- Airlines are moving beyond traditional seatback screens by adopting Extended Reality (XR) technologies like AR and MR to enhance in-flight entertainment and generate new revenue streams.
- Early trials by airlines such as Hainan Airlines and Lufthansa show growing momentum for XR-based IFE, while VR-based systems have taken a backseat in recent years.
Photo Credit – Lufthansa.
Airlines are constantly searching for ways to improve and enhance the in-flight experience on their aircraft. Seatback screens today are dramatically improved, offering very high resolution and intuitive touchscreen interfaces coupled with high-fidelity sound and in-flight wi-fi. However, airlines and aircraft OEMs are always in the quest for more, and it is here that the use of Extended Reality (XR), including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) devices has been gaining traction. The use of these devices is an innovative approach to providing passenger entertainment solutions that enhance the customer experience and also allow the airline to generate ancillary revenue by offering additional services.
It now appears, however, that the use of AR/XR devices is the preferred way forward for airline IFE compared to VR. VR requires the creation of completely artificial worlds, unlike AR, which makes use of smartphone apps and the phone camera to overlay digitally rendered, 3D objects over the real world for a more immersive experience. At the present moment, however, it appears that Indian carriers remain focused on seatback screens and are pushing towards in-flight wi-fi. However, many global airlines are pursuing AR/XR alternatives to transform their IFE experience.
First Mover
It was in February, this year that the Chinese carrier, Hainan Airlines launched the world’s first AR flight experience. It partnered with the Chinese firm Rokid to provide special glasses to passengers, which offered them an immersive entertainment experience to enjoy 3D films with a 360-inch borderless screen, 1080P resolution, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Rokid had conducted extensive device testing and selected five suitable films for use on its AR Entertainment Kits, which were pre-loaded with the 3D offline movies.
Hainan Airlines flights conducted over 20 flights trialling the AR devices. “This partnership marks a significant advancement in transforming the traditional in-flight entertainment landscape, offering passengers an immersive journey like never before. As technology continues to reshape air travel, the future holds promises of more personalised and diverse experiences for flyers,” a company spokesperson said.
Rokid’s AR Glasses weigh only 75g and offer a battery life of up to 5 hours. Designed for comfort, the AR glasses offer sufficient battery life for passengers to watch three movies in one go. The AR Glasses are equipped with dual directional speakers, delivering high-quality sound without disturbing passengers nearby. ‘Looking ahead, with the continuous improvement of infrastructure such as 5G networks and cloud computing, Rokid plans to expand the application of its AR technology in flights, including real-time interactive games and virtual tours,’ the spokesperson added.
Upgraded Experience
In June 2024, Lufthansa announced that as part of a pilot programme and a partnership with Meta, the Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Suite will be equipped with Meta Quest 3 on selected flights. This is the first time an airline has offered access to mixed reality headsets and content in a commercial in-flight environment. The mixed reality headsets will allow passengers to experience a variety of special content in the Business Class Suite. ‘Entertainment, travel, wellness, games and many other interesting contents have been designed for Lufthansa Allegris and the Meta Quest 3,’ the airline stated.
Meta’s latest headset, the Quest 3, ‘is a wireless device that blurs the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds to create a unique experience,’ says Meta. The Quest 3 will provide customers with an immersive cinema experience with selected films and TV shows, travel podcasts brought to life through spatial videos and selected 360-degree videos.
Safran Passenger Innovations also announced in May 2024, that its award-winning RAVE In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system would support XR including AR, VR and MR devices. “At Safran Passenger Innovations, we are always excited to be able to embrace new technologies and integrate them as a part of the overall entertainment and engagement experience, giving passengers the ultimate choice about how they interact with IFE on board, whether through the seat back screen or spatially through an XR headset,” Ben Asmar, Safran Passenger Innovations’ Vice President of Products and Strategy.
Passengers can interact and navigate the RAVE IFE system and watch all onboard IFE content using the XR devices, offering an immersive cinematic IFE experience that can be made available in all cabin classes. Safran Passenger Innovations has also said that it is updating its user interfaces to accommodate seamless navigation with many XR devices. The innovative solution will be available on aircraft with RAVE Seat Centric IFE as well as aircraft with only RAVE Wireless IFE, allowing airlines to offer a differentiated passenger experience across the board on all fleet types.
VR Takes a Backseat
The firm Inflight VR had undertaken significant work in the VR domain for airline IFE in 2019, but things appear to have slowed down since then. However, the use of VR in IFE has provided much-needed information on the benefits of using such devices. The Spanish carrier, Iberia, was one of the first carriers to trial VR devices on its flights, starting services in February 2019. Iberia was looking for innovative products and services to enhance the passenger experience it could offer and differentiate itself in a highly competitive market, with the possibility to scale up quickly.
Iberia partnered with Inflight VR, and for a six-month trial period, VR devices were made available to passengers on the two daily Madrid-New York flights that Iberia then operated with Airbus A350-900s and on the daily Madrid-Tel Aviv flight in an Airbus A330-200. Inflight VR provided up to 21 devices per aircraft.
At the time, second-generation Pico VR devices were made available for rent for a small fee both in business as well as in economy class during flights, allowing passengers to experience three-dimensional content in games, films, city travelogues, and documentaries, including dives into the depths of the Red Sea. “Initial feedback showed a very high customer satisfaction rate and an equally high rating on usability for the passengers. Usage time was also consistently high with some passengers using the device for up to 5 hours,” Inflight VR stated.
Inflight VR also partnered with the Turkish airline SunExpress in 2019, providing 15 devices on flights departing from Antalya, Turkey, to holiday destinations throughout Europe. SunExpress offered the devices to passengers to try the device for five minutes before charging €8 for use throughout the rest of the flight. As per Inflight VR, passengers responded to the solution extremely well, on some flights at a 100% take rate and extremely high satisfaction. The average usage time per guest was over 76 minutes. 83% of the passengers rated the VR devices as easy to use, even though they had mostly no prior experience with VR. 75% felt the solution provided good value for money. Importantly, according to the company, several passengers used the service on both inbound and outbound flights, indicating a high retention.
Qatar Airways had also trialled Inflight VR’s VR entertainment system in 2020, when it launched a pilot programme, that ran from mid-February until mid-March that year. The VR devices were made available to Qsuite and Business Class travellers travelling on select flights from Doha to Singapore and London.
Future View
Today’s passengers have never had it so good when it comes to the in-flight experience. The emergence of high-resolution screens, high-fidelity audio and intuitive user interfaces have transformed IFE. However, airlines are looking for more ways to monetize their IFE offerings, and it is here that XR will likely emerge as the choice for delivering more interactive entertainment options to passengers. There is also the benefit of such devices becoming cheaper to induct fleetwide, as their costs have dropped significantly as compared to previous generation products due to hardware and software not only becoming cheaper but also more powerful, thereby unlocking more capability. The emergence of ultra-high bandwidth and extremely low-latency networks will also aid the growth of the next generation of XR services in IFE, offering an interactive experience that will be unmatched.
