American Tests Portable Entertainment System
September 29, 2004
A new option for air travelers in North America may soon be a USD$10-$12 portable entertainment system stocked with movies, music videos and online news.

American Airlines said on Wednesday it will begin testing in November the renting of portable entertainment systems in a bid to increase revenue and provide a bit more service to customers traveling on the world's largest airline.

The portable entertainment systems have been talked about for some time by major US carriers, and tested on a minor scale by some smaller airlines. Even Southwest Airlines, the only consistently profitable major carrier, has floated the idea of renting entertainment systems.

"Our customers want to be entertained during our flights," said Mary McKee, the managing director of in-flight products for American. "This will also be an additional revenue opportunity for American."

During the 12 week test, customers traveling in coach (economy) in markets such as on Chicago to West Coast routes, Dallas to Seattle and New York to San Diego, would be given the option of renting a small device with a 9 inch (22.6 cm) screen once they are onboard.

The devices will be provided free in first class.

The entertainment systems will contain about 12 recently released movies, 24 music videos, TV programming, excerpts from audio books, games and digital newspapers. A customer will swipe a credit card to activate the device, which weighs about 3 pounds (1.4 kgs) and can sit on a tray table.

The systems will be digitally encrypted so that, if a customer walks off the plane with one of the devices, they will not be able to remove content from the machine's hard drive.

Cash-strapped airlines have reduced their costs by cutting services, such as providing free newspapers and meals, in aircraft. Carriers are opposed to adding costly new services, such as updating their planes by installing entertainment systems in the seats.

McKee said the industry will be watching the test of portable entertainment systems on American flights. If things go well with the entertainment systems, she thinks other carriers will likely follow suit.

"It's relatively easy to deploy and it's economical to deploy," McKee said.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/09/1096493726.html

It's interesting that AA is getting all the media attention on this. It's not really that new an idea...


Jetsgo to offer in-flight entertainment

digEplayer(TM) provides up to 20 latest release movies for passengers

MONTREAL, May 26 /CNW/ - Jetsgo is bringing a unique, in-flight personal entertainment product to Canadian air travelers, further enhancing the Jetsgo customer experience. The digEplayer(TM) is the world's first completely self-contained, portable video on demand entertainment unit preprogrammed with over 20 movies, as well as television shows, cartoons, videos and music choices. It is being provided in partnership with APS of Tacoma, Wash.

Jetsgo will initially make the units available on flights of three hours in length or longer. This includes routes from Toronto to Victoria, Vancouver, Abbotsford, Edmonton, Calgary, St. John's, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Florida. Passengers will be able to rent a digEplayer(TM) for $10.

"Jetsgo is proud to once again be an innovator in the Canadian airline industry," said Michel Leblanc, president of Jetsgo. "Customers can choose from a wide range of movies, TV shows or music to entertain themselves on longer flights."

Forty digEplayers(TM) will be available on each plane, and they will be in service in July. Jetsgo has an exclusivity agreement with APS for Canadian airlines.

"The digEplayer(TM) is perfect for airlines like Jetsgo and their fleet of MD-83s and Fokker 100s," said Bill Boyer, chairman and founder of APS. "We are excited to have Jetsgo as the first airline in Canada to acquire our system and we look forward to its passengers using our technology and dynamic content for many years."

Content will be refreshed every 60 days, giving even the most frequent flyers enough programming variety to meet their needs. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox currently have content provision agreements with APS, and additional studios are to be announced. Films in both English and French are made available one month ahead of store rentals. Initial titles available include Troy, Master and Commander, Friends, and The Simpsons.

Each APS digEplayer(TM) VOD unit is about the same weight and size of a typical portable DVD player. Units contain a 40-gigabyte hard drive and utilize the latest technology licensed from e.Digital Corp (O/S and engineering), DivX (compression) and DRM (security).

Canada NewsWire - May 26th, 2004

Thanks for the article CD. It is odd considering it obviously has been done before.

Dagger passed this article on to me.


Korean Air Introduces New In-flight DVD

LOS ANGELES, CA (March 12, 2003) -- Korean Air has introduced DVD (Digital Video Disk) for the first time to first and business class passengers in an effort to enhance the quality of in-flight entertainment services.

Effective March 8, in-flight DVD services were available for passengers traveling between London and Sydney and Korean Air's Incheon hub. These services will be expanded to Washington, D.C., Rome, New Zealand and Los Angeles routes April 1.

The DVD services are different from current individual entertainment systems in that separate portable DVD players are provided to each passenger instead of using monitors that are already attached to each seat. Passengers can choose from a wide selection of movies and enjoy high-quality video and sound. These new services are tailored to the needs of passengers as they allow each individual the autonomy to set his or her own starting time.

Korean Air is launching the DVD services in response to the rising demand from passengers for enhanced in-flight entertainment services. Korean Air also plans to further enhance the level of in-flight entertainment service quality by introducing other home entertainment systems such as IVS and VOD.

The portable in-flight DVD players are produced by Samsung Electronics. Korean Air expects this to be a good opportunity for Samsung to promote its new product to the international community.

Korean Air, with a fleet of 119 aircraft, is one of the world's top 20 airlines and operates almost 400 flights per day to 84 cities in 28 countries. Korean Air is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global alliance - partnering AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Delta Air Lines. More on Korean Air's programs, routes, frequency and partners, is available at http://www.koreanair.com]www.koreanair.com.

http://www.koreanair.com/local/na/eng/gd/ak/pr/pr_DVD.htm

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