This guest post is written by Toms Purgailis, who is a student from Riga, Latvia interested in all modes of transport and synergies between transport and land use. He runs blog www.rigmobility.blogspot.com about transport and planning issues in the Baltic states.
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This post is inspired by Shashank’s Can the Apple iPad revolutionize the way airlines do business? and aims to take a step further. I want to share my ideas how to benefit from passenger’s devices and their content, save weight and cash.

A big part of travelers bring their laptops and smart-phones with them on-board for ground activities but use airline’s provided in-flight entertainment system (IFE) to kill the time during flight. No-brainer that such a system is not the most effective as hundreds of gadgets just lay somewhere in bags during the flight.

A simple (and very effective) solution would be to provide absolutely none entertainment system and push the costumers to use their own pre-loaded media. This makes no headache for airline and involves absolutely all media players onboard – from mp3 players to high-power laptops. But let’s see how efficient IFE system we can build by connecting the gadgets.

IFE Display – Bring Your Own

Looking from hardware’s perspective – the doubling of devices (private and airline’s offered) must be eliminated. Installing wireless intranet can give an easy access to onboard server for part of the passengers’ devices. The array of personal screens and kilometers of wiring than could be dropped and the precious kilograms – saved. Airlines then could rent appropriate portable devices to those who don’t have any and get some additional revenue. Connection to the Internet is optional but – once installed – can actually substitute the onboard media server if provided speed is high enough to watch movies online. A problem for laptop use is low batteries that can cut the movie in the most exciting moment but – if the airline is willing to invest in the aircrafts – power sockets would fix the problem.

Sharing the Multimedia

Passengers’ devices most probably contain gigabytes of legally and illegally obtained media, but how to make it accessible to everyone onboard? Copying using flash drives is one solution – slow and limited but makes people socializing and more important – is absolutely untraceable and usually considered as legal. More advanced and convenient system can be built sending the data trough the wireless connection but right now it is tricky to bring it within legal frames. I see that direct sending of files to specific users (like an e-mail) can replace copying from flash drives and could be considered more or less legal. If the concept of passenger-provided content works, two goals will be reached – the media costs will be cut and content will be more current. Airline can make the system more stable and predictable by uploading some less dynamic media which is accessible for everyone onboard regardless of the offers from other travelers.

IFE systems – especially the personal seatback ones – so far have been considered as a matter of prestige for some airlines and most likely won’t be dumped. This make the concept of wireless based and costumer powered IFE more suitable to LCC, particularly the long-haul ones.

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In fact, there’s been ample debate already, with the queen of in-flight entertainment (IFE), Mary Kirby, concluding that it’s a fad, even as the CIO of JetStar, Stephen Tame was quoted as saying that the iPad “may lead in the future the end of airline in-flight entertainment systems”.

Why does the iPad matter for airlines?

It matters because no longer are mobile devices limited to small screens only centimeters wide, with the iPad. Combine that with the advent of in-flight wifi and we’re talking business.

I’m not talking about every passenger carrying on-board an iPad. That’s probably not possible. At least not very soon, and not across nations. What I’m suggesting is that it might be a good idea for airlines that do not have personal in-flight entertainment systems installed, to consider buying iPads to rent them out to the passengers.

iPad re-defining in-flight entertainment – both for legacy and budget airlines

Imagine sitting in the middle seat of a Boeing 747 for 11 hours from Los Angeles to London, with no personal IFE? Sounds archaic right? But a lot of leading airlines like KLM, Iberia, American and United still do not have personal IFE and I do not foresee them equipping their planes with one, until the new planes arrive. Which is still some years away. Offering the iPad option in these flights can be a competitive advantage for  legacy airlines.

For budget airlines around the world, most of which have a new narrow-body fleet, which is not equipped with IFE. These stand to benefit the most from the iPad. Just buy some, and start renting them out!

Airlines that do this have the potential of skipping a generation of IFE systems, and do away with the installation, wiring and maintainence of these systems. Think about the cost savings from less fuel-burn due to the lack of “installed weight” carried during each take-off and landing. That in itself can amount to millions per year in savings, per plane!

How to keep content fresh for iPad IFEs? Think ancillary!

I know one of the key aspects of IFE is having fresh content. And most airlines with a good IFE system update their content at least once a month now. How does that happen for the iPad?

For starters, I personally think that by the time an airline starts offering iPads to its customers, it would already have its planes wifi-equipped. And then, airlines can offer syndicated content on the iPads over wifi. If this seems to cumbersome, or if it slows down how about allowing passengers to pre-book pen-drives with the latest content? May be they can even customize the content. So when they board the plane, they’re given an iPad along with the pen-drive with their customized content. And all this can drive revenue too.

Budget airlines can have offers to rent the iPad + wifi + power outlet, or iPad + Content on pen-drive, or the whole package. This can range anywhere from $19 for short haul flights, to $49 for long-haul. Legacy carriers can include some of these as freebies for frequent fliers and Premium travelers, and charge for the rest. Makes sense, right?

iPad for check-in!

Another good use for the iPad is for check-in! How about doing away with all the e-check-in kiosks and just having iPads plugged into power outlets, for checking-in passengers? May be roving “queue-busters” can personally approach passengers lining up with iPads, to speed up the process. This is something similar to what Indigo Airlines already does.

If this sounds too far-fetched, then how about just the fact that with the iPad, more passengers will be able to use a mobile boarding pass, and not a paper one.  This is something major airlines like Continental and Lufthansa already do, so the barrier to adoption is reduced.

iPad for the pilots and ground staff

Lastly, another use for the iPads in airlines is behind-the-scenes. As the Tweet from Pluna’s GM below shows, thick manuals can be eliminated from the cockpit and replaced with iPads. This is especially true for airlines that don’t already use e-flightbag in their cockpits. Again, a leap ahead of time. And even the ground-staff can be equipped with iPads, from check-in counters to boarding gates. Eliminating the need for fixed kiosks.

How to get started? (and get a promotion)

Work for an airline? Now that you know of some ideas on how the iPad can help airlines, why don’t you use these to go get a promotion? I’m serious!

If you’re an Apple-lover working for an airline, how about putting a 4 page business plan together, entitled, “How the iPad can help our airline save $XMn and make $Xx Mn, per day!” Just split all the cost-side and the revenue-side aspects discussed above and put some numbers behind them, and present it to you boss and senior management.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds. For example, for the cost-side, figure out how much fuel it takes per additional ton of weight, per flight. Then multiply that by the approximate additional weight of IFE systems and wiring, which can be removed if the iPads come into play. And that’s your cost saving per plane, per take-off and landing. Multiply that by the number of rotations the plane does per day, and wallah – you have your magical number!

If you’re the first to present this plan to your airline, and it gets adopted, don’t you think you’ll be promoted to lead the project? Or at least play a strong role in it?

In conclusion, I don’t think iPad will replace IFE, or kill IFE, but be a strong complement, with a number of airlines just going iPad-only. Frankly, I can’t wait to board the first iPad-ified airline. It will not only be a competitive advantage, but it’ll also be something that makes+saves money, and make that airline the coolest brand in the world.

What do you think? Is the iPad a fad? Or does it have any real potential to challenge traditional IFEs? Let’s here it in the comments and on Twitter (@simpliflying)

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Flying is fun this summer!

Asiana Airlines, out of South Korea, is going to offer a very different in-flight experience to its passengers this summer. The in-flight crew on 52 flights will be dressed up as pirates and serve passengers colorful exotic drinks.

There will be eight different teams, providing in-flight entertainment with a difference. These teams will perform magic tricks, tell the future using Tarrot cards, draw passengers’ caricatures and even conduct an on-board fashion show with traditional costumes from popular holiday destinations.

But my favorite is that interested passengers can even “exeprience the life of a flight attendant”. I’m sure that’s going to be popular. Children will get a special treatment too. They’ll enjoy everything from face paint to origami sessions!

The in-flight experience differentiator

When I designed the 6X airline branding model, the basic tenet behind “Brand eXperience” was the fact that airlines, unlike most other brands, have a unique advantage of holding their target audience captive for two to twenty-two hours! My brand interaction with a Coke can is five minutes. With Starbucks coffee is about 30 mins.

And this presents a unique opportunity for the airline to impress the customer and treat him like a VIP. Few airlines have leveraged on this, namely Singapore Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Volaris Mexico. Fortunately, Asiana has stepped into this club, by enhancing the in-flight experience, even if for the summer.

My gut-feeling is that this effort by the airline will be a roaring success, and they will retain all, if not most, of these special in-flight activities. So much more fun than staring into the galley, when you’re done watching movies on the small screen. The next thing Asiana should be thinking about how to get all these efforts viewable to millions online!

There couldn’t have been a better testimony of the fact that an airline brand is what it does, not what it says it does.

So, what do you think about Asiana’s initiative? Isn’t it a refreshing effort? Why aren’t other airlines doing something like this? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

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