News
Airlines ink major deals at interiors exhibition
April 7th 2017
Airlines from the Asia-Pacific signed major deals at this week’s Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg.
AirAsia X and Inmarsat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to equip its A330s and A320s with GX Aviation connectivity. The first A330 should be upgraded in the fourth quarter, following successful certification. Read More »
AirAsia X does not have inflight entertainment and connectivity on its 30 A330s. Ppassengers can access the Air Asia Group’s ROKKI entertainment platform through offline tablets available for rent. On its A320s, AirAsia has rolled out Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband connectivity on more than 40 aircraft. Passengers on the aircraft can access ROKKI content and connectivity from their own devices.
Virgin Australia has opted for satellite connectivity from Chicago-based broadband specialist, Gogo.
The technology provider will commence installation of its dual-antenna 2Ku technology on Virgin’s 73 B737-800s this month, followed by six A330-200s and two B777-300ERs.
In Hamburg, Panasonic Avionics Corp. unveiled an inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) platform called NEXT. The upgraded technology will be launched on the B777X series.
NEXT is an IFE, connectivity and consumer technology platform, which supports new technologies including 4K screens, Light ID and Bluetooth. In conjunction with Panasonic’s other products, NEXT will offer up to 250 megabytes per second of connectivity.
Embraer selected Panasonic Avionics IFE and connectivity for the E-Jets E2, the second generation of E-Jets family of commercial aircraft.
At Airbus it was announced that Airbus Interiors Services, structured from the former Airbus Corporate Jet Centre in Toulouse, is in the business of commercial aircraft cabin upgrade work. It also has launched an extension of its Customer Definition Centre (CDC) in Hamburg, where it will expand its A350 interiors modelling to the A330 and A320 series.
Airbus has presented several A380 cabin improvements in Hamburg aimed at reducing wasted space and increasing the aircraft’s seat count. The OEM has developed a ‘new forward stairs’ option for the very large aircraft that will add 20 seats to the cabin.
Other options are new aft-galley stair module, which potentially creates room for 14 more passengers and two trolleys, and removal of the upper deck sidewall storage compartments to accommodate ten extra business class seats.
Also in Hamburg, Shenzhen Airlines ordered 8,000 CL5710 business and BL3530 economy seats from Recaro. They will be installed off-factory on the carrier’s 37 B737 MAXs and retrofitted on 14 of its in-service A320s.
