Following the World Aviation Festival and with the APEX event ahead next week, Inflight’s Kimberley Young provides a summary of the latest happenings across the IFEC and cabin technology sector.
This week saw the Inflight team in London for the World Aviation Festival, the first event of a busy season of conferences and exhibitions.
Panellists at Aviation Festival explored how the expectations of the passenger journey are changing, and how airlines and suppliers can best meet those demands and provide a top customer experience.
A report by SITA, released this week, found that by 2025, 68% of all passengers will be digital travellers, expecting to manage their travel in the same way they manage most of their day-to-day lives – with their mobile phones.
As these demographic shifts continue, SITA found that 83% of airport and airline IT leaders surveyed believe this will be the most important influence on their passenger solutions strategy by 2025.
Following this mobile-focus, easyJet was crowned the winner of the World Aviation Festival’s ‘Battle of the Apps’. The airline’s app already features a ‘Look&Book’ search tool with Instagram, and an augmented reality scanner to check cabin bag sizes. During the event however, easyJet revealed the latest feature on its app: ‘Speak Now’ to enable customers to search for flights using voice recognition technology, aiming to make the booking process easier and more accessible.
Personalisation, innovations in in-flight entertainment and connectivity as well as meeting the demands of the digital and tech-savvy traveller all formed the discussions in London. But as the sun sets on World Aviation Festival in London, the Inflight team is preparing to jet off to Los Angeles for the APEX/IFSA/AIX Expo event.
We’re looking forward to a conference exploring the latest ideas and technologies for enhancing passenger experience and improving operations, and the Crystal Cabin Awards are set to be a glittering showcase of some of the top innovations in the sector this year.
As with previous years, Inflight will be producing our daily e-newsletters covering key themes and discussions from the conference, as well as the latest announcements, launches and deals from the show floor.
Don’t forget to pop by our booth (1423) to pick up the latest issue of Inflight magazine. We’re looking forward to catching up with new and familiar faces, so do get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting or have some news to share!
And finally, all that is left is to wish you safe travels and see you in LA!
Image: SITA
Image inset: Inflight’s stand at AIX 2019 in Hamburg
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