In-Flight Entertainment Advances Provide Boost to Airlines

25.08.2023 - 13:18 / skift.com / Hawaiian Airlines / Rashaad Jorden

Airlines have been working to improve in-flight entertainment options for years, with Skift Research stating in a 2014 report that it was an important factor for airlines to compete.

How are airlines looking to beef up the options they provide? And what else can be expected from a sector that’s expected to grow from being worth close to $6 billion in 2022 to roughly $14.5 billion by 2033?

Here’s a look at some recent advances that have helped airlines increase in-flight entertainment options for travelers.

Major airlines have looked in recent years to take advantage of the booming streaming industry, which is expected to be worth $330 billion by 2030. In addition, 85% of U.S. percent of households have at least one video streaming subscription.

JetBlue Airways, which has already had streaming partnerships with Showtime and Amazon, announced last December that Peacock would be its official streaming partner starting later this summer. Mariya Stoyanova, JetBlue’s Director of Product Development, said travelers with a Peacock account will be able to stream all of the platform’s content from their own devices during flights. Stoyanova added that Peacock subscribers will have access to its entire catalog without having to buy Wi-Fi since JetBlue doesn’t charge for it onboard its flights. In addition, passengers without an existing Peacock account would be able to sign up inflight with Fly-Fi.

American Airlines has taken similar steps. The company offers the use of an Apple Music subscription to stream inflight without the purchase of Wi-Fi. Passengers without a subscription can also obtain a two-month free trial that can be accessed inflight.

But while Southwest Airlines, which has partnered with iHeart Radio since 2018, is open to teaming up with more services, United Airlines has opted to take a different approach.

“We don’t have a partnership in that space,” said Mark Muren, the company’s managing director of identity, product and loyalty. “But we think we’ve got something far better than that. We think we’ve got an opportunity for every single person on an airplane to pick their content on demand.”

Airlines’ efforts to improve in-flight entertainment options have gotten a major assist from improvements in aircraft designs. Hawaiian Airlines is installing new in-flight entertainment systems on its Boeing 787-9, which will start flying in the first quarter of 2024. The company’s 787 premium cabin will have 18-inch in-flight entertainment screens while the main cabin will offer 12-inch seatback monitors.

Meanwhile, United has unveiled plans to introduce the Astrova in-flight entertainment system with Panasonic’s 4K OLED TVs on its new Airbus A321XLRs and Boeing 787s starting in 2025. Why Astrova?