SKYdeals Launches In-Flight Shoppertainment Trial With Air France

March 18, 2019  | Written by Stephanie Taylor

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The convergence of e-commerce and content was recently discussed at APEX Asia, and if the launch of SKYdeals’ “in-flight shoppertainment” platform on board Air France is anything to go by, it’s a trend which is set to continue being explored by the airline industry.

SKYdeals has officially launched its “in-flight shoppertainment platform” with Air France as part of a trial period due to last at least six months. The platform can be accessed free of charge through Air France Connect, the carrier’s in-flight connectivity (IFC) portal, and allows brands to provide exclusive dynamic commercial offers to passengers in flight.

The platform has been available since January 10 on board long-haul Air France flights, equipped with in-flight connectivity, departing from Charles de Gaulle Airport to 84 destinations spanning Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, North America and South America. It also launched on IFC-equipped medium-haul flights to Europe and North Africa on February 1.

According to SKYdeals CEO Julien Sivan, passengers from Asia and the US are the biggest users of the platform thus far, especially on flights to and from the US, China and Japan, which he attributes to many of them having already been exposed to in-flight Wi-Fi. Although the market is less mature in Europe, Sivan says, the number of passengers using the service is “growing every day.”

“With the arrival of Wi-Fi on the majority of fleets worldwide, we hope to be able to reach an audience of more than 200 million passengers a year within five years.” – Julien Sivan, SKYdeals CEO

Throughout April and May, SKYdeals is to launch several flash sales and flyover offers. While flash sales will be valid for just 15 minutes at specific times during flights, flyover offers will be triggered according to the region or country being flown over. Other potential features of SKYdeals’ platform are real-time auctions that last for the duration of a flight; and group buying offers, wherein passengers can club together to achieve more advantageous prices or deals.

SKYdeals was the recipient of the 2019 “Newcomer of the Year” APEX award at the 2018 APEX EXPO in Boston.

“We are pleased that Air France is giving SKYdeals the opportunity to deploy our new in-flight shoppertainment services,” commented Sivan. “With the arrival of Wi-Fi on the majority of fleets worldwide, we hope to be able to reach an audience of more than 200 million passengers a year within five years.”

SKYdeals is hoping to announce another airline customer at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.