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1st November 2012

Dear readers,
 
This week American Airlines announced it has postponed, until 31 January 2013, the inaugural flight of its first Boeing 777-300ER due to "production issues" with its first class suite supplier, Zodiac. The carrier says it is working with Zodiac to ensure that that the product "reflects the inflight experience that our customers expect" from American, before placing the much anticipated aircraft into revenue service between Dallas and Sao Paulo.
 
Whilst American has not detailed the specific issues impacting seat production - and we shan't speculate about the whys and wherefores until speaking directly with the parties - I think it's important to remember that airlines regularly encounter 11th hour challenges when introducing new, highly customized business- and first-class seats.
 
These sorts of things are normally caught during the First Article Inspection that airlines conduct with seat suppliers prior to seat installation on the aircraft. "Typically anywhere up to 50/100 snags are found by the airline for such things as gaps, seals, colour, trim finish, loose articles etc," notes one aircraft cabin expert. "For instance, there are often issues with the shape/curvature of complex trim panels and if they don't fit snugly to the underlying seat structure then they can overcome the strength of the Velcro or glue and work loose."
 
Sometimes a seat supplier must hold multiple First Article Inspections with an airline before getting anywhere close to solving quality issues or satiating these discerning customers. And sometimes, even after an aircraft has been delivered, problems are detected and must be remedied.
 
For example, when Lufthansa inaugurated Boeing 747-8 service between Frankfurt and Washington DC, some passengers - including myself - observed that the leather glued onto the composite of the new B/E Aerospace business-class seats was pulling away. Even though the problem was an aesthetic one, you can fully understand why Lufthansa was eager to remedy the issue and ensure that passengers do not perceive its premium seats to be low quality or shabby. "The inner shell lining is attached to the composite shell by an adhesive. There were some issues with the adhesive due to humidity and temperature differences. Only a few seats were affected. This issue was minor and is solved," says Lufthansa.
 
In this week's APEX NewsDigest we look at how another airline, Qatar Airways, is grappling with the delay of its Boeing 787 service due in part to the fact that the carrier had to place the aircraft into post-delivery mod for inflight connectivity in Victorville, California because Boeing does not offer connectivity as a factory-fit option....yet. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker tells us, however, that Boeing has agreed to install connectivity on its 787s "from aircraft 11 onward".
 
Also, be sure to check out our story about how GuestLogix intends to monetise IFE to the tune of billions of dollars - we've got details from CEO Brett Proud that you won't find anywhere else. We also queried travellers to find out about the little things that make a big difference in the passenger experience. One self-described "beleaguered coach traveller" says she appreciates when international airlines keep announcements short, which is probably a good note for me to end this letter on.
 
In the coming days, I'll be rolling out exclusive stories sourced on the show floor of the NBAA show in Orlando. As ever, please feel free to send news, views and feedback to my email address below.    

 

King regards,

 

Mary Kirby

 

Editor-in-Chief - APEX Media Platform

editor@apex.aero

 

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AMP

Inflight Internet equipage is reason why Qatar Airways Boeing 787 isn't yet in service: CEO Al Baker

WASHINGTON DC: Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker came to Washington DC with a message - his airline raises the passenger experience bar and other carriers continue to follow.

 

The airline was launched in 1995, with two aircraft and a handful of destinations, recalled Al Baker. "I was brought in back in 1997 to relaunch the airline with a very clear mandate - create a carrier that serves the needs of the state of Qatar and, at the same time, create an airline that was the best."

 

The carrier's first Boeing 787 arrives on November 12 and another four will be delivered before the end of 2012. 

 

"Qatar Airways is not only buying aircraft, but is concentrating on giving the highest comfort levels for passengers in all classes," says Al Baker. 

 

"We're giving passengers unparalleled amenities and Boeing 787 that we will operate will be the most luxurious airliner of its type that will be flying."

 

Recaro-made economy class seats are on the 787, though they will ultimately need to altered so that the armrests can retract flush against the seat. 

 

"Boeing had a catalogue and you can't order outside the catalogue. But Qatar has very high standards and very high demands. Aircraft manufacturers have to oblige and understand what customers want. They can't just give us a catalogue and say 'this is what we can give - take it or leave it.'"

 

Qatar's 787 will have onboard Internet. "That is what passengers want and this is why the aircraft isn't in service yet. We took delivery of the aircraft and now it's in Victorville, California, with Boeing installing inflight connectivity," says Al Baker. "The first 10 aircraft will be done in Victorville. And from aircraft 11 onward, it will be done on line."

(continue reading ...)

Gogo

Ancillary revenue. These two words are on the tips of the tongues of virtually every airline manager in the world.

 

US carriers alone collected more than $1.7 billion in baggage fees for the first half of the year. It has been suggested that many would not have survived the recession had they not unbundled their products.

 

Now airlines are looking at other ways to generate fresh ancillary revenue streams. Enter inflight entertainment.

 

According to recent figures revealed by GuestLogix, there are 901,456 screens in the world fleet (forward looking into year 2013), and some 470,644 of these have a swipe feature/credit card reader. GuestLogix bases this assessment on a combination of industry intelligence as well as its own proprietary aggregated

(from its onboard retail technology platform).

 

Significantly, GuestLogix estimates the revenue opportunity for a comprehensive and fully integrated self-service retail program across all carriers with an existing embedded solution is ~$8.6 billion. This figure does not take into the account the revenue potential of other IFE solutions, such as streaming video and portable solutions. 

(continue reading ...)

WOI

Allegiant eyes iPads to support buy-on-board programme

US ultra-low-cost carrier Allegiant Air is looking at using Apple iPads to support its buy-on-board programme, company management has revealed.

 

During an earnings conference call to discuss Allegiant Travel's 39th consecutive profitable quarter, chairman and CEO Maury Gallagher said the main intent of the company's newly formed joint venture, Allegiant Systems or "G4 Systems", is "to create automation software services for inside the cabin to begin with.

 

"We think [that] some of the most backward places on technology are inside an airplane cabin, be it the cockpit or the main cabin, and so we're working on things such as using iPads for buy-on-board, much more modern stuff and we want to bring in some people who had a better ability to market and sell this stuff to third-party than us. While we'll be a customer of the company, we primarily want to work on developing that."

(continue reading ...)

Intelsat

VIDEO: Could this super skinny antenna find its way to commercial aircraft?

Common rationale suggests that bigger inflight connectivity antennas mean better performance, which might help explain why Connexion by Boeing's bulky MELCO antenna - an engineering masterpiece in its own right - is still widely used by Lufthansa, despite Connexion's 2006 demise (well, that and the fact that antenna replacement costs are steep).

 

Today, the physical footprints of new-design Ku-band and Ka-band antennas are still quite sizeable. Yet a number of companies are keen to challenge the status quo. Qest, for instance, has said it is developing a low height, single-panel antenna design for Ku that can be operated globally including equatorial flight routes.

 

In the Ka-band space, a company called Kymeta is on a mission to develop a new class of flat, very thin and low power "all-electronic" antenna products for a variety of mobile satellite applications, including Aero. According to Forbes, Kymeta recently closed a $12 million funding round that includes Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

 

"If you think about that [traditional radome] hump on the back of the airplane it occupies a large surface area, but the bit doing the work - the aperture - is a small area. The nice thing about our technology is that it is basically a panel [think of it as a tile]. So we can use all of that surface area as aperture, whilst delivering much higher bandwidth and throughput," claims Kymeta founder and business development advisor Russell Hannigan.

(continue reading ...)
EMTEQ

apex editor's Blog   

IMS

The little things make a big difference in the airline passenger experience

 

 

Airlines tend to focus on the big-ticket items when it comes to passenger experience: new seats, new planes, new uniforms, new branding, and new liveries.

 

But sometimes, it's the little things that make a flight enjoyable rather than boring, comfortable rather than painful - and customers notice them.

 

Things like the seat-back coat hooks on every Finnair plane, which mean that winter passengers can hang their coat instead of having to take up valuable overhead bin space or wedge it wetly underneath their feet.

Jaguar

JetBlue and United drop hints about ancillary revenue plans for inflight Wi-Fi

 

US carriers JetBlue Airways and United Airlines are slowly leaking clues of their respective approaches to generating ancillary revenue with inflight connectivity.

 

Both carriers appear to be leaning towards a hybrid strategy of offering passengers complimentary access for some content, and an upsell to a more premium level of Internet browsing.

 

JetBlue CEO Dave Barger told analysts during the carrier's recent third quarter earnings call that "as we begin rolling out inflight broadband, customers will enjoy free baseline connectivity with the option to upgrade to a paid premium service".

 

The carrier is working with subsidiary LiveTV and ViaSat to offer passengers Ka-band satellite-supported high-speed inflight Internet beginning in the first quarter of 2013, which is slip from an original target date of year-end 2012. 

 

JetBlue has previously stated that connectivity will be free of charge to passengers until the first 30 aircraft are equipped. 

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