The first airplane with AERQ‘s in-seat entertainment system is now installed and ready to fly. Discover Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, added the AERENA embedded IFE platform on one of its A320 aircraft through a collaboration and innovation partnership between AERQ, Discover Airlines and Lufthansa Group Innovation Runway.
We are very excited that AERENA now takes off and an airline as well as passengers get to experience what our platform has to offer.
– Arnd Kikker, Co-Managing Director at AERQ
The system is installed on D-AIUQ, an A320 designated for medium-haul flights at Discover. Prior to its removal from service for the installation and certification the plane mostly served sunny island destinations from Germany. The companies expect it to return to service, with the IFE kit active, starting with the airline’s 2024 summer-time schedule as of 29th of March. As part of the announcement AERQ notes that EASA issued the necessary STC permitting the install of the systems on board.
AERQ’s AERENA is the first completely new IFE system to be installed by an airline in more than a decade, and it faces significant challenges from the incumbent players in the space. But the company, a joint venture between LG Electronics and Lufthansa Technik, believes it has built a better mousetrap, so to speak. AERENA is an open platform that promises smart data capturing and analytics, combined with rapid content and design updates to enable airlines to better serve passenger needs.
Speaking to the deployment, Maximilian Meintgens, Director Product & Marketing at Discover Airlines explains, “Our goal is to test the system in everyday life and understand how to further improve and personalize the travel experience through feedback and usage behavior from our guests.” The benefits of the testing will, of course, benefit Discover Airlines and AERQ. But Meintgens also suggests they “will make an important contribution to the further development of the inflight entertainment experience for the entire Lufthansa Group.”
That personalization and testing, for Discover Airlines, will allow the carrier and passengers alike to take advantage of AERQ’s open platform and partners, to sample a range of digital solutions. These include access to the onboard catering menu, as well as various third party applications covering ground transfers, tour bookings, and more. These incremental ancillary revenue opportunities have long been seen as a winning play for airlines, but few have shown commercial success with them to date.
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Stefan says
Is this also going to be Android based like other IFE screens I have seen?