baptiste, Firmine Richard, Roland Giraud, Anne Consigny When Jean-Gabriel’s perfectly organized family ski holiday turns into a multigenerational logistical and emotional nightmare, only he still believes he can pull it off.

DISTRIBUTOR: O’BRIEN INTERNATIONAL CONTACT: JACQUELINE O’BRIENS * EXCLUDING FRANCE, US AND BENELUX

W

Lucky

Director: John Carroll Lynch Cast: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr. Lucky, a 90-year-old atheist, lives in an off-the-map desert town with a slew of quirky characters. Having outlived and out-smoked all of his contemporaries, he finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration, leading toward that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment.

DISTRIBUTOR: PICTUREWORKS CONTACT: AVINAASH JUMANI * EXCLUDING UK AND CANADA

Marry Me, Dude (Épouse-moi mon pote) W

Director: Tarek Boudali Cast: Tarek Boudali, Philippe Lacheau, Charlotte Gabris, Andy, David Marsais, Julien Arruti Yassine’s future studying architecture in Paris seems assured, until he fails his exams.

He decides to marry his best friend, Fred, to get immigration papers. But a suspicious inspector is determined to uncover their fake wedding. And when Yassine’s mother and Claire, his love, turn up unannounced, his plan starts to fall apart.

DISTRIBUTOR: PICTUREWORKS CONTACT: AVINAASH JUMANI * EXCLUDING FRANCE, US, CANADA, BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS AND LUXEMBURG

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

140 140

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © UNIVERSAL STUDIOS AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT AND LEGENDARY PICTURES PRODUCTIONS; © 2017 CG CINEMA INTERNATIONAL – SCOPE PICTURES – FRANCE 2 CINEMA; COURTESY OF PENNY BLACK MEDIA; COURTESY OF O’BRIEN INTERNATIONAL; COURTESY OF PICTUREWORKS; COURTESY OF PICTUREWORKS

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom W

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS AT LYNDA@SKYFILMS.COM

The Post

Maya the Bee: The Honey Games I

When an overenthusiastic Maya accidentally embarrasses the Empress of Buzztropolis, she is forced to unite with a team of misfit bugs and compete in the Honey Games for a chance to save her hive.

DISTRIBUTOR: JAGUAR DISTRIBUTION CONTACT: FRANCE CAPOR

W

Meditation Park

Director: Mina Shum Cast: Cheng Pei-Pei, Tzi Ma, Zak Santiago, Jemmy Chen, Lillian Lim, Liane Balaban

* EXCLUDING FRANCE, AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND, CHINA, HONG KONG

A devoted wife and mother, 60-yearold Maria Wang’s life is altered when she discovers an orange thong in her husband’s pants pocket, forcing her to confront how powerless she is. Her efforts to find out the truth send her on an unexpected journey of liberation.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENCORE INFLIGHT CONTACT: EDWIN CHEUNG * EXCLUDING CANADA

The Music of Silence W

Director: Michael Radford Cast: Antonio Banderas, Jordi Mollà, Alessandro Sperduti, Toby Sebastian Born with a serious eye condition that eventually leads to blindness, Bocelli nevertheless rises above the challenges.

Driven by great ambitions toward his passion, the silent pursuit of his daily mission continues.

W

The New Mutants

Director: Josh Boone Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Maisie Willimas, Alice Braga, Happy Anderson, Henry Zaga The story of The New Mutants, a team of mutant heroes comprised of the first graduates from Charles Xavier’s school.

DISTRIBUTOR: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX CONTACT: JULIAN LEVIN

142 142

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

The Preparation

Director: Cho Young-jun Cast: Cho Young-jun Ae-soon has spent the past 30 years of her life providing special care for her son, In-gyu, a 30-year-old man who behaves like a seven-year-old. When Ae-soon finds out her time with In-gyu is coming to an end, she creates a checklist to help him fend for himself.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENCORE INFLIGHT CONTACT: EDWIN CHEUNG

DISTRIBUTOR: ENTERTAINMENT IN MOTION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

W

* EXCLUDING KOREA AND TAIWAN

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2017 STUDIO 100; ©COURTESY OF MONGREL MEDIA; © 2018 AMBI DISTRIBUTION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © OPUS PICTURES

Director: Alexs Stadermann Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Justine Clarke, Coco Jack Gillies

QUALITY, INDEPENDENT FEATURE FILMS WWW.PENNYBLACKMEDIA.COM

CTROTTA@PENNYBLACKMEDIA.COM

A Quiet Place

Director: John Krasinski Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe A family lives an isolated existence in utter silence, for fear of an unknown threat that follows and attacks at any sound.

DISTRIBUTOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES CONTACT: JOAN FILIPPINI * EXCLUDING CHINA

W

Rampage

W

Ready Player One

Director: Brad Peyton Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance

Davis Okoye has been caring for George, an extraordinarily intelligent silverback gorilla, since his birth. But after an experiment gone awry mutates the gentle ape into a raging creature, Okoye must search for an antidote to halt a global catastrophe and save his former friend.

When the eccentric inventor of the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe, dies, he leaves a digital Easter egg hidden in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the world. Wade Watts decides to join and is hurled into a realitybending universe of mystery, discovery and danger.

DISTRIBUTOR: WARNER BROS. CONTACT: JEFF CRAWFORD

DISTRIBUTOR: WARNER BROS. CONTACT: JEFF CRAWFORD * EXCLUDING AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND, NEW GUINEA, FIJI

W

Red Sparrow

Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, Matthias Schoenaerts, Joely Richardson A Russian intelligence officer is drafted against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress. Her first assignment is a young, undercover CIA officer monitoring Russian intelligence in Moscow. But their mutual attraction will threaten their careers and the life of America’s most valuable Russian mole.

DISTRIBUTOR: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX CONTACT: JULIAN LEVIN

*

Director: Chloé Zhao Cast: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Lane Scott, Cat Clifford After a riding accident, young cowboy Brady, a rising star of the rodeo circuit, is told that his competition days are over.

Having lost his sense of purpose, he

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

144 144

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

The Rider

N: NORTH AMERICA

searches for a new identity and tries to redefine his idea of what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.

DISTRIBUTOR: SONY PICTURES RELEASING CONTACT: RANA MATTHES * AUSTRALIA, CARIBBEAN ISLANDS, EASTERN EUROPE, FAR EAST, LATIN AMERICA, NEW ZEALAND, SEYCHELLES, US, EXCLUDING BONAIRE, CHINA, CURACAO, FRENCH GUIANA, GUADELOUPE, MARTINIQUE, NIUE ISLAND, NORTH KOREA, SABA, ST. EUSTATIUS AND ST. MAARTEN

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES; © 2018 WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

W

erosnow.com

YOUR FAVOURITE BOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTERS ON THE FLY!

MOVIES

MUSIC

TV SHOWS

ORIGINALS

Why limit your entertainment options when all you need is one app. Eros Now offers the largest Bollywood and regional film library so you can stay entertained anywhere, anytime.

HD PLAYBACK

Watch videos in High Definition quality with optional sub-titles

ADAPTIVE STREAMING

Video quality optimised based on internet connectivity to avoid buffering

BOLO KYA DEKHOGEY? DOWNLOAD THE APP

OFFLINE DOWNLOAD Download videos on your device and watch them even when offline

MULTI-DEVICE SUPPORT

TV, Laptop, Tablet or Phone.

Log in from up to 8 devices simultaneously

RESUME PLAYBACK

Play videos from where you last left even when you switch devices

For Inquiries Contact | PRASHANT GAONKAR | Direct: +91 22 66021514 | Mobile: +91 9920053480 | Email: prashant.gaonkar@erosintl.com

all the

mone y wor l d

W

Show Dogs

Director: Raja Gosnell Cast: Will Arnett, Natasha Lyonne, Ludacris, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming

W

Sherlock Gnomes

Director: John Stevenson Cast: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine

*

After a string of garden gnome disappearances in London, Gnomeo and Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case of their missing friends and family.

DISTRIBUTOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES CONTACT: JOAN FILIPPINI

DISTRIBUTOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES CONTACT: JOAN FILIPPINI

Sicario 2: Soldado

Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Catherine Keener

A macho police dog must learn to become a team player and go undercover to help his human handler thwart an attack on a prestigious dog show.

W

Slender Man

W

Spark

Director: Sylvain White Cast: Joey King, Julia Goldani-Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, Javier Botet

Director: Itsuji Itao Cast: Masaki Suda, Kenta Kiritani, Fumino Kimura

The drug war on the US–Mexico border has escalated as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border.

To fight the war, federal agent Matt Graver reteams with the mercurial Alejandro.

In a small Massachusetts town, four high school girls perform a ritual in an attempt to debunk the lore of Slender Man. When one of the girls mysteriously goes missing, they begin to suspect that she is his latest victim.

DISTRIBUTOR: SONY PICTURES RELEASING CONTACT: RANA MATTHES

DISTRIBUTOR: SONY PICTURES RELEASING CONTACT: RANA MATTHES

Tokunaga finds himself still far from fame when he meets Kamiya, a senior comedian.

Tokunaga asks to be Kamiya’s disciple, which he agrees to under one condition: He must write his biography. From that day on, Tokunaga writes down everything about his interactions with his mentor.

* EXCLUDING CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA, US

DISTRIBUTOR: ENCORE INFLIGHT CONTACT: EDWIN CHEUNG * EXCLUDING JAPAN

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

146 146

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2018 PARAMOUNT PICTURES; © 2018 OPEN ROAD FILMS; © 2017 CTMG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 CTMG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MOTION PICTURE © 2018 MYTHOLOGY ENTERTAINMENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2017 “SPARK” FILM PARTNERS

IN THE

WE are a team of industry veterans, IFE production experts and creatives who have come together to form an exceptional full service Lab, CSP and local creative agency.

WE are a team you can trust.

Don’t be afraid of being different, be afraid of being the same as everyone else.

w: westent.com

|

t: +1 (949) 577-9760

|

e: info@westent.com

The Summit

W

Thoroughbreds

Director: Santiago Mitre Cast: Ricardo Darin, Dolores Fonzi, Érica Rivas, Elena Anaya

Director: Cory Finley Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Cooke

Argentine president Hernán Blanco must come to terms with two issues that could change the course of his public and private lives forever: one regarding a complicated emotional situation with his daughter, and the other, the most important political decision of his career.

Two teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart.

In the process, they learn that neither is what she seems to be, and that a murder might solve both of their problems.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENCORE INFLIGHT CONTACT: EDWIN CHEUNG

DISTRIBUTOR: NBCUNIVERSAL CONTACT: CYNTHIA KLAR

Tomb Raider

Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Kristin Scott Thomas The search for the truth about her father’s death has Lara Croft traveling to his last known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island. Armed with only her sharp mind and inherently stubborn spirit, if she survives the perilous adventure, it could earn her the title “Tomb Raider.”

DISTRIBUTOR: WARNER BROS. CONTACT: JEFF CRAWFORD

* EXCLUDING NORTH AMERICA, LATIN AMERICA, FRANCE AND SPAIN

*

W

Tully

Director: Jason Reitman Cast: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant to the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully.

DISTRIBUTOR: NBCUNIVERSAL CONTACT: CYNTHIA KLAR

I

What They Had

Director: Elizabeth Chomko Cast: Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Josh Lucas, Blythe Danner, Robert Forster, Taissa Farmiga

Bridget returns home to Chicago at her brother’s urging to deal with her mother’s Alzheimer’s and her father’s reluctance to let go of their life together.

DISTRIBUTOR: JAGUAR DISTRIBUTION CONTACT: FRANCE CAPOR

* US, CANADA, CARIBBEAN, CHINA (EXCLUDING HONG KONG, MACAU AND TAIWAN), ITALY, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE, SPAIN, UK

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

148 148

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: ©DIEGO ARAYA C, PABLOFRANCO; © CLAIRE FOLGER / FOCUS FEATURES; © 2018 WARNER BROS. ENT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © KIMBERLY FRENCH / FOCUS FEATURES; © 2017 BLOOM MEDIA

W

BOUTIQUE CSP CONTENT MANAGEMENT WORLD CINEMA DISTRIBUTION AUDIO AND VIDEO SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Imagination takes flight! www.skyline-ife.com richard.barsby@skyline-ife.com +441449711011

The Post

W

A Wrinkle in Time

W

Winchester

Directors: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig Cast: Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, Sarah Snook, Angus Sampson

After the sudden death of her family, firearms heiress Sarah Winchester becomes convinced she’s haunted by the souls of those killed by guns. When a skeptical psychiatrist visits her mansion to evaluate her state of mind, he discovers her obsession may not be so far-fetched after all.

DISTRIBUTOR: ENTERTAINMENT IN MOTION CONTACT: LYNDA HARRISS

In this epic adventure based on Madeleine L’Engle’s timeless classic A Wrinkle in Time, which travels across dimensions of time and space, one girl’s transformative journey, led by three celestial guides, uncovers that strength comes from embracing one’s individuality.

DISTRIBUTOR: DISNEY STUDIOS NON-THEATRICAL CONTACT: MELINDA MEYER-GILMORE * EXCLUDING CHINA

* EXCLUDING US AND CARIBBEAN BASIN

W

Youth

W

Director: Feng Xiaogang Cast: Huang Xuan, Miao Miao, Zhong Chuxi, Yang Caiyu He Xiaoping, Liu Feng and Lin Dingding are members of an army theater group.

When Feng makes an unwelcomed advance on Dingding, he’s expelled from the group. Under the pressures of the Cultural Revolution, the youngsters struggle with relationships and their complicated lives.

Zombies

W

Director: Paul Hoen Cast: Meg Donnelly, Milo Manheim, Trevor Tordjman, Kylee Russell, Carla Jeffery As Seabrook students struggle to coexist with those from Zombietown, an unlikely friendship between a cheerleader and a zombie unites their community for good.

DISTRIBUTOR: DISNEY STUDIOS NON-THEATRICAL CONTACT: MELINDA MEYER-GILMORE

Zoo

Director: Colin McIvor Cast: Toby Jones, Penelope Wilton, Art Parkinson Based on a true story, 12-year-old Tom and his misfit friends fight to save Buster the baby elephant during the air raids on Belfast in 1941.

DISTRIBUTOR: PENNY BLACK MEDIA CONTACT: CATHIE TROTTA

DISTRIBUTOR: EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT CONTACT: GIGI LEE * EXCLUDING CHINA

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS CODES

150 150

experience | V8 E2 | 3 APEX.AERO volume 7, edition

N: NORTH AMERICA

I: OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA

W: WORLDWIDE

PHOTOS: © 2018 DIAMOND PICTURES LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; © 2018 DISNEY ENTERPRISES; COURTESY OF EMPHASIS VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT; © 2018 DISNEY; COURTESY OF PENNY BLACK MEDIA

Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peňa

7 8x x50’ 60’

• • • • •

w www.bbcworldwidesales.com w w.bbcworldwidesales.com Email: outofhome.sales@bbc.com Please visit the BBC Worldwide Stand at the Apex Multimedia Market in Paris 23-24 April 2018

Apex 1-2 Hor.indd 1

JULIA CARNEIRO, BRAZIL

2018-02-21 9:31 AM

KATTY KAY, US

ROS ATKINS, BELGIUM

With journalists in more countries, we break stories from more places than any other international news broadcaster. bbc.com/worldnews To find out more: visit our stand at the APEX Multimedia Market in Paris (April 23-24, 2018) or contact Zina Neophytou, VP Out of Home, BBC Worldwide, zina.neophytou@bbc.com

LYSE DOUCET, SYRIA

DIGITAL POTD

#APEXPOTD Want to land your photos in print or in the APEX Daily Experience newsletter? Share your aviation snapshots on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #APEXPOTD for a chance to be featured.

Get your daily dose of planespotter pictures and top PaxEx headlines: APEX.AERO/NEWSLETTER

@mp_aerobatics Under the rainbow

@speedbirdhd World tails

@spotter.pablo Under the gaze of the controllers @bos.planespotting A LATAM Airbus A320 at the gate

@th_aji_baruno In black and white

@mg_aviationphotography Flying over the Lauberhorn ski races in the Swiss Alps

@visitwestfjords ร safjรถrรฐur Airport has been described as the most scenic and challenging airport to land at.

Instagram @theapexassoc

@luke16597 A quick de-icing at Edinburgh

@gabeuribe When blue skies turn pink

Twitter @theapexassoc APEX.AERO | V8 E2 |

experience

153

THROWBACK

The year was 1993. The European Union had just been established, the liberalization of the European air transport market was underway, and globally the airline industry was bracing for another year in the red, with $600 million in losses anticipated by the International Air Transport Association.

To keep airplane seats filled, legacy carriers had to adapt, and in Lufthansa’s case, the challenge was taken quite literally.

The airline’s idea, adaptable seats, was brought to Recaro Aircraft Seating. “The development specification was for a seat that could be converted from an economyclass seat into a business-class seat by flight attendants – in no more than a few seconds

and without requiring any tools,” recalls Mark Hiller, the company’s chief executive officer. Engineers quickly turned around a concept of the Recaro 7410 Convertible Seat (CVS) for the Paris Air Show that was met with interest and an order to equip Lufthansa’s entire continental fleet. The seating system was later showcased at the Asian Aerospace conference in 1996, the same year the 10,000th seat was installed on Lufthansa’s fleet.

Production required some adaptation on Recaro’s part, too. The flexible seating system looks like a normal bank of three economy-class seats, but in a few maneuvers, the two middle armrests are

Convertible Seating Imagine if a bank of three economy seats could transform into two larger seats with extra elbow room. That’s exactly what Recaro created.

BY KATIE SEHL

154

experience

| V8 E2 | APEX.AERO

pushed toward the center, creating two large seats with a little extra space between them. Kinematic mechanics allowed for the seamless transformation, but also presented new challenges on the assembly line, which the company barely had time to work out before its first shipment to Lufthansa.

“All our employees at the time pulled together and committed to several special shifts so that just one day before the deadline, 2,760 CVS seats were ready to go,” Hiller says. Following the expansion of its production facilities for Lufthansa’s order, Recaro put roughly 80 employees on the job of assembling 120 CVS seats a day, hitting that 10,000-unit milestone by May 1996, and eventually producing 19,000 units.

“Today, the 7410 CVS is still an inspiration for our engineers to think outside the box,” Hiller says. An orange model of the seat sits on display on the showroom floor at Recaro’s headquarters in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, as a testament to adaptability.

Perhaps the model influenced the team that, in partnership with Airbus, developed the 2017 Crystal Cabin Award-winning Flex Seat concept, which incorporates foldable seats into a reconfigurable cabin.

PHOTO: RECARO ILLUSTRATION: MARCELO CÁCERES

The Recaro 7410 Convertible Seat, circa 1993.

Panasonic Avionics Corporation

RE-IMAGINED RE-DESIGNED RE-BUILT Come find out what NEXT can do for you at AIX 2018.

Booth #4A10

© 2018 Panasonic Avionics Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 19381085