APEX in Profile: Dave Davis
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Dave Davis
Chief Executive Officer
Global Eagle Entertainment
Named Global Eagle Entertainment’s chief executive officer in July 2014, Dave brings over 20 years of business and financial management experience to GEE. Prior to joining, Dave held senior management roles in private equity companies, played a lead role in Northwest Airlines’ merger with Delta Air Lines in 2008, and served as chief financial officer of Kraton Polymers and US Airways.
Fast Facts
Location: LAX
Frequent flight: LAX-MSP
Now watching: The Walking Dead
Now reading: Zero to One, Peter Thiel
The future of flight will be: Connected
Favorite Airport: DXB
Favorite Aircraft: B777
Recline or no recline: No recline
Seatback or PED? Both
Brand of suitcase: Tumi
Passport stamp you wish you had: Sydney, Australia
Something that never ceases to amaze you in your industry?
I think what never ceases to amaze me about the industry is the speed at which it’s moving right now. Particularly on the connectivity side – the new technologies, airlines adopting different methods of providing entertainment, providing connectivity to their passengers – I think we’re in sort of a golden era of the enhancement of the passenger experience.
What can the airline industry learn from the entertainment industry?
That customer satisfaction should be the number one objective. In the entertainment business, things don’t become popular unless consumers like them because there’s so much to choose from. Airlines in the past have had to deal with a lot of struggles. It’s a very difficult industry, and sometimes it’s difficult to maintain that focus on the customer. But it’s important, particularly in today’s world of consolidated airlines, to stay focused on customer satisfaction.
What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?
I don’t know if the best word is “overlooked” or “underserved,” but it’s really about providing passengers with a more seamless travel experience; both before they get on a plane and before they get to the airport; as well as after they land and get to wherever they’re going. I think it’s providing a really connected, stress-free, data-rich environment that the passenger can move through easily from home to destination.
You’ve been instrumental in successful mergers and acquisitions. Do you think consolidation is important for the airline industry?
I think consolidation in the airline industry itself, among airlines, is undoubtedly a good thing. I mean, I’ve spent a lot of my career in the aviation business, and I was there through the Northwest-Delta merger. I think the benefits of consolidation in this business are very, very clear.
I think there’s also benefits to consolidation in the passenger experience and in-flight entertainment business as well. The better resourced individual suppliers are, the more they can invest in new products, new services and service airlines, which is difficult to do when the industry is more fragmented.
How do you see in-flight entertainment evolving over the coming years? What will be the key drivers?
I think it’s going to get better and better. There are several key drivers. One is the availability of less expensive ways of providing in-flight entertainment – meaning it’s going to proliferate on more aircraft types, particularly more narrow-bodies where you wouldn’t have had the same sort of IFE offering in the past. Streaming video, connectivity – things like that – are maybe less expensive than a full suite of seatback systems, and they are going to allow more and more airlines to install some form of in-flight entertainment.
The other thing I think that’s happening is the increased capacity and increased performance of newer seatback IFE systems to allow for dramatic increases in the amount of content that can be stored on board and the amount of content that passengers can access. I think those are important trends that you’re going to see continue to play out.
Are there any on-the-ground trends in particular that you see influencing in-flight entertainment, such as cord-cutting or on-demand culture?
I think as consumers on the ground become more and more accustomed to being able to view programming on their personal devices when they want and how they want, that just naturally extends to the aircraft environment as well. So those trends that are playing out on the ground are equally present in the air.
I also think that providing integrated offerings, that is, both content as well as a way to distribute that content, is a trend you’re going to see continue – like the merger of AT&T and DirecTV, or some of the acquisitions that Comcast has made, which is why we’ve been so focused on creating a seamless package of content and a way to distribute that content either through seatback systems or through connectivity.
What are the key advantages to being able to provide an integrated offering?
First of all, to make everything work together seamlessly for the airline and for the passenger – instead of trying to integrate a bunch of different systems together – is one thing. Being able to provide airlines with a consistent look, feel and product – is another. When you’re trying to pull together different elements from different suppliers, it can be a challenge that the airline itself has to manage. When it’s housed under one roof, the airline can simply buy it from one business that’s already done all the integration work.
How does your experience in the airline industry inform your vision for Global Eagle Entertainment?
I think what it really allows me to do is look at things, not only the way passengers do, or the way traditional communications companies do, but it has really informed me on how airlines do things. What are airlines looking for when they buy products? What are the product attributes that are important to airlines? How important is after-market support to airlines? Having spent the majority of my career in the airline business, I think I have a somewhat unique view, and I try to bring that to the products and services that we offer here.
The next career milestone you’d like to tackle?
To be honest with you, when I start doing something, I try to stay as focused as possible, and my focus right now is just to make Global Eagle Entertainment as successful as possible. That’s what I’m focused on doing right now.
Your top three films of all time?
The Godfather, The Big Lebowski, and a movie called Heat staring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro from the 1990s.