What We're Made Of

Back in March, as airlines started to announce one by one that they were withdrawing non-essential services, cutting routes and grounding fleets, there was looming uncertainty about the future of air travel. Airlines have led the headlines, but vendors – many of them APEX members – have also been deeply impacted.

Despite possibly feeling worried, stressed or beat, the people who equip aircraft with in-flight entertainment and connectivity, maintain aircraft parts and interiors, and provide in-flight meals and services continue to keep the lights on to support their customers. Here’s what some of you who responded to our call to share a slice of your pandemic-adapted life had to say about carrying on in a global crisis.

By Caroline Ku

HOW ARE YOU COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR TEAM?

I have never been a big supporter of working from home. I prefer real interaction with people. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how we’ve all managed to stay in touch and how well our internal processes are being followed. Some of our teams are even sharing online lunches together.

Erdmann Rauer, LSG Group, Düsseldorf

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS?

In Singapore, it has been pretty good. However, as a content service provider, we may not be considered as part of the aviation sector since we are dealing mostly with media and content. The subsidies rolled out by the government are putting a lot of focus on aviation sector companies like airlines and ground handlers.

Ong Yong Beng, Images in Motion Singapore

Governmental responses have been remarkably inconsistent. Our hope is that actions would be taken to create a level playing field worldwide. Instead, we have some countries being incredibly proactive for aviation and its supply chain while others are lumping airlines and their suppliers into different buckets.

Dr. Joe Leader, APEX/IFSA Atlanta

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOUR BUSINESS HAS FACED AS A RESULT OF THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK?

Our biggest issue has been to change our product for the new context. The fast COVID-19 spread has meant we are predicting a very different future compared to 90 days ago. There’s very little data of what the world will be like, yet we have had to find it and change our algorithms to predict the future more accurately.

Steve King, Black Swan Data London

Airlines around the world have been hit hard by travel restrictions and are announcing cost-cutting measures including for in-flight entertainment. On the other hand, there has been active interest in COVID-19-specific audio. Comedy and well-being content have picked up as various service providers seek suitable programming to help balance grim news with lighter offerings for their customers.

Larissa Abid, BBC World Service London

Given the crisis that our airline customers are going through, it is key for us to show solidarity and flexibility through our actions. We agreed to put the announcements of some of our new airline partnerships on hold. Our strong assets, culture of transparent customer relationships and infrastructure for facilitating customer support all contribute to working through the current lockdown.

Jimmy M. von Korff, Immfly Barcelona

WHAT INNOVATION OR POSITIVE CHANGES HAS THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT?

We’ve been busy working to create new products that will improve passenger and crew comfort. Maintaining a continuous product supply and coming up with sustainable innovations are still at the core of our business. We strive to have new products and concepts ready to be introduced as soon as we see an uptake in flights again.

Cindy Lam, Clip Hong Kong

The crisis has been an opportunity to address and implement digital processes more quickly. In the long term, customer experience will benefit from these developments. Airlines, airports and tour operators have been required to develop new approaches to adapt to changed customer demands and new health concerns in order to bring back customer confidence and to be successfully prepared for the future.

Tanja Langer, Lufthansa Systems Frankfurt

CAN YOU DESCRIBE ANY NEW WORKING PROCEDURES THAT YOU WILL IMPLEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE?

We will come back to our offices slowly. Desks and workspaces will be rearranged to allow for social distancing. A lot of the Linstol employees have school-age children that will be utilizing e-learning. We will convert one of our boardrooms to allow parents to bring their children into the office and establish a “classroom” to enable those without childcare to still be able to work.

Mark Russell, Linstol Naples, Florida

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR COMPANY SIX MONTHS OR ONE YEAR FROM NOW?

We are questioning everything at the strategic level to ensure we can hit the market in the right way when it does come back. It is difficult to say in what shape or form air travel will return but the world needs international airlines.

Niall McBain, SpafaxLondon

The big unknown at this stage is how long the current restrictions will last. The longer this goes on, the more airlines will run out of liquidity leading to bankruptcies, nationalization or consolidation causing a huge change in the industry landscape. All that being said, we most certainly expect there to be major changes to the global fleet with many older aircraft retired early and orders altered or delayed. Airlines will also reorganize internally, which could see departmental silos broken down and connected aircraft strategies given renewed focus as a means to drive much-needed operational efficiencies

Craig Foster, Valour Consultancy, Colsterworth, England

HOW CAN WE AS AN INDUSTRY WORK TOGETHER AND REBOUND FROM THIS UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS?

Our company first looked at how to support airlines and content service providers logistically and financially. If they needed to keep encoded files longer to save money, we gave them a free rollover. If they needed a content refresh, we gave them free content. No cookie-cutter solution would work for all clients. It is crucial to help our clients by providing logistically and financially sound options.

Edwin Cheung, Encore Inflight, Hong Kong

Right now, many small- and medium-sized companies are pulling together, dreaming of new ways to work and innovate. It won’t be about profit; it will be about finding new ideas and insights into new consumer behaviors and solutions. Add to that the climate change revolution, which was in full momentum before the virus. Mankind couldn’t have devised a better way to experiment with the eco-warrior’s “what-if” scenario. World change and approach to life are going to have a massive impact on every industry.

Melinda Darbyshire, tangerine London

As we all work to navigate our industry back into health, now is the time to strategize on ways to come back better and more profitable. Content remains king as seen with our data analytics engine West DnA. Therefore, working in a more transparent manner with Hollywood and all distributors, through tools like WE by West, gives more direct access and flexibility to content availability and budgets, which could have a very positive impact.

Rick Warren, West Entertainment Orange County, California

WHAT’S ONE THING THAT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN FOR COMMERCIAL AVIATION?

Prior to the coronavirus, cleaning and sanitization of aircraft was not highly regarded by airlines. Now it is a leading item on everyone’s agenda.

Kelvin Boyette, Latitude Aero, Greensboro, North Carolina

I don’t think airlines will continue distributing print copies of in-flight magazines because post-coronavirus, passengers will be reluctant to touch them, fearing infection. This crisis will accelerate the switch to digital press, offered through a BYOD in-flight entertainment solution.

Laurent Safar, Adaptive Channel Marseille

From an IFE perspective, we should be looking at more affordable solutions that deliver content to personal electronic devices, which are single-userbased and therefore more sanitary.

Juraj Siska, IdeaNova Technologies, Naperville, Illinois

I’d say that we’re not likely to see a return of printed newspapers and magazines. Most definitely not in the same quantities as before. The focus will be on passengers using personal electronic devices.

Nikolay Malyarov, PressReader Vancouver, British Columbia

Crises of this scale do tend to leave their calling card. If the last 10 years have been about security, the next 10 will be about hygiene. The avoidance of human contact (with anything!) will be paramount throughout the travel experience.

Anthony Harcup , Teague, Seattle

I think business travel will struggle to get back to where it was in the Western world as this lockdown has shown that many meetings can be conducted virtually without having to fly halfway around the world. Face-to-face engagement is incredibly important and should never be jettisoned, but I think people will have to do far more to justify the time out of the office now, which will inevitably lead to less trips. On the plus side for FTE and APEX, I think industry events, where you can meet and build relationships with hundreds of people in one trip, will become even more essential and valued.

Dan Coleman, Future Travel Experience Surrey, England