APEX Editor's Blog

These days it seems as if more and more airlines are opting to offer a 31in seat pitch in the economy class cabins of their long-haul aircraft (or perhaps worse still, ultra-skinny seat width). But don’t lump Oman Air into that bunch; the Muscat-based carrier’s Airbus A330s, which are configured 2-4-2 in economy, feature seats [...]

It’s a generally held belief that the majority of airline passengers who are exposed to inflight entertainment view the moving map at some point during their flight, making it the most popular show in the air. “Evidence [shows] that passengers get a great deal of comfort out of knowing where they are,” Airborne Interactive CEO [...]

Companies that provide wireless and handheld IFE solutions and are looking to branch out and become content providers were visible at this week’s APEX TV Market conference, ALL3MEDIA International observed during the Lisbon event. The conference “was well attended”, says Kelly Shek, sales executive at ALL3MEDIA, an independent television programme distributor, but there was “a [...]

As more and more people grow accustomed to gaining their information, news, and pop-culture from strictly digital sources, DTI Software’s eReader for embedded and portable inflight entertainment systems has gained traction in the market. The eReader is currently available with 12 airlines, but this number is expected to double by 2014, DTI Software president Patrick [...]

Wireless inflight entertainment systems brought a rupture to IFE hardware suppliers and are now jolting IFE content service providers, but the future affect on CSPs is unclear and debated by the industry. Global Eagle last November announced a deal to acquire Row 44 and Advanced Inflight Alliance (AIA), creating a company that sells both IFEC [...]

Mobile and inflight connectivity supplier OnAir is targeting the second half of 2013 to debut “OnAir Play”, a new content product that gives passengers access to the latest news and sports. Company CEO Ian Dawkins says “you bring up the video in a package” onto an onboard server and its distributed through a wireless network [...]

While talk of pulling the plug on Big Bird made headlines the world over during the bruising 2012 presidential election campaign, the big yellow chap lived to fly another day. And with the announcement that Montreal-based Skeye Inflight Entertainment and Ensemble Media Limited have entered into a licensing agreement with Sesame Workshop, Big Bird and [...]

UK Presenter Jonathan Ross first coined the term “Asian Invasion” in 2006 when he used it as the title for his hugely popular BBC series on modern Asian cinema. Since then, the term has taken on a life of its own and been used to define several wildly different cinematic movements throughout the region. In [...]

Paramout believes its movie, “Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away” is a perfect choice for inflight audiences. I interviewed VP Non Theatrical Sales Mark Horton to find out what inflight audiences can expect, and to get Paramount’s thoughts on bringing 3D movies to passengers, and wireless streaming to passengers’ own devices. 1) Canadian entertainment company Cirque [...]

Airlines have long considered arming their cabin crews with tablet computing platforms to deliver both operational benefits and improved customer service. Now technology is “starting to catch up with the idea”, notes Allegiant Systems CEO Andrew Kemmetmueller. Indeed, one need look no further than Emirates or American Airlines – and their distribution to flight attendants [...]