Airliner World – May 2018

http://www.airlinerworld.com 27

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.