Airliner World – May 2018

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News Review • AIX Hamburg


Category Winner Product
Inflight Entertainment and
Connectivity (IFEC) Bluebox Aviation Systems

An IFE platform with on-board enter-
tainment for the visually impaired.

Cabin Concepts

PriestmanGoode (in partnership
with Qatar Airways and Rockwell
Collins)

Qatar Airways Qsuite business
class cabin.

Cabin Systems Rockwell Collins

Silhouette MOVE, an innovative
partition wall between business and
economy class cabins.
Greener Cabin, Health, Safety
and Environment Villinger LiteHeat, a heated floor panel.

Material and Components Airbus and Altran

Printed electrics, replacing
traditional cable harnesses for
cabin electronics.
Passenger Comfort Hardware Rockwell Collins Valkyrie Bed, a seat/bed offering for premium business class.
University Cranfield University E-tom Smart water tap concept.

Visionary Concepts Renacen (in partnership with Emirates)

3D Seat Map VR, which offers
passengers a virtual 360-degree
view of the cabin during booking.

area, where MiniMe-Labs showed off
its Flying Plaza portable Wi-Fi media
server. Weighing less than 15.4lb (7kg),
the battery-powered server offers a
private onboard network that detects
smartphones, tablets or laptops as they
are switched on. Once logged into the
system, passengers will have the ability
to order food and drink, access movies
and games, or shop for items to be
delivered on board and/or directly
to their homes, as well as having an
onboard upgrade option.
Franco-Italian turboprop manufacturer
ATR revealed Afrijet of Gabon as the
launch customer of Cabinstream, a
new wireless IFE solution developed by
Phitek. Another simple IFE box solution
that can be retrofitted, it enables
passengers to access a variety of
multimedia content on their personal
devices. The system is now an option
on all new ATRs and will be installed on
the African carrier’s examples by the
end of the year.
Another low-fare airline adding
connectivity services was Citilink
Indonesia, which signed a memoran-
dum of understanding with Inmarsat,
Mahata Aero Teknologi (MAT),
Lufthansa Systems and Lufthansa
Technik, to provide inflight broadband
for the airline’s fleet of A320 Family
aircraft. The four technology compa-
nies are expected to work together to
provide Citilink with a Bring Your Own
Device (BYOD) connectivity offering,
powered by Inmarsat’s GX Aviation
inflight broadband service.


Cabin Systems
Major deals at this year’s AIX extended
to cabin systems and STG Aerospace,
which was chosen by Icelandair to
design, develop and patent a new
saf-Tsign – complete with a switchable
Wi-Fi sign – to replace the carrier’s
existing overhead Passenger Service
Units.
The British company also announced
its selection to supply its photolumi-
nescent emergency floor path marking
system for Alaska Airlines’ Boeing and
Airbus fleets. STG’s saf-Tglo SSUL
photoluminescent emergency escape


path marking system will be installed
on 116 aircraft across its retrofitted and
new 737-700, MAX 9 and A320 Family
fleets – making it one of the largest
multi-platform programmes ever
awarded to STG.

Crystal Cabin Winners
The 12th Crystal Cabin Awards were
presented in Hamburg on April 10 as
part of the AIX trade fair.
The awards, organised by Hamburg
Aviation (an association of companies,
research institutions, educational
institutions based in the city) offer the
only international recognition for
excellence in aircraft interior innova-
tion. This year, the panel of 25 judges


  • of which Airliner World has proudly
    been a member since its inception –
    assessed a record 91 entries spanning
    eight different categories (see table).


Record Breaker
AIX Hamburg hailed this year’s show
as its biggest yet, citing the more than
14,000 visitors, 600 exhibiting
companies and 1,200 VIPs from over
260 airlines around the globe that
attended the event.
Exhibition director Polly Magraw
remarked: “Every year we see more
and more demand from passengers
for seamless connectivity and greater
expectations placed on all the players
that make up the travel experience.
As a result, we have seen some truly
ground-breaking innovations at AIX
this week.
“I’d like to thank all of our exhibiting
companies, VIP airline attendees and
visitors for helping to continue to make
AIX the world-renowned event for the
aircraft interiors sector. With the
aircraft interiors industry innovating
rapidly, we look forward to bringing you
all of the latest updates at the 20th AIX
next year.”
The 2019 edition of AIX will return to the
Hamburg Messe from April 2-4 where
it will be co-located with World Travel
Catering and Onboard Services Expo
(WTCE) and Passenger Technology
Solutions (PTS).
(All photos Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018)

Zodiac Aerospace has
partnered with Airbus
to offer lower-deck
sleeping modules for
the A330 and A350.

Manufacturers
showcased a wide
variety of technology
and innovation.

Peach has contracted
Recaro to provide
seating for 14 Airbus
A320ceo/neos.
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