Lufthansa - Flying Lab

Lufthansa - Flying Lab

To celebrate its new service from Frankfurt to San Jose, the gateway to the Silicon Valley, Lufthansa treated passengers and select press to an immersive experience. Taking place at 10,000 metres above the ground the Lufthansa FlyingLab gave guests the chance to try out new technology, hear presentations and talks from specially invited guest speakers and network with each other.

Passengers boarding the FlyingLab in Frankfurt were first of all greeted with a gate party that featured funky seating, virtual reality experiences and more.Once in the air, the Flying Lab continued to surprise.

With the aid of a specially set-up inflight network to stream video content to passengers’ mobile devices, the airline executed a live onboard conference with speakers at the front of the plane, delivering real-time coverage to passengers throughout. The speakers included Natanael Sijanta, director of marketing communications at automotive giant Mercedes Benz, as well as Heiko Hebig, the head of partnerships for photo social network Instagram.

Samsung technology, including S2 Tablets and Gear VR virtual reality head-sets were on board for passengers to try. Lufthansa’s aim is for the FlyingLab to be something that can be rolled out around major route launches and events.

According to Torsten Wingenter, head of digital innovation at Lufthansa, the airline is already considering running a lab around New York Fashion Week as well as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As a result, the FlyingLab website includes a call for partners, as well as technology vendors who would like to showcase their products to a plane full of social media influencers on a future flight.