Honing the Strategy: Western Hemisphere Airlines Powwow on Future of Connectivity
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Airlines from across North and South America gathered at the Americas AIRCOM and E-Aircraft conference in Miami earlier this week for strategic meetings on the future of holistic airplane connectivity.
The focus at the annual SITA OnAir event was specifically on flight messaging, flight tracking, crew digitization, connected aircraft, next gen flight operations – plus the future of connectivity for passenger experience. Executives from APEX, Cobham, FlightAware, SATCOM, Schneider Electric and SITA OnAir presented over the two-day event. Topics included nose-to-tail connectivity solutions for the passenger, cabin crew, cockpit crew, aircraft, flight operations and air traffic control, encompassed by SITA OnAir.
“A highlight was seeing new technology for the aircraft and how I can implement it on my airline.” €” Axel Vaillant, AerolÃneas Argentinas
“A highlight was seeing new technology for the aircraft and how I can implement it on my airline. It was the first year that passenger connectivity was discussed,” AerolÃneas Argentinas project manager, Axel Vaillant stated. “It is very interesting to learn about the different opportunities [in] in-flight Wi-Fi for passengers and crew.”
Agenda topics included passenger engagement at 30,000 feet, satellite solutions to enable digital transformation and connecting profitability from the future of individualized in-flight passenger experience.
“I was particularly interested in the new mailbox and flight tracker demo with multi-source position reports, as well as the integrated weather overlays,” said Jim Falen, senior flight operations engineer of Alaska Airlines. “It is interesting to learn that many airlines are moving to the AIRCOM cloud. I would like to know the pro/con from their view,” Falen remarked on APEX CEO Joe Leader’s specific presentation, saying, it “seemed spot-on to generate new revenue.”