APEX Experience – The Innovation Issue

airline passenger

volume 5, edition 6 | november - december 2015

The Innovation Issue One Good Idea Deserves Another | Forever Young | Patently yours The Business of Constellations | Taxi Tech | An Airliner Lands in the Valley

official publication of the airline passenger experience association

aviation While others are focused solely on the needs of your passengers, we’re focused on your entire business. We’re innovating new solutions to connect every aspect of airline operations – from passengers and crews, to maintenance teams and aircraft systems. That’s what you can expect when you partner with Gogo: the catalyst for advancing aviation.

Visit gogoair.com/connectedfleet to find out more. ©2015 Gogo LLC, all rights reserved.

A fresh look at connected

Ad Index

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Advertiser’s Directory

volume 5, edition 6 november - december 2015

Airborne Interactive www.airborne.aero > See page 87

Geven www.geven.com > See page 100

Paramount Pictures www.paramount.com > See page 2

Astronics Corporation www.astronics.com > See page 82

Global Eagle Entertainment www.globaleagleent.com > See page 56

Penny Black Media www.pennyblackmedia.com > See page 127

Astronics Armstrong Aeropace www.astronics.com > See pages 14, 61

Gogo LLC gogoair.com > See page 4

Phitek Systems Limited www.phitek.com > See page 28

BAE Systems www.baesystems.com > See page 26

GuestLogix www.guestlogix.com > See page 64

Skycast Solutions www.skycastsolutions.com > See page 17

Bluebox Avionics www.blueboxavionics.com > See page 9

Honeywell www.honeywell.com > See page 10

Skyline IFE Limited www.skyline-ife.com > See page 77

Bose Corporation www.bose.com > See page 71

Inflight Direct www.inflightdirect.com > See page 102

Sony Pictures Releasing www.sonypicturesinflight.com > See page 113

Carlisle Interconnect Technologies www.carlisleit.com > See page 131

Inflight Peripherals Ltd. www.ifpl.com > See infographic, page 96

Soundchip www.soundchip.ch > See page 13

Dawson Media Direct www.dawsonmd.com > See bellyband

Inmarsat www.inmarsat.com > See page 33

Spafax www.spafax.com > See pages 6, 93

digEcor www.digecor.com > See page 19

Jaguar Distribution Corp. www.jaguardc.com > See pages 46, 110-125

Video Technology Services www.videotechnologyservices.com > See page 50

Disney Studios Non Theatrical www.ebvnt.disney.com > See page 119

KID-Systeme GmbH www.kid-systeme.com > See page 40

Warner Bros. www.warnerbros.com > See page 114

Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited www.emphasis-video.net > See page 87

Linstol www.linstol.com > See page 24

Encore Inflight Limited www.encoreinflight.com > See page 123

LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG www.lsgskychefs.com > See page 39

Eros Inflight Media Limited www.erosnow.com > See page 107

Lumexis Corporation www.lumexis.com > See page 21

General Dynamics www.gd-ots.com > See page 43

Panasonic Avionics www.panasonic.aero > See page 132

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Airline Passenger Experience Association

Bluebox Ai and Bluebox Hybrid for your early window and streamed movies Bluebox provides IFE platform solutions so simple you could call them child’s play.

pre-loaded premium Early Window Content movies and access to streamed content at a fraction of the cost of seatback.

We don’t try to reinvent the wheel (we prefer to roll with it) and our portable solutions are created exclusively for the world’s most widely used and best-loved consumer devices. iPad Air and iPad mini tablets are so perfectly intuitive and user-friendly that your passengers – from the youngest kids to the most seasoned business travellers – can pick them up in no time.

Our secure software interfaces with Hollywood approved streaming solutions to deliver a premium IFE product as content-rich as any fitted system – with all the latest movies.

Bluebox users also enjoy the same superior sound, retina display screens and superb iOS games & apps that iPad delivers on the ground, around the world.

Bluebox Hybrid is an enhanced version of the award winning Bluebox Ai application for iPad. It empowers airlines to offer

Bluebox Ai and Hybrid - the most powerful, versatile and best value IFE solutions on the market today.

Call us on +44 (0)1753 485002 or +44 (0)1383 620922 info@blueboxavionics.com blueboxavionics.com

connectivity unrestricted

Whether your plane is crossing the country or circling the globe, Honeywell makes sure you stay connected. Powered by Inmarsat Aviation’s Global Xpress network, Honeywell’s JetWave™ system provides passengers and flight crews with the kind of high-speed connectivity you would experience on the ground. With global coverage and guaranteed performance, JetWave keeps you connected — even at 30,000 feet.

To learn more about the advantages of the JetWave system, visit us online at aerospace.Honeywell.com/JetWave.

For more information, visit aerospace.Honeywell.com. © 2015 Honeywell International Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Contents

apex experience

The Innovation Issue

volume 5, edition 6 november - december 2015

Few sectors push innovation forward with the force of the aerospace industry.

Whether it’s the science behind brewing a perfect cup of coffee in flight or developing more eco-friendly technology for taxiing aircraft, there’s no aspect of the passenger experience that has escaped imaginative minds.

> Features

> IN PROFILE

41

54

One Good Idea Deserves Another

Forever Young

From black box recording devices finding their way into operating rooms to Sperry & Hutchinson Green Stamps paving the way for airline loyalty programs, this multipart feature explores the power of a good idea.

No one understands the myth of eternal youth better than an aerospace company. In our tour of Thales’ InFlyt facilities in Irvine, California, we discover how the company puts a future-forward ethos into practice, and get philosophical about the software and hardware behind in-flight entertainment and connectivity.

52 Richard Branson Founder, Virgin Group

Katie Sehl

83 Taxi Tech

illustrations: óscar chávez; Jorge de La paz; Nelson Aedo photos: virgin; Rodrigo cid

Will pushback become a thing of the past? We look at electric taxi technologies that are towing the way forward.

Howard Slutsken

Manager Onboard Experience, JetBlue Airways Corp.

74 The Business of Constellations Five years and $1.6 billion later, Inmarsat’s highly anticipated Global Xpress network, set to deliver seamless Ka-band connectivity to the Earth’s four corners, blasted its way to completion with the launch of its third satellite this August.

Sophie Woodrooffe

Airline Passenger Experience Association

62 Nicole Huang

72 Don Buchman Vice-President and General Manager, Commercial Mobility Business, ViaSat Inc.

90 An Airliner Lands in the Valley With its recent arrival in Silicon Valley, Airbus’ latest venture will shake things up in both the startup and aerospace worlds.

Jordan Yerman

80 Jennifer Arnold Senior Product Manager, Onboard Experience, IFE & Wi-Fi, Delta Air Lines

88 Isabelle Bégin Managing Director, Skeye Inflight Entertainment Inc.

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Contents

apex experience

Comfort & Ambience Entertainment & Connectivity Catering & Services

Visit us at apex.aero

volume 5, edition 6 november - december 2015

> Industry

the Pressure

Engineers have reached new heights in simulating lower-altitude air pressure in aircraft cabins.

35 All About That Face From iris to nose scanners, we look at the biometric tech that’s turning heads at airports.

Jasmin Legatos

Fergus Baird

29 Back to the Future of Airport Design

> Standbys

15 CEO’s Letter

18 Publisher’s Letter

16 Board News

20 Featured Contributors

22 EXPO in Action

34 Tear-Out Poster: The Future of Flight Will Be…

103 - 106

For this year’s global competition, Fentress Architects challenged designers to plan the airport of the future.

Shannon Tien

> APEX

APEX News

108 36 Bring Your Own/

IFSA News

With the bring-your-own device trend in full force, what else are passengers being told to bring – or leave behind?

> Listings

Leave It at Home

30 Build Something Better

Katie Sehl

In anticipation of its centennial next year, Boeing is going back to the drawing board, literally, with a paper airplane contest.

110 Movie Listings 8 Advertisers’ Index

20 14

65 Roundtable: Patently Yours

19 24 56

32 Game Immersion Transporting devices allow fans to suspend reality and extend the plots of their favorite movie, show or game a little further.

Caroline Ku 12

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Caffeine Fix

As the second most popular beverage worldwide, airlines and coffee producers aim to perfect the science of brewing on board.

Jason Kessler

42 28

22 23

12

A panel of experts discuss the key role intellectual property protection plays in the aerospace sector.

40

Maryann Simson

97 Travelogue: Remember the Fantasy

Linda Massarella

38

56

16

APEX Experience’s editor in chief shares how one flight has led to another over the course of her storied career.

Jenn Wint

60 14

130 Throwback: Concrete Arrows In the days before GPS navigation systems, US airmail pilots relied on beacon-lit arrows to fly by night.

Caroline Ku

Airline Passenger Experience Association

illustrations: Clara Prieto; Kuocheng liao; Jorge Roa; Julie Carles; Marcelo Cáceres Photos: boeing; Cristóbal Marambio; Vance Walstra; Cibola County Historical Society

27 Turning Down

serenity S1 headphones

Astonishing high definition sound performance in THREE exciting formats Serenity S1 headphones expertly balance beautiful product aesthetics with a durable design capable of meeting the gruelling demands of the cabin environment. All this, whilst providing astonishing HD-PA®-compliant sound performance, superior comfort and a suite of innovative features, including open-ear touch™.

nEW

SEREniTy S1D

ARINC type D1/2 NC jack enabled • Rich sound reproduction • Patented technology delivers unmatched noise cancelling performance from jack • Compatible with all NC jack models

SEREniTy S1C ARINC type C1/2 aircraft powered • Reference-grade sound quality • Powerful hybrid hybrid noise cancelling • Open-ear™ talk-through with touch control

SEREniTy S1H Panasonic HD Audio™ compatible • High definition digital sound stage • 3D surround sound with digital EQ • Powerful hybrid noise cancelling • Open-ear™ talk-through with touch control • Wideband VoIP calling

WWW.SEREniTyHEADPHOnES.AERO Developed by Soundchip SA, Serenity S1 headphones are manufactured under license

by Long Prosper Enterprise, Co. Ltd. Soundchip and HD-PA are registered trademarks of Soundchip SA. All rights reserved. ©2015. For further information visit www.soundchip.ch

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CEO’s Letter

apex experience

Dear Fellow APEX Members, During the past four decades, APEX has connected all elements of the in-flight passenger experience industry. We now embark upon a much more assertive approach. Our efforts will increase airline ancillary revenue, improve in-flight passenger experience, increase member sales and elevate the passenger experience industry to its highest potential.

APEX’s leadership will foster standards that increase revenues for our airlines and our industry. For in-flight entertainment, contextual passenger-experience-based advertisements have been estimated to have the potential to double industry revenue from advertising. As such, potential certification bodies operated by APEX could quicken approval of new products across our industry. While still a concept to be fleshed out, forward-thinking initiatives like this will become the new APEX norm that sets us apart from other industry groups.

APEX’s focus on airlines will lead to APEX’s creation of

“We wish you an incredible holiday season as you plan for the bountiful 2016 year ahead.” regional- and category-based Airline Passenger Experience Leadership boards. These invitation-only boards could enable leadership from the airlines to address common standardsbased issues. The category basis of full-service, low-cost carriers and ultra-low-cost carriers will allow for cross-teaching from region to region.

In addition to changes in APEX member benefits, we hope to use 2016 to refocus our member recognition initiatives. We are currently rolling out the APEX Heart Awards to highlight the unsung heroes who are making a difference on the ground and in the air. We have long recognized the broader efforts on the part of airlines and vendors, so this award will hone in on the individuals who elevate the

passenger experience with no expectations of praise. Watch for more detailed information as this program takes shape.

These steps taken by APEX are merely the beginning of the incredible initiatives I envision for 2016. As a nonprofit, all of our efforts are reinvested toward the success of our members.

We wish you an incredible holiday season as you plan for the bountiful 2016 year ahead.

I look forward to taking these exciting new steps together in the coming year.

Best regards,

> Joe Leader chief executive officer

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Board News

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Meet the Board

> Alfy Veretto president Virgin America

> Dominic Green secretary Inflight Dublin

> Linda Celestino immediate past president

> Brian Richardson vice president American Airlines

> Joan Filippini treasurer Paramount Pictures

> Joanna Boundy Qantas Airways

Etihad Airways

> Kevin Bremer Boeing

> Maura Chacko Spafax

The APEX Board of Directors is committed to keeping you, the APEX members, informed about ongoing Board work and decisions through transparency. In addition to this dedicated space in every issue of APEX Experience magazine, the Board sends e-mails after each quarterly meeting, sends direct e-mails to the membership and, at many events, hosts Ask the Board panels to receive feedback from members as well. APEX is an association for the members, by the members, which is why it’s equally important for the Board to receive year-round communications from members. Should you want to reach out to a member of the Board, a complete contact list, including e-mail addresses, is available on apex.aero.

apex asia

apex cool award

The APEX Asia event was colocated with Future Travel Experience’s Asia conference in Singapore, as approved by the Board at its September meeting.

We believe that by colocating this year, attendees benefited from more value at this popular regional event.

Congratulations to Buzz Products, the first winner of the APEX Cool Award – a fun new way to recognize innovations and ideas on show at EXPO. We look forward to continuing the program next year.

apex hearts The APEX Heart Awards program was launched following EXPO to recognize those individual heroes from each of your airlines. Watch for updates on APEX social media and within the APEX Daily Experience newsletter, and join us in thanking those who are changing the passenger experience, one passenger at a time.

asia regional leadership

> Michael Childers Lufthansa Systems

> Éric Lauzon

The newly approved Asia Regional Leadership Board will help us to expand into that crucial region of the world by guiding events and strategies on an ongoing basis.

Air Canada

seat innovation There will be a new Seat Innovation Pavilion at 2016 EXPO that will feature the latest in-seat and in-flight entertainment integrations.

up for vote Up for full membership vote this fall/ winter will be a few bylaw changes approved by the Board. We will seek your vote on the following: > Changing the current “Immediate Past President” Board position to simply “Past President” to allow for flexibility if the immediate past president is not able to serve; > Allowing flexibility for the Board to change or discount dues, such as when Board members seek to offer reduced rates for multiyear memberships; > Removing the 15-day timing restriction for Board elections so members can have more time, especially during the summer and holiday months, to cast their votes.

> Ingo Wuggetzer Airbus

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Skycast Solutions Fuels the Tablet Revolution with the Latest in Portable IFE. The most capable low cost portable IFE device is powered by Windows and flying high on Alaska Airlines.

Alaska needed a portable IFE solution that met the quickly changing demands of their customers and one that would integrate seamlessly with their connected cabin. They looked to Skycast, together with Microsoft and Toshiba, to develop a cutting edge device that packed robust capabilities along with a stunning entertainment experience.

Over 7,000 TrayVu8 devices are flying every day to rave reviews from passengers and flight attendants, alike.

Sophisticated user-interface including multi-tasking.

Seamless Wi-Fi integration with onboard server or internet connection.

Early window movies, TV, Xbox® games, music, maps, and much more.

Complete program management available.

“The user experience is awesome and so easy and intuitive. This is truly the best inflight entertainment system we have ever used.” ~ John Lisicich, Long Time Alaska Frequent Flyer Proud Partners with:

The TabCaddyTM PED holder product line provides a range of solutions for personal devices!

TabCaddy™ High Pocket

TabCaddy™ Swivel

Custom integration with seat-back.

Ultimate portable tablet holder

Support all sizes of tabs and cases securely.

Perfect for folding arm rest trays

Smooth 'one-finger' operation to change viewing angles.

Custom branding and optional changeable advertising buttons.

Frees entire tray for food and beverage.

Pivots up/down and side to side for perfect viewing angle Very low cost - no installation or equipment change needed Can be sold for ancillary revenue

skycastsolutions.com | 1-855-487-2988 © Skycast Solutions, Inc. TabCaddy™ is exclusively distributed by Skycast Solutions, Inc. Patents Pending.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Publisher’s Letter

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Pushing the Envelope At its core, aviation is an exercise in stretching boundaries, which is why it’s no surprise the idiom “push the envelope” originates from the aerospace world. And while primarily used to describe the practice of pushing aircraft beyond performance limits, we all know that pushing paper has its place in innovating our industry as well.

between our industry and the cradle of innovation that is Silicon Valley.

You’ll also hear from noted industry members on how they protect their innovations while navigating international patent laws.

We are also thrilled to have one of our industry’s ultimate innovators, Richard Branson, share his thoughts in a Q&A with our own Katie Sehl.

While on the heels of two successful conferences, APEX Asia in Singapore and APEX TEC in Newport Beach, we’re already looking forward with excitement to what the coming year will bring.

Here’s to another landmark year and a happy holiday season.

> Al St. Germain publisher

illustration: María Corte

First and foremost, we’d like to note how great it was to see so many of you at APEX EXPO in Portland. We appreciate the support of all the member companies who made our coverage possible, and a special thank you to all of you who came by to say “hello” at our booth!

It’s fitting that as we wrap up this final issue of APEX Experience for 2015, we’re already thinking about what airlines will need to be doing to compete in 2016 and beyond. And, while execution is always critical to the success of today’s flights, innovation is critical to the success of tomorrow’s.

While we tend to be wary of clichés at Experience, we certainly don’t throw innovation into that category. We have been fortunate enough to witness innovation at work, and we’re happy to feature the innovations that our member companies are making every day.

You’ll get an in-depth look at how Thales’ top minds work to turn technological trends into reality on board. You’ll learn how airlines are saving money and fuel by shifting to electric-powered taxiing. We explore the increased connections

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Contributors

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Featured

See Cristóbal’s work on page > 30 & 36

Read Maryann’s work on page > 65

See Vance’s work on page > 22

Read Linda’s work on page > 97

Cristóbal Marambio is a freelance photographer based in Santiago, Chile. If he could bring an invention on board the next time he traveled, it would be an ultralight transparent material for cabin walls that would let passengers see outside the aircraft. The last time he flew, he was impressed by the view of the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields from on high.

Maryann Simson is a Canadian aviation journalist and communications consultant who currently lives in the UK. If she could invent one thing to improve air travel, it would be a magic carry-on bag that never gets full and never weighs more than 10 pounds. She thinks Steve Jobs nailed it when he said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Vance Walstra is a freelance photographer based out of Portland, Oregon. He thinks things would be more comfortable for passengers seated three-abreast if someone would install dual armrests between the middle seat.

For him, innovation means continually improving convenience through invention – and one way to do that in the aerospace industry is to make air travel faster.

Linda Massarella is a world-traveled journalist and news veteran. She likes to travel light: No matter how long the trip, she only brings a carry-on with two mix and match outfits. If she could invent something to improve air travel, it would be a portable humidifier. The future of flight, in a word? Athenian.

volume 5, edition 6 november - december 2015

APEX Experience Magazine 575 Anton Blvd, Ste 1020 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 +1 714 363 4900 > Publisher Al St. Germain al.stgermain@spafax.com Cover illustration

by María Corte

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

> Editor in Chief Linda Massarella linda.massarella@spafax.com

> Production Director Joelle Irvine > Production Manager Felipe Batista Nunes

> Deputy Editor Katie Sehl katie.sehl@spafax.com

> Production Intern Chelsia Merlo

> Digital Editor Jessica Sammut jessica.sammut@spafax.com

> Assistant Copy Editor Deanna Dority

> Copy Writer Caroline Ku caroline.ku@spafax.com

> Fact Checkers Tara Dupuis Leah Esau

> Digital Specialist Ari Magnusson

> Proofreaders Katie Moore Robert Ronald

> Research Assistant Ella Ponomarov

ADVERTISING

> Contributors Fergus Baird, Marisa Garcia, Jason Kessler, Jasmin Legatos, Maryann Simson, Howard Slutsken, Shannon Tien, Jenn Wint, Sophie Woodrooffe, Jordan Yerman

> Sales Director Steve O’Connor steve.oconnor@spafax.com +44 207 906 2077 > Ad Production Manager Mary Shaw mary.shaw@spafax.com

ART > Art Director Nicolas Venturelli nicolas.venturelli@spafax.com

> Ad Production Coordinator Joanna Forbes joanna.forbes@spafax.com

> Graphic Designer Eva Dorsch

SPAFAX CONTENT MARKETING

> Contributors Nelson Aedo, Marcelo Cáceres, Óscar Chávez, María Corte, Jorge de la Paz, Kuo Cheng Liao, Cristóbal Marambio, Clara Prieto, Jorge Roa, Mathias Sielfeld, Gonzalo Toro

> President Raymond Girard > Senior Vice-President, Content Strategy Arjun Basu

content on the go

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Airline Passenger Experience Association

AN EYE TO THE

FUTURE LUMEXIS.COM

The Future of IFE

Social

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

EXPO in Action From the opening reception at the Hilton’s Skyline Level to the CEO Reception at Portland, Oregon’s historic Leftbank Annex, APEX EXPO attendees kept festivities lively, segueing seamlessly from show floor to dance floor.

1

2

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3

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“The APEX EXPO is really a great place to interchange ideas and network with people focused on the industry.”

8

Michael Kuehn, President Telefonix + PDT 9

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Social

apex experience

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Do you have social photos that are fit to print? E-mail submissions to

Like us on Facebook to see more social photos

> editor@apex.aero

> Facebook.com/apex.aero

1. Flavia Verano, Global Eagle Entertainment and Anna Brownell, Etihad Airways 2. Oleg Knut, Agnieszka Jacquemot and Olga Pakula, Axinom 3. Yu Han and Hong Liu, KID-Systeme 4. Bryan Rusenko, APEX Technology Committee

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“The CEO Reception was the perfect way to close four days of good meetings with the industry key players.”

5. Jens Brey, KID-Systeme; Klaus Friedrich, Airbus; Sonja Kreplin, Airbus; Ingo Wuggetzer, Airbus 6. Vishal Chhabria, Fairdeal Multimedia; Prashant Gaonkar, Eros International Media; Murtuza Kagalwala, Contentino Entertainment 7. Ellen Stroulger and Stephanie Arriaga, Global Eagle Entertainment 8. Klaus Steinmeyer, Recaro Aircraft Seating; Dennis Markert, Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems; HansJürgen Reuber, Recaro Aircraft Seating

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9. Shawn Raybell, Astronics Armstrong Aerospace, and guests at Astronics’ cocktail hour 10. Frank Blanda, Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems and Gerald Lui-Kwan, The Boeing Company

François Rodriguez, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer

11. Toby Walton, HMG Aerospace; Alexander Preston, HMG Aerospace; Paul Sims, Sims Communications; Stephanie Taylor, Inflight; Nita Wright, SES

SITA OnAir

12. Joe Leader, APEX and François Rodriguez, SITA OnAir at the CEO Reception

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13. EXPO emcee Rajan Datar, BBC World News

photos: vance Walstra

14. Amir Samnani, Steve Harvey and Rick Warren at the Awards Ceremony 15. Representatives from El Al Israel Airlines celebrate their award for Best Achievement in Passenger Experience.

16. Alfy Veretto, APEX President 15

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Follow us @theAPEXassoc

apex experience

This Issue

Welcome

Read our coverage of the launch at > apex.aero/I5-F3

photo: AFP

Watch This Space Inmarsat’s I-5 F3 blasted into space in August, the last in a trio of satellites forming the Global Xpress constellation that will bring Ka-band connectivity to commercial aircraft by the end of the year. In our feature and exclusive interview with Leo Mondale, president, Inmarsat Aviation, we delve into details of the ambitious $1.6-billion program to bring broadband worldwide. Read the story on page 74.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Follow us @theAPEXassoc

65,000

Turning Down the Pressure Cabin pressure is something many passengers don’t consider except when their ears pop on takeoff and arrival – but it’s crucial to air travel. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to fly much higher than 10,000 feet.

by Fergus Baird illustration Clara Prieto

65,000 ft Armstrong Limit: If exposed to the atmosphere, human blood would boil.

We Want to Take You Higher Aircraft are flying higher than ever before, all the while simulating lower altitudes.

50,000

45,000 43,000 ft Maximum crusing altitude for Boeing’s Dreamliner 40,000

TROPOSPHERE ENDS

37,000 ft Highest flying bird: Rüppell’s griffon vulture 35,000

35,000 ft Average cruising altitude of commercial flights

30,000 29,030 ft Mount Everest summit

26,200 ft Cruising altitude of Boeing’s Stratoliner

25,000

20,000 15,575 ft Highest city in the world: La Rinconada, Peru

15,000

15,775 ft Mont Blanc summit

10,000 ft Where people start to feel faint without pressurized air 10,000 8,000 ft Boeing’s Stratoliner cabin simulates this altitude 5,000

0

6,000 ft Boeing’s Dreamliner cabin simulates this altitude

2,715 ft Burj Khalifa

1,775 ft One World Trade Center PHOTO:

Cabin pressurization debuted in passenger airplanes shortly before World War II and is achieved as a partial byproduct of the process of jet propulsion. Cold air cycles through the jet engines where it is superheated and pressurized. The hot air is then cooled with cold air from outside the airplane before being pumped into the cabin for passengers and crew to breathe.

The internal pressure of a typical aluminum passenger airplane during long-haul flights simulates a height of 7,500-8,000 feet at maximum elevation (averaging around 35,000 feet), below the point at which the human body can no longer safely tolerate the low atmospheric pressure, but still at a level where people can experience symptoms of altitude sickness.

In a move to make air transit more pleasant, companies like Boeing are designing new airplanes that are strong enough to sustain lower cabin pressures at high elevation, without risking structural damage. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the first passenger jet airliner built from carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Thanks to the strong, lightweight polymers making up almost 50 percent of the Dreamliner’s body, the airplane is capable of sustaining higher internal pressure than aluminum aircraft at equivalent altitudes.

The Dreamliner’s cabin pressure simulates an elevation of just 6,000 feet, a 20 percent reduction over similar aircraft. This has tremendous benefits for the passenger experience. According to statistics from Boeing, just five percent of passengers struggle with “respiratory distress” in the Dreamliner, versus one in four passengers traveling in more conventional airplanes on flights of 12 hours or more.

Comfort

apex experience

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Smarter magnetic jacks for the ultimate in-flight experience.

Triangle cut-out

Square cut-out

Uninterrupted passenger entertainment >

Headphone cable pin breakage is a thing of the past.

>

Headphone plugs are automatically released when passengers pull their headphone cord with force (7N or more).

Obround cut-out

Replacement insert module

Unique design for seamless system integration >

Compatible with all headphone types due to our patented plug-type detection and switching technology.

>

Integrate with all IFE systems.

>

Available in a variety of shapes for in-arm and seat-back chassis installation.

To discover more, email info@phitek.com or visit phitek.com

Seat back display

Significant cost savings >

10x more connection cycles compared with standard aircraft audio jacks.

>

The longest-lasting jacks in the aviation industry.

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apex experience

Back to the Future of Airport Design Air travel demand is expected to double over the next 15 years, and in anticipation, architects are envisioning bigger and more passenger-friendly airports.

by Shannon Tien

Steadfast laminated wooden beams support the wing-shaped air terminal’s high ceilings, welcoming passengers into a romantic yet modern atmosphere.

Sunlight filters through the glass walls, creating a sense of openness and allowing for an unobstructed view of aircraft – including the occasional supersonic jet – taking off and landing a mere few feet away. Gone is the tedious line at the security checkpoint, replaced by a passenger sky bridge that affords even more stunning views of the runway;

security clearance is an afterthought thanks to technology that relies on biometric scans and chemical analyses.

Passengers with extra time on their hands can drop in on a brief fitness class or even have a drink on the outdoor sky deck.

This terminal is not only comfortable and efficient, it’s green: Heating, cooling and electricity are all provided by groundsource heat pumps in nearby fields.

Welcome to the airport of the future.

More specifically, this terminal is the winning design from this year’s annual Fentress Architects competition, which invited architecture students from around the world to invent a passenger terminal that might feasibly exist in 2050. A team of three students from the University of North Carolina – Jason Patterson, Michael Wengenroth and Yi-Chang Liao – took first prize for their futuristic redesign of Raleigh-Durham Airport’s Terminal 1.

Ambience

Read our interview with the winners at > apex.aero/Fentress

While many of the terminal’s technological features might only exist 35 years from now, these three winners also found inspiration in the past. “We really wanted to revive the romance of flight,” says Patterson of the terminal’s design. “At the Seattle airport, there are some old images of people standing on the runway with the plane. The idea of humans being in touch with the planes has gotten lost over the years.”

A piece of aviation history can also be found in the terminal’s distinct woodbeam structure. Patterson explains, “North Carolina is known for the Wright brothers, so we drew a lot of our inspiration for materiality from the Wright Flyer, because that was primarily made out of wood and steel and fabric.”

If the results of the 2015 Fentress Global Challenge are telling us anything, it’s that airports of the future might look uncannily familiar.

photo: FENTRESS ARCHITECTS

The outdoor sky deck of the winning airport design includes a bar and lounge, fitness class and offers a unique view of the runway.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Entertainment

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Build Something Better Combining art and ingenuity, Boeing employees set out to build the most aerodynamically engineered posters in the world.

by Jenn Wint | photos Cristóbal Marambio

On July 15, 2016, Boeing marks its centennial, celebrating 100 years of its evolution into one of the world’s largest aerospace companies. The theme of the centennial is inspired by the famous words of Bill Boeing: “Build something better.” To explore this concept, Boeing engineers have gone back to basics with paper airplanes, or the Flypaper Project.

“The Flypaper Project was born through a collaborative project between the Boeing company and our ad agency,

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FCB,” explains Marcellus Rolle, program specialist for the Boeing centennial anniversary. “The idea was to be innovative and creative; to combine art and science, reawakening the aerospace engineer in us all. We wanted to do something that could be beautiful, creative and visually appealing but at the same time have a purpose. And that’s where Flypaper began.”

Boeing aerospace engineers were challenged to rethink the traditional paper airplane in an imaginative yet functional manner. Designs combined engineering,

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Entertainment

For a closer look at Boeing’s paper airplanes, visit > Boeing-flypaper.com

“The idea was to be innovative and creative, to combine art and science.”

Marcellus Rolle Boeing science and artwork into user-friendly paper airplane instructions, complete with fold lines, demonstrating how to create a Boeing-engineered paper airplane to rival childhood models.

“We took several designs and narrowed it down to three engineers and four designs. We used those as our baseline for Flypaper,” says Rolle. “It was a great opportunity for them to step outside of their everyday job, think creatively and apply their knowledge of aerospace engineering innovation to the concept of something fundamentally simple yet incredibly complex.”

Airline Passenger Experience Association

The selected engineers, Alexandra Sonnabend, Elizabeth Benson and Mahesh Chengalva, transformed the age-old craft of the paper airplane by weaving experience with centennialinspired innovation. The project received recognition at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity.

Boeing plans to integrate Flypaper designs into its education outreach programs as well as make designs available publicly. The Flypaper Project will gain momentum in the coming months as the centennial celebrations pick up speed.

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Entertainment

Game Immersion

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

The head-mounted display industry is expected to reach up to $12.28 billion by 2020.

Prepare for a new wave of in-flight entertainment, designed to transport passengers from airplane cabin to an alternate world where immersive entertainment blurs the lines between movie and game or fiction and reality.

by Caroline Ku | illustration Kuo Cheng Liao

Feeding the desire many television viewers have for just one more plot twist at the end of a gripping episode or season finale is a new medium that could turn fans from bystanders of their favorite TV shows into supporting actors and cowriters.

The groundbreaking concept, being referred to in Hollywood as “super shows,” will be one part TV show, another part video game – sprinkled with elements of choose-your-own-adventure and a ready-made scripted scenario to steer the story line. With binge-watching entertainment pros Lionsgate (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Orange Is the New Black) and Telltale Games (video game adaptations of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead) at the helm of this trend, it would seem the super show format has been calculated to take off beyond the bedrooms of reclusive gamers.

But how does blended entertainment affect airlines?

Alexis Steinman, senior vice-president, Digital Media Solutions at Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE), says the company is working with Disney to design branded games for The Incredibles and Big Hero 6 in order to coincide with GEE’s in-flight movie runs. Passengers will be able to watch Big Hero 6 and embody the characters of Baymax and Hiro Hamada, all while romping around in the fictitious city of San Fransokyo, adding a dimension of interactivity to the movie experience.

And in some cases, the familiarity of TV show or movie characters inside a game, especially through virtual reality (VR), will take an anxious flyer mentally out of the airplane. “This is definitely going to be a huge trend in virtual reality to merge movie, TV and game content,” says Christoph Fleischmann, cofounder of the startup, Inflight VR, which has received inquiries from Qantas, Malaysia Airlines, Virgin Australia, Lufthansa and Oman Air. “Obviously, [the] main difference is the immersion, that you’re not going to be staring at the screen, but be actually inside the game or the 3-D environment,” says Nikolas Jaegar, CEO, Inflight VR.

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The market for personalized VR devices could grow from 200,000 users in 2014 to 170 million in 2018.

By 2020, AR and VR will generate $150 billion in revenue.

“Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the Internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones.”

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook

Airline Passenger Experience Association

True high quality, high speed broadband is here.

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR_

Passengers expect Wi-Fi in the sky just like they get at home. Inmarsat’s GX connectivity will help carry your business and passengers into the future.

ULTIMATE CONNECTIVITY

To learn about the next generation in aviation broadband technology, visit inmarsat.com/aviation

The Future of Flight Will Be… Over the past year, we challenged APEX members and industry experts to describe the future of flight in one word. Here’s what they said.

Sponsored by

See more responses at > APEX.AERO/ FUTUREOFFLIGHT

Tahiti Nui | The future of flight will be seamless Craig Proud, GuestLogix | The future of flight will be connected Thomas Riehn, MELO Group | The future of flight

News Inflight | The future of flight will be unlimited Nick Olmsted, PATS Aircraft Systems | The future of flight will be connected Kareen Sabonnadiere Tetaria, Air

be fun Michele Mordacq, RightHand Technologies | The future of flight will be sexy Yogi Misir, CoKinetic | The future of flight will be connected Gabrielle Sarmiento,

be personalized Joe Leader, APEX | The future of flight will be revolutionary Dennis Markert, Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems | The future of flight will

Shuttle | The future of flight will be effortless Don Buchman, ViaSat | The future of flight will be limitless Rossen Dimitrov, Qatar Airways | The future of flight will

Nicole Huang, JetBlue | The future of flight will be access Richard Nordstrom, Rockwell Collins | The future of flight will be affordable Boris Bubresko, Norwegian Air

will be e-motion Dominique Giannoni, Thales | The future of flight will be fun Wale Adepoju, Global Eagle Entertainment | The future of flight will be stress-free

Jennifer Arnold, Delta Air Lines | The future of flight will be vibrant Devin Liddell, Teague | The future of flight will be effortless Rajan Datar, BBC | The future of flight

of flight will be individual Dominic Green, Inflight Dublin | The future of flight will be effortless Alice Liu, American Airlines | The future of flight will be immersive

| The future of flight will be connected Éric Lauzon, Air Canada | The future of flight will be captivating John Courtright, Structural Integrity Engineering | The future

Communications | The future of flight will be mind-bending Kamahl Santamaria, Al Jazeera | The future of flight will be teleportation François Rodriguez, SITA OnAir

speed Venus Kitagawa-Stojsic, Spafax | The future of flight will be amazing Kevin Bremer, Boeing | The future of flight will be entertaining Jay Heinrichs, Pace

flight will be integrated Ehtisham Siddiqui, BAE Systems | The future of flight will be amazing Luay Qunash, Royal Jordanian | The future of flight will be warp-

Aerospace | The future of flight will be networked Leo Mondale, Inmarsat | The future of flight will be connected Boris Veksler, Betria Interactive | The future of

branding.aero | The future of flight will be unimaginable Helen Lynch, Stellar Entertainment | The future of flight will be connected Kristin Guthrie, Honeywell

be immersive Roy Moody, Phitek Systems | The future of flight will be smarter Martin Fendt, Airbus | The future of flight will be connected Stathis Kefallonitis,

The future of flight will be fun Richard Branson, Virgin Group | The future of flight will be comfortable Mark Hiller, Recaro Aircraft Seating | The future of flight will

The Future of Flight Will Be…

will be sustainable Maren Muente, KID-Systeme

future of flight will be astonishing Cathie Trotta, Penny Black Media | The future of flight will be seamless Matthias Walther, Panasonic Avionics | The future of flight

David Thomas, IFPL | The future of flight will be fee-based Jan D’Angelo, AdamWorks | The future of flight will be personal Greg Cornell, Innovative Advantage | The

home Edwin Edillon Jr., Zodiac Inflight Innovations | The future of flight will be orbital Stuart McGeachin, Dawson Media Direct | The future of flight will be personal

The future of flight will be amazing David Withers, digEcor | The future of flight will be unimaginable James Raisbeck, Raisbeck Engineering | The future of flight will be

Norris, Lumexis | The future of flight will be connected Patrick Brannelly, Emirates | The future of flight will be phenomenal Michael Childers, Lufthansa Systems |

Buzz Products | The future of flight will be boundless Greg Latimer, Skycast Solutions | The future of flight will be Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Jon

Adaptive Channel | The future of flight will be high-tech Prashant Gaonkar, Eros International Media | The future of flight will be customer-centric Alena Kirzner,

will be natural Mark Oser, Intheairnet | The future of flight will be amazing Warren Hamilton, Virgin America | The future of flight will be disruptive Laurent Safar,

future of flight will be amazing Henry Chen Weinstein, Cockpit Innovation Hub | The future of flight will be fun Mario Poirier, Ensemble Media Group | The future of flight

| The future of flight will be sunny Dan Olstinske, InFlight Entertainment Products | The future of flight will be connectivity Vanessa Shan Sei Fan, Air Tahiti Nui | The

Management | The future of flight will be teleporters Bill Dalton, Greenpoint Technologies | The future of flight will be airborne Greg Lackmeyer, Tecom Industries

Entertainment in Motion | The future of flight will be interactive Philipp Jacke, Media Carrier | The future of flight will be subtitled Yelena Makarczyk, CMI Media

be interactive Olivier Heliot, PXCom | The future of flight will be seamless Jean-Paul Laube, PressReader | The future of flight will be competitive James MacLean,

PDT | The future of flight will be space Daireen Galeano, Jaguar Distribution Corp. | The future of flight will be mobile Ron Freer, Southwest Airlines | The future of flight will

Debbie Chariton, Sony Pictures | The future of flight will be innovative Rafi Dabush, El Al Israel Airlines | The future of flight will be connected Allison Burke, Telefonix +

interactive Hamish Cook, En Route International | The future of flight will be in-space Kimberly Cregan, Agence France-Presse | The future of flight will be futuristic

of flight will be relaxing Rainer von Borstel, Diehl Aerosystems | The future of flight will be soothing Michael LaPointe, Research Frontiers | The future of flight will be

AeroMobile | The future of flight will be connected David Fox, Deutsche Telekom | The future of flight will be innovative Sandy Stelling, Alaska Airlines | The future

will be fantastic Nigusu Worku, Ethiopian Airlines | The future of flight will be fun Renaud Irminger, SITA Lab | The future of flight will be connected Kevin Rogers,

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All About That Face A new age of biometrics – using your unique physical characteristics as ID, promises to make air travel a faster and more secure experience. But as more and more of our likeness is digitized, privacy concerns grow.

by Jasmin Legatos | illustration Jorge Roa

auricular earlock

Android apps use ear biometrics to unlock your smartphone.

Recent studies have found that ears are more accurate metrics than fingerprints.

emotional adage

Video analysis of facial reactions is being explored by companies such as Affectiva and Emotient. In 2011, Verizon patented an application that would analyze TV viewers’ reactions to programs from a set-top cable box and tailor advertisements accordingly.

eye opener

the nose noes

The shape of your nose and position of textures have been demonstrated as a viable means of recognition.

give voice

The Bank of New Zealand uses voice recognition for telephone banking in lieu of the standard identification questions.

Passports, until just a decade ago, were little more than glorified travel logs to collect a country’s stamp. Many of today’s passports, however, are much more sophisticated than the ones we used on our first trips and far more difficult to replicate.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

In 2014, EyeLock debuted a PCcompatible device called myris, which employs iris recognition as an alternative to website passwords.

in vein

Blood vessel patterns are unique to each person and are nearly impossible to alter.

ATMs are integrating finger-vein and palm-vein detection technology as a form of ID.

Armed with RFID chips, they contain all your basic information plus biometric indicators such as your fingerprints, a digital picture and a digital signature.

Digital passports – a direct response to security concerns following the

9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC – are meant to stamp out the use of falsified travel documents.

Biometrics are used in Trusted Traveler programs like Global Entry and Nexus, the US-Canada joint initiative that gives pre-approved, low-risk travelers certain privileges such as dedicated lanes at land crossings and access to self-serve kiosks at airport border control.

Airlines are also testing whether biometrics can replace traditional forms of identification. Alaska Airlines recently completed a pilot project out of Mineta San José International Airport, where it asked hundreds of frequent flyers to swipe their finger on a tablet in order to gain access to the cabin. The airline first used the fingerprint technology, developed

by US-based Clear, to grant eligible travelers entry to its lounges. “Customers were delighted with the service,” shares Jerry Tolzman, Customer Research and Development manager, Alaska Airlines.

“More than 80 percent of those who responded said they wanted to see the service the next time they flew.”

However promising these technologies may be for global security, detractors cite privacy concerns and error rates as major issues. In 2011, a couple at Manchester Airport were able to walk through the facial recognition gate despite having mixed up their passports, and in 2008, the European Parliament brought to light allegations that up to one-sixth of France’s 6.5 million biometric passports in circulation at the time were obtained using fake documents.

And while biometrics are thought to be more secure than your standard password, there’s also a lot more at stake, says David Cowan, a partner at venture capitalist firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Though his company has invested heavily in digital securities, he told public broadcaster NPR that they aren’t putting their money into biometrics. “Either a password or a biometric can be stolen,” he said. “But only the password can be changed. Once your fingerprint is stolen, it’s stolen forever, and you’re stuck.” volume 5, edition 6

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Services

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Bring Your Own Leave It at Home Passengers are increasingly bringing, and being told to bring, their own amenities on board – a trend that’s even extending into the hospitality industry.

Bring Your Own

by Katie Sehl photos Cristóbal Marambio production Gonzalo Toro

devices

Second in popularity only to BYOB, is BYOD, or bring your own devices – a trend that passengers started and many airlines, especially low-cost carriers, are encouraging. Tablets, smartphones and more are increasingly taking over, replacing seatback screens, paper boarding passes and books.

cord organizer

Traveling with gizmos and gadgets galore comes with strings attached – or cords, that is – making handy cord organizers a must-have item.

wireless charger

In-seat power is nearly commonplace and charging stations at airports are on the rise, but in case there’s not enough juice to go around, tech-ready travelers are packing their own power with wireless chargers from cheero, Samsung, Qi Wireless and the like.

wi-fi

Travelers want Wi-Fi to be free and fast.

It may be available, but if it doesn’t meet the standards of the high-surfers of the World Wide Web, they’ll bring their own connections. Popular options include Karma Go or Apple’s AirPort Express, which turns wired broadband into wireless.

entertainment

Media kiosks are popping up at airports around the world, providing soon-to-board passengers with high-speed Internet to download their own entertainment.

spices

While there’s only so much airline caterers can do to account for the flatness of meal flavor profiles, traveling foodies are spicing things up with portable seasonings like those from Plant’s Mobile Foodie Survival Kit.

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picnics

In 2014, more than 118 restaurants at London Heathrow Airport, including chef Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food, launched an onboard picnic program that gives passengers the option of taking their grub to go in bespoke hampers. At participating airports in the US, travelers can use the app AirGrub to order packaged restaurant meals for delivery pre-boarding. The initiatives follow a similar program piloted by the UK’s

biggest minicab company, Addison Lee, which, through a partnership with graze, offered travelers on the go the choice between “Long Haul Refuel,” “Party PreTox” and “Brainy Breakfast” meal boxes.

are the Old Fashioned, Moscow Mule and Gin & Tonic, and each kit includes spoons, recipe cards, linen coasters and the necessary ingredients.

cocktails

A solid arsenal of pharmaceuticals, from Dramamine to melatonin, readies flyers for potential maladies. Customized for weary travelers, pulse-point application of Aesop’s Ginger Flight Therapy invigorates the senses with a spicy aroma.

For passengers looking to spruce up in-flight beverages, portable options like the mini Carry On Cocktail kit have been garnering acclaim among those looking to fix a mix. Currently available

drugs

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Services

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Leave It at Home

Geared around avoiding extra baggage fees and the convenience of avoiding carousels, travelers are packing lighter – and the industry is responding.

cash

Add traveler’s checks to the list, too. Not only is plastic accepted in most places where people travel, but airlines are also moving toward high-tech onboard payment options from companies like GuestLogix. In fact, the EMVCo (comprising American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, UnionPay and Visa) recently required all US merchants, including airlines, to accept secure chip-embedded credit card payments.

AirBaltic even accepts bitcoins.

sunglasses

The James New York hotel recently partnered with Los Angeles eyewear brand Garrett Leight to make unisex shades available to its guests for borrowing or purchase. Great if you forgot your sunnies or would like to try a luxe pair on for size.

travel itineraries

The days of printing and filing airplane, hotel and rental car reservations are long behind us, and travel itinerary apps like Wetu are making paperless ticketing all the more stress-free.

books

clothes

For those who are comfortable traveling simply with the clothes on their backs, recent partnerships have made that more possible. Visitors checking into Virgin Hotels can call room service and order Gap button-downs alongside stuffed mushrooms. In a similar fashion, guests staying at the St. Regis in Washington, DC, can arrive to find a fully stocked closet with handpicked items based on a questionnaire filled out

Airline Passenger Experience Association

pre-arrival. The best part? Clothes can be either purchased or returned via the concierge service provided by Neiman Marcus Closet.

duty-free

Many airlines let customers pre-order from duty-free catalogs and deliver the purchases to passengers in flight, but some, like Cathay Pacific’s CXcitement shop, have taken the service a step further by offering home delivery.

guidebook

No need for the clunky guidebook anymore. Airlines are increasingly providing destination-based in-flight entertainment from producers such as A Look At Media or In-Flight Media. For travelers who prefer crowd-sourced recommendations, initiatives like Air Canada’s Altitude Community offer frequent flyers platforms much like Yelp and TripAdvisor, but with a more tailored and personalized twist.

No need to weigh down your carryon with an epic-sized hardcover.

Passengers are opting for lightweight e-readers like Kindles and Kobos. In fact, British Airways reports that it finds only 500 books left behind on board, compared with 1,400 Kindles. The books most frequently left behind? The Bible, Game of Thrones and Grey.

the bag itself

Services like Dufl eliminate baggage altogether. Using the Dufl app, users select their wardrobe from a predetermined virtual closet and, with the help of its partner FedEx, the bag is sent to the user’s destination.

Before jetting off, Dufl picks the bag up, washes and dry-cleans its contents and sends it back to storage.

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Catering

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Caffeine Fix Airlines around the globe have realized that serving a hot cup of joe rivals leg space and onboard entertainment in terms of amenities that attract frequent flyers.

by Jason Kessler illustration Julie Carles

We’ve come a long way since the days when the DC-3 conquered the logistics of serving the first cup of coffee in midair; still, the quality of onboard coffee continues to suffer from major image problems. “Every traveler knows that airlines can’t serve a decent cup of coffee,” wrote Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, in his 1997

Find out which java brands airlines stock at > apex.aero/coffee

book, Pour Your Heart Into It. But the importance of an in-flight caffeine fix hasn’t been taken for granted, which is why carriers like Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have put extensive time and resources into developing better coffee programs.

Back in 2013, Singapore Airlines proudly announced that it was partnering with illy, one of the world’s leading coffee roasters, to become the first airline worldwide to offer illy’s singleorigin Monoarabica beans to premium passengers. In February of this year, Cathay Pacific announced that it, too, would be partnering with illy to offer brewed coffee, espresso, cappuccino and other specialty drinks to those in premium class. To develop the specific blend for use on board Cathay flights, the airline’s

catering team worked closely with illy to account for the diminished sensory capacity of passengers at 35,000 feet, discovering that medium and dark roasts offered the best results because of the more robust taste.

It’s not just about flavor, though. It’s also about the process. Illy and Cathay Pacific had to create specialized filter pillows to harmonize with existing in-flight brewing processes, a solution that Schultz also detailed in his book when talking about partnering with United Airlines back in 1995. By improving the process and paying close attention to maintaining flavor consistency, airlines are finally serving coffee that passengers look forward to enjoying on board. And that’s innovation coffee lovers can savor one cup at a time.

Calibrating Caffeination It’s tricky, but it isn’t rocket science.

212°F

After water, coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world.

ideal boiling water temperature.

197°F

boiling point for water inside an aircraft cabin.

Each coffee bean contains around 500 aromatic flavor components.

Wine has 300-400.

500

There are more than 1,000 different chemical compounds within a cup of coffee.

The Golden Coffee Ratio: 17.42 units of water: 1 unit of coffee.

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billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide annually.

65%

of coffee consumption takes place during breakfast hours.

35%

of coffee drinkers prefer their coffee black.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Discover the art of satisfying travelers’ wishes.

Besides offering tasty meals, exciting equipment, smart logistics and innovative retail concepts, LSG Sky Chefs also provides valuable consumer insight based on thorough studies about global food trends and lifestyles. Discover our advanced approach to creating in-flight concepts that truly meet your passengers’ individual needs and explore smart ideas about how to satisfy them.

Follow us on LinkedIn lsg.sc/linked in

SKYfi club – Your mobile theatre Staying in touch and streaming content via smartphones, tablets and laptops are now top wishes for air travellers.

And SKYfi is one of the most advanced and cost-effective ways to meet these demands – for satisfied passengers who keep coming back. Plus, SKYfi club lets you create personalised entertainment and information programmes streamed directly to passengers’ devices – for the ultimate in in-flight customisation.

KID-Systeme GmbH Lüneburger Schanze 30, D-21614 Buxtehude Phone +49 40 743 716 33 Fax +49 40 743 838 29 E-Mail info@kid-systeme.com

www.kid-systeme.com

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Crossovers

One Good Idea Deserves Another What do rainforest creatures, Uber, smart glasses and the aerospace industry have in common? A few really good ideas. This multipart feature looks at the power of industrious thinking, and how invention migrates from one industry to the next. illustration Ă“scar ChĂĄvez

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Crossovers

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military > aviation > surgery > entertainment

Augmented Applications

by Caroline Ku

Scorpion, an eyepiece slightly smaller than a saltine cracker, gives fighter pilots situational awareness, rapid target acquisition and precise head steering by allowing them to keep their eyes on the target – and off the aircraft instrument display panel – during critical moments in combat. Developed by Thales, Scorpion is a full-color helmet-mounted cueing system that employs technology potential that could spread from military use to the hospital operating room.

Harnessing this head-mounted display technology, in partnership with MIT Media Lab, Thales’ American innovation branch, xPlor, created DragonFly, a surgical headpiece that has already enabled a doctor at NeuroTexas Institute to navigate a spine operation. Using augmented reality, the technology puts graphically enhanced procedures in the surgeon’s direct view and increases operational awareness; it’s also equipped with “telepresence,” a way to consult other medical experts who are logged in.

out of the black box Another piece of aviation equipment that could become a fixture in hospitals is the black box, which is vital to airplane crash investigations for its ability to capture cockpit conversations and flight data. Dr. Teodor Grantcharov at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto sees their potential in improving patient safety.

Grantcharov has tested a prototype during laparoscopic surgeries and likens the recording of operations to sports coaches who use playbacks as a training tool for athletes. “For surgeons, we will have data that will allow better coaching and improvements and therefore better patient care,” he says.

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Car manufacturer BMW has also explored head-up displays with its pair of stylish aviators that merge real and virtual worlds in its MINI Cooper. The automotive company envisions a driving experience where mileage, directions, and rear and side views automatically appear in the lenses of the glasses or are projected onto a windshield. It’s an idea that can also be applied to the act of looking out the passenger window. Panasonic Avionics demonstrated a virtual aircraft window at APEX EXPO 2015.

Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) is also exploring augmented aircraft views.

“You’ll look outside [a window], but it’s augmented with elements of reality and synthetic reality that allow you to

understand what you’re flying over; little pieces of history, quiz, whatever,” says Alexis Steinman, SVP, Digital Media Solutions at GEE. Aviation and medical uses aside, augmented reality boasts real entertainment value, too. Osterhout Design Group’s R-7 Smart Glasses, which also have military origins, could allow passengers to watch movies, write e-mails and surf the Internet. The glasses have been tested with movies from Paramount Pictures and are able to support 3-D films. “This will be a compelling element in the future of in-flight entertainment,” says Joan Filippini, Paramount’s SVP, Non-Theatrical Distribution.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Keeping passengers connected.

More bandwidth and faster speeds with General Dynamics’ high performance radomes

Advanced composite products for the most demanding environments

composites@gd-ots.com gd-ots.com

Crossovers

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Visit us at apex.aero

airplane > bus > train > uber

Streaming on the Go

by Caroline Ku

In-flight entertainment (IFE), whether showing on overhead screens or seatbacks or streaming to passengers’ electronic devices, is practically expected as a part of the air travel experience nowadays. For those in transit on the ground, entertainment is viewed as more of a luxury commodity, but that may be changing. “[Entertainment] needs to be there for other mass transport systems. That’s how we hit upon the idea of starting something like Fropcorn,” says Kartik Poddar, cofounder of the video-ondemand platform that allows

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bus commuters in India to stream Bollywood movies and other content to their personal devices. “The whole idea was, how can we bring quality entertainment to people when they’re traveling?”

For a small fee, passengers can use the onboard Wi-Fi to access hundreds of movies from the Fropcorn server, which has been installed on 200 buses in India, and is in the process of expanding to allow users to download any unfinished movie so they can keep watching after their stop. Continuous onboard entertainment delivered through an offline server

has also been explored for airlines by Dutchbased company MI Airline, manufacturers of AirFi, which has envisioned a journey where the passenger stays connected from bus to shuttle to airport to airplane, all on a single IFE platform.

In China, high-speed train trips are an opportunity to indulge in watching movies.

Subscribers to YOU Cinema, a Netflix-like platform, have access to Hollywood content and other full-length features through C-Media Wi-Fi, the largest Internet service provider for a rail system in China. “The captive nature

of a train car where travelers have several hours of quiet and uninterrupted time blends itself seamlessly to watching high-quality longform video,” says Weicheng Liu, CEO of YOU On Demand.

Even Uber, the cab-industry disruptor, is taking cues from IFE. During New York Fashion Week this year, the company distributed its own printed in-car city guide, and in October, it partnered with AT&T to stream college football games live, off a 4G LTE network, so passengers wouldn’t have to miss a second of the action.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Crossovers

aviation > bus > rail > auto

Safety First in Planes, Trains and Automobiles

by Jessica Sammut

Crossovers in safety policies, techniques and solutions are increasingly commonplace in the transportation industry.

Taking a cue from the airline safety manual, earlier last year, China imposed bans on carry-on items such as lighters and liquids for bus passengers in the Xinjiang capital. In 2014, to boost safety, cruise lines implemented safety regimens adopted from the flight operations protocol used by several airlines.

One aspect of travel security highly relevant to APEX members in the IFE hardware sector is the safety methodologies around testing seat-embedded screens. At last year’s APEX TEC conference in November, Derrick Pruitt of Boeing Seats Tech Centre, and leader in the Society of Automotive Engineers, updated attendees on progress in safety screening for IFE, highlighting the specialized IFE testing fixture developed by his team.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Paul Soor, managing director at Volo TV, a UK-based in-train entertainment systems provider, explains that the testing process for seatembedded systems in the rail sector is just as rigorous: “Infotainment systems are judged just like any hardware on a train so, first of all, [they] must meet something called Railway Group Standards in the UK. These are mandatory.”

And like the airline industry, railway safety regulators

are evaluating similar safety specifications, such as Head Impact Criterion. “The rail industry does test table and seat design for head (and also abdomen) impact,” says Soor.

It’s hard to imagine a motorized vehicle today sans basic safety devices such as the airbag. However, the first US legislation requiring airbags in passenger cars was not enforced until 1998.

And though the Federal Aviation Administration only

ruled airbags mandatory on existing and new general aviation aircraft in 2009, airline safety regulators were able to turn to the automotive industry for guidance on airbag safety testing. To this day, safety test methods used in general aviation, including one for head trauma protection, are the same for car seat testing.

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apex experience

Crossovers

airlines > apartments > sports > cable > theaters

The Science of Strategic Pricing

by Katie Sehl

Even before the computer made big data mainstream, the fluid fares for airline tickets have long been determined scientifically, based on factors such as historical trends, market demand and passenger behavior.

For E. Andrew Boyd, author of The Future of Pricing: How Airline Ticket Pricing Has Inspired a Revolution, discovering the airline approach to pricing opened up a new way of looking at markets.

“I wondered what the history of airline ticket pricing foretold about the future of pricing in general,” he writes.

“Would we one day find our bar of soap changing price on a minute-by-minute basis, the result of detailed mathematical algorithms conceived by some of the world’s best educated minds?”

While that hasn’t quite happened, scientific pricing has altered hotel markets, rental car markets and, most recently, the apartment rental market in New York City.

Property owners have been using revenue management software to set rental rates on new and renewing leases based on the analysis of real-time data.

membership mania Scientific pricing has its naysayers. “Is the fare-centric model really working?” asked

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Devin Liddell, principal brand strategist, Teague, during his keynote presentation at this year’s APEX EXPO. Instead, he suggests that airlines take a few pointers from sports franchises.

“One of the things we noticed from sports leagues was a really interesting trick,” he explains. “They get people to buy a season’s worth of tickets before the games even happen.”

Many airlines offer flight passes, but for Liddell, a deep dive into the sports membership model would go beyond temporary passes and tap into the long-term loyalty sports franchises build with fans.

cord-cutting and unbundling In the cable industry, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime have forced traditional cable companies to reevaluate their bundled channel packages and consider pay-per-channel models.

The same unbundling is occurring in the airline industry, though it’s being met with less jubilation. An airplane ticket once entailed a number of expected services: the ability to check luggage, a meal and more. More recently, many airlines have moved toward an itemization of these products and services.

The opinion on unbundling, in both cases, is mixed. For cable, critics argue and studies show that pay-per-channel models may ultimately lead to higher prices overall for fewer channels. On the airline front, advocates argue that passengers have been liberated to pay for what they choose, while others disagree.

“I think we’re totally wrong when it comes to the current trend towards unbundling,” says Liddell. “Bag fees are a fine for doing business with us … I mean, who travels with [just] the clothes on their back?”

elevating the cinematic experience Canada’s Cineplex Entertainment dabbled with airline-style pricing for its theaters. In 2014, the entertainment giant announced that it would be piloting a program at Varsity Cinemas in Toronto to determine if moviegoers would be willing to pay more for premium seating options.

The result? Adult-only VIP Cinemas which, in addition to offering luxurious, reserved seats at a premium, include a VIP menu for in-theater dining, in-seat services and a bar and lounge. “It’s kind of cool. You’ve got a bar, you’ve got all the amenities and you get to see a movie in comfort,” says one patron in the theater-chain’s promotional video. Sound familiar?

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Crossovers

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

retail > credit > bank > airline > hotel

Shifting Allegiances

by Marisa Garcia

Loyalty programs as incentives for repeat purchases have their origins in the early 20th century, with the introduction of the popular Sperry & Hutchinson Green Stamps. As many loyalty programs have proven over the decades, credibility and brand allegiance is a currency to bank on.

The credit card industry has clearly reaped the benefits of loyalty programs, and the banking industry is also capitalizing on it. Retailers, from coffee shops to mobile phone companies, have developed programs to reward customers for their repeat business.

In 1981, American Airlines developed one of the airline industry’s first mileagebased rewards programs, AAdvantage, which grew to be a huge success for the airline and was quickly emulated around the world.

United Airlines and Delta Air Lines followed with their own loyalty programs in the same year and only two years later, in 1983, the Holiday Inn hotel chain launched the first pointsbased hotel guest program of its kind, Priority Club.

From My Starbucks Rewards to McDonald’s gamified Monopoly program, brand loyalty initiatives have taken off in the retail and service industries, allowing customers

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to accrue – in most cases – points for dollars spent. In contrast, airline programs have historically been unique for their avoidance of revenuebased rewards systems, favoring instead to allot frequent flyers points for miles flown – but that’s changing.

In 2014, Delta shook up the loyalty landscape by announcing its SkyMiles program would shift to a revenue-based rewards system. “The travel industry, including nearly all hotel and

credit card programs, has already moved to a spendbased model,” said Jeff Robertson, vice-president, Product, SkyClubs and Marketing Communications, Delta Air Lines, in a press release. “Delta will become the first US global carrier to make this transition to better reward our most loyal customers.”

Shortly after Delta’s announcement, United Airlines and Qantas made similar changes while, notably, competitors such as

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have held fast to the mileage model.

Shifts like Delta’s may be symptomatic of a growing lack of loyalty among flyers.

A recent Deloitte report found that more than one-third of high-frequency business travelers participate in at least four airline loyalty programs, and two-thirds of overall respondents were open to switching to a competitor’s program even after achieving the highest status level.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Crossovers

apex experience

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

biology > aircraft > construction

Wings Like Wo’(lverine)

by Caroline Ku

Say you slice your finger while julienning carrots. Blood wells up and spills from the cut, but you know the wound will most likely scab over and heal itself in just a few days. The self-healing process often occurs unnoticed beneath a bandage, but professor Duncan Wass and his team at the University of Bristol are ripping off the bandage for a closer look at the possibilities of self-healing technology in other applications.

“Catalysis” is the scientific word to describe the acceleration of a chemical reaction through the introduction of another substance – and it’s Wass’ field of expertise.

Catalysis plays a big role in the production of industrial chemicals such as fuels, polymers and the carbon fiber composites used in aircraft wings.

Aircraft exteriors endure corrosion, paint chips and small dents over time. But, filled with a liquid healing agent that oozes out and hardens upon contact with a catalyst, airplane wings could heal themselves mid-flight, melding tiny cracks – much like Wolverine’s bionic skin fleshing in a gash mid-fight. “Our technology would enable you to maybe extend the maintenance schedule or use less material without compromising safety,” Wass explains.

The technology may also lead to bike frames, nail varnish and device screens self-healing in front of our very eyes.

Automatic repair methods could also conceivably be applied to concrete so that sidewalks, roads and buildings would heal their own cracks – potentially saving cities a bundle on maintenance repairs.

biology > aviation

Monkey See, Monkey Do

by Caroline Ku

In 2009, Boeing sent three of its engineers on a weeklong expedition in a Costa Rican rainforest to search for a solution that could dampen jet engine noise. They pondered on cicadas, leafcutting ants, spiders, pistol shrimp and howler monkeys – species that rely on noise vibration for survival.

Biomimicry – literally, mimicking biology – has informed human innovation and design for decades. Most recently, it’s been owls, bats and poisonous dart frogs that have piqued the interest of aviation engineers. How? The down skirting of owls’ wings that muffles their movement and allows them to silently stalk their prey inspired the fan blades of a wind turbine, enabling engineers to reduce noise levels by 10 decibels.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Bats, marveled at for their ability to maneuver with ease, were researched to enhance aircraft agility. And the poisonous dart frog’s defense mechanism to secrete toxins has inspired an airplane coating that deposits antifreeze, reducing delays caused by deicing.

Biomimicry also influenced Airbus’ Concept Cabin for 2050: Its airframe was inspired by the porous skeleton of birds, its membrane walls fade in and out to let in light and its self-cleaning seats mold to a passenger’s body – all of which are reminiscent of a living environment. And an even more explicit display of drawing from nature is Airbus’ Beluga XL cargo plane that is literally shaped like the whale in its moniker.

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SKY SEAT INTEGRATED SYSTEM TM

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Crossovers

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anthropology > customer service

Anthropological Approaches

by Marisa Garcia

From British Airways’ sleep study and in-flight trials of sensor-equipped blankets (to test how well passengers rest) to Lufthansa’s evaluation of sonic impact on taste buds, science is helping to improve the flying experience.

For many years, airlines have relied on customer feedback through comments, focus groups and surveys to shape new product developments. Of late, the industry has resorted to more sophisticated study methodologies, and put technology to work on figuring out what pleases customers most.

Design psychologist Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things, cofounder of the Nielsen Norman Group and director of the Design Lab at the

Airline Passenger Experience Association

University of California, San Diego, believes airlines should evaluate all in-flight products and services through anthropological study: by watching from a distance, rather than surveying. His reasoning is that humans are simply not self-aware enough to report reliably on themselves. He suggests airlines start with “observations of the way people feel,” monitoring behavior and subtle body language to record more genuine reactions to the cabin environment.

Studies, he suggests, should be “experiential and concrete,” carried out through “extensive observation.”

Others are using technology for such objective studies, which reveal passenger satisfaction with surprising accuracy.

Turkish Airlines carried out a comprehensive study of its customers with assistance from Yener Giri ken of Turkey’s first neuro-marketing research company, ThinkNeuro Neuromarketing.

Giri ken applied neurosensors and eye-tracking technology to evaluate passengers’ “emotional bond curve” during the journey. Like Norman, Giri ken believes humans are unreliable query subjects. “People don’t think what they feel, feel what they think and do what they say,” he says.

As this science advances, airlines will gain more precise insights to apply toward product improvements.

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Q&A

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

“

Airlines have overlooked the importance of giving guests control and choice, especially when it comes to their in-flight experience.

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Q&A

> Fast Facts Location:

Necker Island Years in Industry:

Nearly 30

Richard Branson

Hero:

Nelson Mandela

The future of flight in one word:

Fun

Founder

Virgin Group

photo: virgin group

Richard founded Virgin as a mail-order record retailer in 1970 in London, an enterprise which evolved into Virgin Records, the biggest independent label in the world. In 1984 he founded the airline Virgin Atlantic, with Virgin Australia, Virgin America, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Galactic, among others, following. In addition to these ventures, Branson has written six books, performed record-breaking athletic feats and is the world’s most followed person on LinkedIn.

To read Richard’s full Q&A, please visit us online at > apex.aero/ richardbranson

Airline Passenger Experience Association

W

hat is the future of in-flight entertainment?

It’s exciting. The industry has come a long way since the days of overhead monitors (although you might still find these on other airlines!). Virgin America has plans to offer guests even more options, more control and more interactivity. Virgin America is already ahead of the industry with touch-screen seatback entertainment that offers live TV, text chat and great entertainment, and is still the only US airline to offer fleet-wide Wi-Fi and power outlets at every seat on every flight. In fact, Virgin America has just launched a new Android-based Red Beta system I can’t wait to try out with higherresolution screens and capacitive touch, and is the first airline to have surround-sound listening experience on board for guests.

Entertainment is in our DNA at Virgin, so we see the opportunities as endless.

What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?

Airlines have overlooked the importance of giving guests control and choice, especially when it comes to their in-flight experience.

Just because you’re on board a plane doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a say when it comes to what you eat, when you eat, what

you watch and so on. Virgin America’s Red in-flight entertainment platform features a brilliant on-demand menu for guests to order a cocktail or snack straight to their seat (or even to a fellow guest) whenever they like: There’s no need to wait for the trolley to come down the aisle.

What’s the airline industry doing really well right now?

Virgin America’s new website shows we are reinventing the booking experience for the better. Just like Virgin’s airlines’ signature mood-lit cabins, the website is built around the needs and preferences of the guest – it’s unlike anything you’ve seen from an airline, with responsive and modern design, and even cheeky characters and personalized messages that guide you along the way.

It’s turned a typically dull task, such as the process of booking an airline ticket, into something actually fun.

What kinds of innovations will make the greatest strides within the airline industry?

The awe-inspiring views of our beautiful planet and zero-gravity passenger fun of space flights will bring a whole new meaning to in-flight entertainment.

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Thales

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Forever

Young

Recognizing that technology comes and goes, Thales engineers challenge the tests of time by imagining ways to extend the lifespan of its in-flight entertainment and connectivity innovations.

T

he wish for eternal youth is one we can all relate to, none more than an aerospace company. But, ironically, youth is usually a cruel afterthought. As the Greeks and Romans tell us, immortality comes first.

So when Tithonus and later Sibyl begged the gods for immortality, only once they grew ancient and shriveled did they realize that longevity, perhaps tragically, loses value without vivacity. An aerospace company, like Thales, knows what Tithonus and Sibyl didn’t.

this day and age It takes approximately 1,992 hours to build a Boeing 777, but in those 83 days of labor, it’s built to last. This life cycle makes designing and supplying the aircraft’s electrical systems a race against time. “Even if you select a technology today, it’s going to get on an airplane one or two years from now, and it will stay on that plane for maybe 10, 15, 20 years,” says Duc Huy Tran, vice-president of Strategy and Marketing, Thales InFlyt Experience.

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I’m sitting in a Thales Avionics boardroom on the aptly named Discovery road in Irvine, California, discussing time and technology with Tran and Fred Schreiner, chief technology officer for Thales InFlyt Experience – both aficionados in this realm. As if programmed, we all simultaneously glance at our personal electronic devices (PEDs). Mine, an iPhone 5s, was shiny and new way back in 2013. Three years in, it’s shamefully out of date and aged by four successors and counting.

“We’re a very impatient community today, to wait for that hourglass,” says Schreiner. “It’s one of those things we have to think about – the proliferation of the PED and the technologies that come out every 12 months – when we’re building something that needs to be relevant for 10 years or more.” In other words, the technology that we send up into the sky needs to stand the test of time on a clock that’s ticking fast. >

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photo: Banczerowski Piotr – CAPA Pictures ©THALES

by Katie Sehl

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Thales

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BRING INNOVATION ON BOARD CONNECTIVITY

DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS

CONTENT

OPERATIONS SOLUTIONS

LEARN HOW GEE ENHANCES YOUR INFLIGHT EXPERIENCE AT GEEMEDIA.COM

Thales

apex experience

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Thales engineers test in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems in SimLabs.

photos: Katie Sehl; Lionel Hahn– ©thales

cabinet of curiosities Enter Brett Bleacher. “Our CEO and many corporate visitors say to me, ‘Brett, you have the best job at Thales,’” he says. His official job title, director of Innovations and R&D for Thales Avionics, does it no justice.

Unofficially, his work involves more of a cross between Dr. Emmett Brown’s Back to the Future inventiveness and Willy Wonka’s factory of pure imagination. His job, the stuff of movies, is to cheat time.

In Building 58 on Discovery, Bleacher leads Tran, Schreiner and me to an unassuming room marked by a lackluster plaque that reads “Innovation Lab.” As he unlocks the door and enters secret passwords that most Thales employees don’t even have access to, he turns and roguishly tells me, “They call this my man cave.”

Entering the man cave, it’s easy to see why it’s earned such a reputation.

As if summoned, gadgets and gizmos light up the dark room and fill it with an electric buzz. In the far corner, a holographic flight attendant named Nana springs into service.

On the other side, Li-Fi begins streaming video through light beside another hologram of a frog. “Do you know what the smell is?” Bleacher asks, activating smello-vision in another corner. “Chocolate?” I wager. “You’re close. This one happens to be coffee,” he says. Other aromas include orange blossom, Pacific Ocean breeze, redwood forest and hot apple pie. “My favorite is chocolate chip cookie – just need some fat-free milk to go with it,” he jokes.

As the wonder begins to abate, I remember that a minute ago we were talking about airplanes. What does a holographic frog and hot apple pie have

Airline Passenger Experience Association

to do with airplanes? “We stay ahead by thinking outside the box,” explains Bleacher.

By leveraging new consumer technologies, maintaining close relationships with third-party techies and regularly hitting up the aerospace, automotive, gaming and electronic tradeshow circuits, Bleacher and his team draw upon what’s out there and invent ways for it to work in an aircraft cabin environment. >

“We’re a very impatient community today, to wait for that hourglass.”

Fred Schreiner Thales

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Thales

“It’s all part of the innovation process,” adds Schreiner. “We start with the market, we develop a product roadmap, and then something called a technology insertion strategic plan.” Some technologies that Bleacher explores remain in his cabinet of curiosities, but the ones that show promise are often installed and demonstrated in a state-of-the-art immersive seats and brought to shows like APEX and AIX. “Visitors of all kinds – airline customers, employees, university students, corporate visitors and news media – are amazed at what they see in the Innovation Lab,” Bleacher says. Not surprisingly, feedback can be as quirky as the technology itself.

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

Once, he placed a pneumatic gaming vest on a visitor and activated an aliens attack game. “When he felt the pressure in his back from the simulated attack, he thought someone from the group was jabbing him …

We all started to laugh, since it was actually the pneumatic vest jabbing him from behind as the aliens attacked him,” says Bleacher.

All in a day’s work.

the soft touch Outside of the Innovation Lab, Thales has found other ways to cheat time, and when it comes to in-flight entertainment (IFE), it has to. The company’s primary competitor, Panasonic Avionics, commands somewhere near 70 percent of the global embedded IFE market share.

“The way I view it is, what you want to get on an airplane is a platform that can grow,” explains Tran. Technology on the ground is updating constantly, but many of the updates come in the form of software-based applications. “What allows us to close the gap is building an applications platform so that you can add new applications as they come,” he says.

“The way I view it is, what you want to get on the airplane is a platform that can grow.”

Duc Huy Tran Thales

photos: ©Thales, Etienne de Malglaive - Capa Pictures © THALES

LEFT A Thales engineer tests equipment in Irvine.

BELOW Passengers aboard an A380 put Thales tech to use.

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Thales

Android developers and delegates try out the latest tech at this year’s gaming GDC Expo in San Francisco, California.

photos: GDC

“It’s really about shifting the emphasis to things that can be put into digital packages,” Schreiner adds. Around five years ago, Thales transitioned from Linux to an Android operating system, because Android offered a secure method of opening the platform up to app developers. The move not only allows Thales to recruit fresh talent from the dev world, but also allows airlines using Thales’ systems to more easily customize and differentiate their offering.

For customer Qatar Airways, Thales recruited Doha-based Fuego Digital Media – a company with one of the most sophisticated content management systems for authoring and publishing in both Arabic and English – to develop a dutyfree shopping application and others. As Schreiner explains, “Qatar likes the fact that we can use local talent to develop these applications. The freedom to be able to do that … it’s really positive.”

For Thales, the focus on software is also a great way to stay in touch with the developer community. Representatives regularly attend Android developer and gaming tradeshows like AnDevCon and GDC. At one conference, they gave out squishy airplane-shaped stress-reliever toys with Thales branding. >

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Upstarting Exploration “I quite bluntly feel like I woke up one morning and stepped into a living dream,” says Pete Roney, vice-president of Innovation at Thales and managing director of the company’s recently launched xPlor program. “We have a mandate to not only talk with the best and brightest, but also to engage with them in ways that an enterprise like ours often times never has.”

Launched July 2015 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thales’ hybrid xPlor program is intended to closely connect the company to the dynamic-paced startup community. “It’s kind of like a venture capital management consulting practice,” explains Roney. “The global aerospace, defense and regulated service industries are very new at engaging with very bleeding-edge startup communities. That’s our job.”

In addition to being located in the second-largest hub of startup activity in the world, second only to Silicon Valley, the office on 1 Broadway in Cambridge also has the company nestled around the corner from the MIT Media Lab. “All the hot trends you hear of today, a lot of those were active pursuits and basic technologies at the Media Lab 10 years ago.

Businesses like Guitar Hero or the Amazon Kindle reader have come out of the Media Lab,” Roney says.

So what’s coming down the xPlor pipeline? “Big Data and the way all the things connect to data is probably the largest single trend that is important to Thales today,” he shares. “We’re moving beyond Big Data now and into this ultra-Big Data-type world. That, to us, is pretty exciting.”

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Thales

apex experience

The supply ran out so fast, “We mused about whether this was a reflection of the stress level of today’s app developers or a reflection of how much they love Thales,” Schreiner jokes.

the hard stuff

1,000,000

screen touch and button pushes

100,000

audio jack removals and insertions Impact from suitcases and clumsy passengers Drink, food spills, extreme heat and cold Even physical abuse

Despite the benefits of a software-driven shift in Thales’ IFEC value proposition, “You never get away from hardware,” Schreiner notes. And it’s the hardware that can date a system before you start using it. “You see it on some of the older airplanes we fly, small six-inch screens with a very large frame.

Even before it starts playing, you’ve got your iPad or whatever, and you’re going to be drawn to that instead.”

Industrial design is harder to cheat. Not only is the cabin environment heavily regulated, but the equipment is also built to withstand much higher utilization rates than our PEDs. Thales products are qualified for one million screen touch and button pushes, 100,000 audio jack removals and insertions, impact from suitcases and clumsy passengers, drink and food spills, extreme heat, extreme cold and even resistance to intentional physical abuse.

BELOW Thales’ TopSeries Avant system was chosen

by Qatar Airways for its fleet of 80 A350 aircraft.

Visit us at apex.aero

“It’s really about shifting the emphasis to things that can be put into digital packages.”

Fred Schreiner Thales

In terms of design, Thales employs a measured balance between ergonomics and integration with the look and feel of the aircraft cabin and seats. “Our fixed installations, such as Avant seatback displays, which have a curved lower surface contour, were designed to be complementary to seat design and cabin bag rack and sidewall architectural lines,” Schreiner explains.

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Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: Quentin Reytinas ©THALES; Bernard Rousseau © THAL

Much of staying ahead of time lies in guessing at the future. But perhaps no one can appreciate the enormity of the task more than the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Thales himself, famous for the words: “The past is certain, the future obscure.” It may be so, but as I left 58 Discovery, I felt as if I had been privy to a partial glimpse.

“We’re an innovative bunch,” Schreiner says with equal parts pride and modesty.

“We’re not Google in terms of moving around on skateboards, but we are certainly very agile innovators.”

ES

time works wonders

Q&A

apex experience

Visit us at apex.aero

“

It truly

takes a village to revolutionize the premium-class meal experience. We challenge our catering kitchen partners to go out of their comfort zones.

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Q&A

apex experience

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

> Fast Facts Location:

JFK

IFE Standby:

Nicole Huang

House Hunters International Passport stamp you wish you had:

Egypt

The future of flight will be:

Stress-free

Manager, Onboard Experience JetBlue Airways Corp.

photo: Rodrigo Cid

After completing her MBA at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business in Washington, DC, Nicole joined JetBlue in 2007. She started her airline career in revenue management and later joined the Product Development Onboard Experience team.

It’s her mission to bring humanity back to air travel by offering JetBlue customers the best onboard experience.

To read Nicole’s full Q&A, please visit us online at > apex.aero/ NICOLEHUANG

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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hat does your typical workday look like?

My team starts the day ensuring the onboard offering strategy is aligned with JetBlue’s mission – bringing humanity back to air travel. The day follows with various conference calls or visits to the business partners, such as catering kitchens and restaurant partners, to discuss menu development and other operational matters.

We also review customer and crewmember feedback with internal stakeholders to better understand the customers’ needs. Our day wouldn’t be complete without sampling new snacks, beverages, etc.

Did you choose the airline industry or did it choose you?

I would say a little bit of both. Northwest Airlines invited me to interview for a yield management position. Through the process, I learned a lot about the airline industry and, of course, the flight benefits. While I was not ready to move to Minneapolis, I was definitely intrigued by the airline industry.

I later found out that JetBlue was based in New York, my home away from home (I am from Taiwan), and that marked the beginning of this wonderful journey.

Biggest challenge you’ve ever overcome at work?

It truly takes a village to revolutionize the

premium-class meal experience. The JetBlue Mint experience offers the true tapas-style meal, where customers can choose three out of five delicious offerings. From the menu concept, ingredient sourcing and cooking to plating methods, we challenge our catering kitchen partners to go out of their comfort zones and prepare the meal as designed.

The career path you considered but never followed?

Food truck owner. My entrepreneurial spirit in combination with my mother’s out-of-thisworld fried chicken recipe could have made running the food truck a fun career path.

What do you miss most about home when you’re traveling?

The only bad thing about having a 110-pound Labrador is that I cannot tuck him into a carrier that fits under the seat. I miss Loki, the most handsome Lab on Earth, when I travel. The day is not the same without Loki’s tail wagging and face licking.

Your top three films of all time?

“Carpe diem!” My absolute all-time favorite would be Dead Poets Society. Mr. Keating taught us more than just poetry; he taught us how to be true and proud of ourselves and to make the most out of our lives. Braveheart and Fight Club would be the other two. Movie night, anyone? volume 5, edition 6

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Roundtable

apex experience

Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Patently Yours It’s no secret that patent law is a difficult, but necessary process for all companies to maneuver.

We assemble a roundtable of experts to discuss how to defend innovation in the aviation industry.

by Maryann Simson | illustration Marcelo CĂĄceres

> Roland Gerhards CEO

> Philip Robinson Founder

> Dennis Schell attorney

ZAL

AeroPatent.com

SmithAmundsen LLC

> Alistair Scott vice president, intellectual property Airbus

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Roundtable

apex experience

I

nnovation is one of the most popular terms we use to describe what happens in aerospace every day. Technological breakthroughs, however, aren’t delivered mysteriously by the proverbial stork: They are born of significant brain-scraping effort and collaboration, countless expensive failures and millions upon millions of dollars in research and development.

With passenger demand driving innovation at an unprecedented rate, material ingenuity has become central to the business goals of all leading airframers and original equipment manufacturers. And like any proud parent, a firm having devised something exceptional or unique in the acutely competitive and technology-driven world of aviation is inclined to protect that invention by whatever means necessary.

aircraft seat with taxi takeoff and landing lie flat capability

Visit us at apex.aero

the size of it “Several hundred new patents publish worldwide every week, covering aerospace technologies, products and software,” says Philip Robinson, founder of AeroPatent.com, a web portal for aerospace patent news, insights and research. “Over 250 individual aerospace patents (including all-new patent applications, secondary applications in other countries and granted patents) have published in the name of B/E Aerospace in this year alone.”

According to Dennis Schell, a licensed patent attorney specializing in aerospace at SmithAmundsen, the protection of intellectual property (IP) has always been important for products, but is also becoming essential in business categories that once enjoyed a playing field devoid of such considerations.

“More and more, service companies also differentiate themselves from competitors

14

by the technology employed in delivering those services,” Robinson tells APEX Experience. “This is becoming increasingly true in the airline passenger experience. IP, whether in the form of patents, trademarks, copyrights or trade secrets, is an important tool in achieving business goals – especially in increasing market and value, and managing risks.”

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A lie-flat seat that’s padded all around so passengers can sleep during takeoff and landing.

18

B/E Aerospace Published: May 14, 2015

Alistair Scott Airbus

10

10

AKA: Cubicle Class

“Some of these wacky innovations might be the patent of tomorrow.”

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“[IP] should protect the key differentiating technologies of a manufacturer and provide a ‘war chest’ with which to defend against patent threats from third parties,” says Scott.

“It represents the technology assets of the company which it has created, owns and manages for the benefit of its business.”

the value of it Something upon which all of our sources agree is that, while neither simple nor cheap, obtaining a strongly enforceable patent for an original innovation is highly beneficial in the right scenario. >

36 sleeping box arrangement and aircraft area AKA: Sleep Pods, Sleeping Boxes, Flying Bunk Beds

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Sleep pods for passengers seeking some shut-eye that’s reminiscent of Japanese capsule hotels.

Airbus Operations GmbH Published: Sept. 24, 2015

As one of the world’s leading airframers, Airbus delivers a wide range of high-density passenger aircraft to global airlines and produces multiple cargo and VIP jet variants.

Airbus spends upwards of $3 billion annually on research and development and files more than 500 new patents annually, while extending another 1,200 to 1,600 existing ones worldwide each year.

Alistair Scott, vice-president of Intellectual Property at Airbus, elaborates on the necessity of IP protection: “In the case of civil aerospace, ‘classical’ protection of intellectual property continues to be very important between global players … A more complex reason for the importance of IP has its genesis in the shift of significant design responsibility into the supply chain combined with the trend for collaborative research and technology.”

Airline Passenger Experience Association

the scope of it Patents and other forms of IP protection can play several roles in the aerospace sector.

Used offensively, IP strategy might defend an investment, expand market share, create a barrier to competitors or develop licensing revenue streams from other markets. In some cases, says Schell, it might simply recognize and reward high-performing employees.

“Used defensively, legal and financial risks are managed by addressing IP in employment and business transactions, and by clearing products and services over thirdparty IP,” explains Schell. “Also, securing IP provides another response to third-party claims – for example, counterclaim and cross-licensing opportunities.”

At Airbus, a properly managed patent portfolio must align with the company’s technical and business strategies.

seating arrangements AKA: Hexagonal or Beehive Seating Seating capacity could be increased by arranging passengers face-to-face in a hexagonal pattern.

Zodiac Seats France Published: June 11, 2015

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Patents in the News

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It’s unclear exactly when the first reporter thought to him or herself, “Hey, I think I’ll take a look at some patent filings today and see if there’s a cool story in there,” but since that day, sources like the United States Patent and Trademark 12 Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization have been go-to content banks for media, especially in tech sectors like aviation.

Recently, some very wild and seemingly ridiculous aviation patents have come to light, raising the question: Is this a viable invention that warrants coverage, or have I just fallen victim to yet another form of click bait?

AeroPatent.com founder Philip Robinson has made it his livelihood to constantly monitor aerospace patents. His Twitter account’s rapidly growing following is a testament to how much people enjoy learning about the latest concepts coming out of our industry.

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aircraft 15 and method of serving passengers AKA: Sushi Automat, Conveyor Belt

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Food and duty-free orders delivered straight to your seat via an under-floor conveyor belt.

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SELL GMBH Published: Apr. 9, 2015

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40 transport vehicle upright sleep support system AKA: Cuddle Chair Instead of reclining, passengers could sleep face down with a massage chair-like apparatus for head support.

The Boeing Company Published: Feb. 26, 2015

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“As part of our professional services, we keep a close eye on newly published aerospace patents and publish what we consider to be the most newsworthy on a daily basis. By far, the patents that generate the most feedback are those that have the greatest potential to affect passenger experience,” says Robinson. “By way of example, we recently announced the publication of a Zodiac Aerospace patent application through our Twitter feed. The corresponding patent drawings of its honeycomb high-density economy cabin obviously caught the imagination of the press and public, and that single tweet generated over 6,000 impressions and 3,500 engagements.”

Airbus vice-president of Intellectual Property Alistair Scott suggests that bizarre aerospace patents provide an interesting, short, high-impact technology “sound bite” that is easily digestible by the public.

“Public patent records are relatively easy to monitor for such wild innovations and require little to no fact checking,” Scott says. “Some of them certainly are [wacky] – ours included. However, it is fundamental to the patenting process that there must be no ‘sanity’ filter which might exclude the more unusual ideas. Some of these wacky innovations might be the semiconductor transistor patent of the future, and patent timescales can render an initially wacky patent of today a game changer in 10 years.”

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18 30 “Every cycle can take months, and therefore it is not uncommon for the whole application process to run over a year. Remember that there’s no such thing as a worldwide patent, so every designated territory will incur a time-consuming application and examination process with fees to match,” says Robinson.

“Once the cost of a patent attorney’s services are factored in (be it in-house expertise or an external law firm), combined with the official application and annual maintenance fees levied by national patent offices, it’s typical to invest tens of thousands of dollars to get a family of patents for a single invention through to grant.”

Thoughtful companies should consider the relative value of pursuing protection for each innovation and would involve business, technical and legal managers in the course of their decision-making.

Schell recommends asking a handful of basic questions before initiating the patent process: How central is the innovation to our business goals? Will this be a big differentiator in our marketplace? How broad Airline Passenger Experience Association

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a scope of protection can we obtain? Can we earn licensing revenue from this idea?

All are topics that should be addressed at the outset.

“Carefully selected and pursued, investments in patent protection can pay off 1,000-fold,” Schell adds.

passenger seat 12

arrangement for a vehicle AKA: Stack, Mezzanine or Two-Story Seating By stacking middle-aisle seats on two levels, passengers could have lie-flat comfort.

Airbus Operations GmbH Published: Oct. 1, 2015

the sharing of it Back in 1906, the Wright Brothers were granted a patent for lateral control of an aircraft by means of “wing-warping.” The brothers’ aggressive defence of this patent (and subsequent litigation of competitors for alleged infringement) is said by some to have impeded technological development in aviation for years.

While not everyone agrees on the true significance of those legal dramas, it could be hypothesized that overzealous protection of IP is actually detrimental to industry growth. In the end, it’s all about weighing risk against reward. With proper management, working openly can be exceptionally remunerative. >

“Carefully selected and pursued, investments in patent protection can pay off 1,000-fold.”

Dennis Schell SmithAmundsen LLC volume 5, edition 6

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“The main benefit and rationale for working openly with other entities is the same as that for any collaboration. We can access knowledge and skills which we do not have in the company and discover unexpected synergies, which arise by combining different areas of expertise,” says Scott.

“The main drawback is that this does not come for free. Our research and technology partners rightly expect to benefit from their own intellectual creations.”

Robinson offers the National Composites Centre in Bristol, UK, as a good example of a successful IP coworking arrangement. The center offers a tiered membership setup where diverse parties, including the likes of Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN Aerospace benefit from intelligence and IP resulting from core research projects.

In Hamburg, Germany, a first-of its-kind research center is now under construction.

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The ZAL TechCenter aims to unite numerous fuel cell and aerospace players (including Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and Diehl Aerosystems) under one roof in a “think tank” environment with shared office space, testing facilities and other development infrastructure.

Roland Gerhards, CEO of ZAL, is frequently asked how IP can be safeguarded in such a communal environment as the TechCenter.

“ZAL can support [open working] by moderating the process, from supporting idea generation to documentation of who had that idea,” he tells Experience. “The exact way of working still has to be defined in the TechCenter, and it will be interesting to follow that development.”

Convinced of the benefits, Airbus Germany intends to relocate its entire research and technology department (200-300 staff) to the TechCenter when it opens in 2016.

method and apparatus for adjusting the spacing of vehicle seats based on the size of the seat occupant

Trials and Tribulations The United States’ complicated patent system is not for the faint of heart. Multinational companies risk countless lawsuits to even attempt bringing products to market.

President Obama and a Republican-controlled Congress realize this, but fail to agree on common solutions. Critics blame poorly defined patents granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit lacks the judicial patent expertise of its specialized European counterparts to rule effectively.

Even from an attorney’s perspective, sometimes together is better. “How IP is developed, held, licensed, etc., varies for each partnership and joint venture, but cross-licensing or jointly owned arrangements are generally a win-win,” says Schell. “And in some cases a necessary path to success in the aerospace industry.”

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10 Leg Room AKA: Adjustable

Seating, Knee Rescue Seat Airline seating that slides back or forth at the tap of a flight attendant’s finger.

B/E Aerospace Inc. Published: May 28, 2015

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“

The travel experience today is a series of anxious moments with a competitive overtone. I believe great improvements can and will be made.

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> Fast Facts Location:

SAN

Favorite aircraft:

B777

Don Buchman

Favorite airport restaurant:

Phil’s BBQ (SAN)

The future of flight will be:

Effortless

Vice-President and General Manager, Commercial Mobility Business ViaSat Inc.

photo: VIASAT

Don is responsible for directing ViaSat’s Commercial Mobility Business, providing industryleading Ka-band and Ku-band in-flight Internet to aviation markets worldwide.

He has been at the forefront of communication system development for military and commercial applications since the 1990s, and now leads the next wave of innovation, taking the Exede In The Air in-flight broadband service to commercial airline customers.

To read Don’s full Q&A, please visit us online at > apex.aero/ DONBUCHMAN

Airline Passenger Experience Association

D

id you choose the airline industry or did it choose you?

We found each other. My undergraduate degree is in aeronautical engineering, and then I went on for a communications engineering master’s degree. So it seemed natural that when I went to work for a satellite engineering company I would find a way to make the Internet work on airplanes!

What are the challenges with being a supplier to airlines? What are some of the highlights?

The way we communicate, contribute and consume information on the ground has gone through a revolution and continues to do so.

Consumers want their own content, when they want it – even when flying – and we want to deliver it to them. Our challenge is bringing the rapid pace of innovation we see today in the Internet and connected device worlds to the airlines in a timely fashion and with the quality the passenger expects.

What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?

The convenience factor. The travel experience today is a series of anxious moments with a competitive overtone. For example: I need to leave for the airport early in case there is traffic; I need to get in the

fastest line through security; I need to line up early at the gate to get my carry-on bag in the overhead bin; will they still have the chicken by the time the food cart gets to me? I need to get off the plane first to get to my next gate or catch the transport train; and the list goes on. Premium-passenger products have focused on this; however, the standard, economy-paying customer still must endure these moments. I believe great improvements can and will be made to make these series of anxious moments better – enabling the passenger to have a more relaxed, convenient experience.

What’s the one item you can’t travel without?

Noise-canceling headphones.

What are your ritual travel habits?

I almost always seek out a local deli where I can get a Reuben sandwich. But in Paris, it is always a baguette sandwich.

Fail-proof travel tip?

To overcome jet lag, get vigorous exercise in the morning and evening, and avoid caffeine after lunch.

Your top three films of all time?

The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction and Caddyshack (if Caddyshack can be considered a “film”).

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Satellites

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Satellites

The Business of Constellations Inmarsat’s Global Xpress program rocketed one step closer to completion this August with the successful launch of I-5 F3, the last in a three-satellite constellation that will deliver Ka-band connectivity to airlines and passengers worldwide. But as the orbital space around Earth gets more crowded in the coming year, the stakes in the connectivity business have never been higher.

by Sophie Woodrooffe | illustration Jorge de la Paz

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Satellites

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n August 28, at precisely 12:44 p.m.

(BST), a satellite was propelled into orbit deep in the heart of the Kazakh Steppe, and the telecommunications industry was officially set ablaze.

The satellite was a $400-million Inmarsat-5 F3, part of a three-satellite constellation, manufactured by Boeing and launched via a Proton Breeze M rocket by International Launch Services (ILS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

There is a lot of history at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It’s the oldest and largest space launch facility in the world. It’s here that Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, was propelled into orbit. And now, thanks to the August launch, it might just become known to aviation geeks the world over as the birthplace of truly high-speed in-flight connectivity.

High-speed connectivity has been a pleasant reality for nearly 30 percent of airlines for a while. But with the Global Xpress (GX) network, Inmarsat is changing the nature of delivery, access and speed.

By putting a Ka-band (pronounced “kay-ay band”) three-satellite constellation into geosynchronous orbit, the British satellite telecommunications company has created the world’s first single-provider satellite network to deliver broadband speeds of up to 50 megabytes per second almost >

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We Have Lift Off Fully integrated with the launch vehicle, Inmarsat-5 F3 stood at nearly 200 feet tall, about as tall as a 15-story building.

Weight including payload: 704,882 pounds Separated spacecraft mass: 13,382 pounds Launch vehicle: Proton M/Breeze M Mission time: 15 hours, 31 minutes

“Just as for I-5 F1 and I-5 F2, it was an emotional moment to see a complex piece of space machinery, which took years to build, disappearing out of sight for good.”

Franco Carnevale Vice-President Satellite and Launch Vehicles, Inmarsat 76

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Isla Bonita (Beautiful Island), the new comedy from legendary Spanish director Fernando Colomo.

Available now for in-flight territories worldwide. “...vintage Colomo, a sun-bathed comedy of manners and fish-in-water tale that delivers a forgiving take on man’s incorrigible romantic optimism.” - Variety.

Contact: Richard Barsby richard.barsby@skyline-ife.com

Imagination takes flight.

World Cinema | Safety media | Audio Programming | PRAM recording | Full service media lab

Satellites

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I-5 F1

anywhere on the planet and up to 36,000 feet above it, excluding the polar regions.

“This project represents a major commitment by Inmarsat,” Leo Mondale, president of Aviation at Inmarsat, tells APEX Media. “For the first time, we will be able to deliver seamless, superfast broadband communications across the globe – on land, sea and in air – from one single operator.”

It is a highly bold, $1.6-billion move that has taken the help of a nearly 400-strong team at Boeing Satellite Systems International, which built the four satellites (one is for redundancy purposes and will be completed mid 2016), as well as partnerships with ILS, Honeywell (commissioned to build the aviation terminals) and a host of connectivity providers.

“Each Inmarsat-5 satellite has nearly 500,000 parts, ranging from small screws to highly specialized pieces of hardware,” explains Steve Schmidt, program manager, Boeing. All components are built to endure the harsh environment of space for 15 years.

“There’s no bringing a satellite back for repairs once it’s launched,” Schmidt adds.

piloting an evolution Global Xpress was announced a little more than five years ago, and came at a time when leadership at Inmarsat (which was established in 1979 as an intergovernmental body by the International Maritime Organization and now functions as a publicly traded company) was looking for opportunities to evolve the business.

“In our business, you have to decide now – where you want to be five to seven years from now.”

Leo Mondale Inmarsat 78

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December 8, 2013 Serving: Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia I-5 F2 February 1, 2015 Serving: The Americas and the Atlantic Ocean

Uplink speeds of up to 5 megabytes per second

Downlink speeds of up to 50 megabytes per second

Planned orbital location: 55 °

I-5 F3 August 28, 2015 Serving: The Pacific region

89 Ka-band transponders, six steerable beams

I-5 F3 I-5 F3

2016 Spare satellite in event of failure.

Two solar wings employ five panels of ultra-triple junction solar cells.

Designed to generate approximately 15 kilowatts of power at the start of service and 13.8 kilowatts by the end of its 15-year lifespan.

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Mondale joined the company in 2004 and was responsible for piloting the transition in the aviation space. “My job was to look at the market,” he explains. “People were talking about needing more data … It was less clear 10 or 12 years ago what exactly that meant, how much should you bet on it, how much should you invest.”

But when the idea to build a business around offering data and speed did emerge, it wasn’t easy convincing management to make the leap, says Mondale. “We really had to walk people down a path as to why an investment in much higher throughput equipment would be the next right step for Inmarsat … That was the hardest part.”

Global Xpress was spearheaded, in other words, just as the company itself was evolving into a market-driven telecommunications company rather than a satellite network services provider, which Mondale says ended up working in their favor. “It’s fortuitous that we made a decision four years ago to be in a position today to have broadband infrastructure around the world.”

Nevertheless, the road ahead remains a long one. For starters, the project is a

year behind schedule, delayed three times because of Proton launch failures. The delays, while not unheard of in the industry, “have been disappointing,” says David Schoen, SVP Aviation Tech at Inmarsat. They have also compelled Inmarsat leadership to address whether they will meet the target of delivering $500 million in revenue five years after the launch of the commercial GX services. According to Schoen, that expectation “remains unchanged.”

getting the ka-band together Delivering what Inmarsat dubs “Internet of Everywhere” will likely have far-reaching implications for the increasingly crowded connectivity mini-industry, among which Gogo, Global Eagle Entertainment and ViaSat are big players. Inmarsat is betting on the Ka-band and the single-provider status to break through.

As Katie Potts, corporate communications manager at Inmarsat, explains, it’s the first time a Ka-band satellite has been launched and configured with a ground base. Traditionally, Inmarsat satellites use Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Satellites

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I-5 F2

What is Geostationary Orbit?

“In a geostationary orbit, a satellite appears stationary over a single spot on Earth,” explains Steve Schmidt, program manager, Boeing. In actuality, the satellite is orbiting the Earth at the same speed that the planet is turning so that it stays in place above a single location. “In other orbit types, such as inclined, low Earth or polar orbits,” says Schmidt, “the satellite will appear to move through the sky at different speeds.”

Geostationary satellites orbit the Earth approximately 22,300 miles above the equator on a path called the Clarke Belt, in honor of science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, who popularized the orbit concept. Most communications satellites, broadcast satellites and SBAS satellites operate in geostationary orbit, because they can be relied upon for repeat observation or coverage over a large given area.

Want more? We gathered industry leaders from Inmarsat, SITA OnAir, ViaSat and GEE to discuss the future of aircraft connectivity.

I-5 F1

the L-band frequency, which is known as reliable and resilient, but which is also slow compared with Ka-band, which can deliver a web experience equivalent to a 3G network.

And while “there are other satellite providers that perhaps own and operate a satellite in one region,” Potts says, they “have to patchwork to create a full service.” As the reasoning goes – the more middlemen required to maintain that patchwork, the more room for error. Inmarsat’s, on the other hand, will be “the first globally available constellation from one provider.”

Another powerful frequency also in use is the Ku-band, says Schoen, but even it has four times less available bandwidth. When explaining the value of the Ka-band over other more popular frequencies, such as S-band, NASA has likened it to a crowded restaurant.

When it’s just you and your date, there’s no problem, but as the room fills up, it becomes harder to hear. “This expanded spectrum resource,” says Schoen, “delivered via spot beam technology, ensures that Global Xpress will be faster and less expensive than current Ku-band market offerings, delivered to smaller and cheaper terminals.”

Airline Passenger Experience Association

welcome to the new ife Those in the in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry should perk up their ears when they hear “faster and less expensive” and “Internet” in the same sentence. “IFE is an old model that will quickly become outdated,” explains Mondale. “Passengers don’t want to have their entertainment choices limited or be dictated by the airline.

True broadband to the aircraft, and the increasing use of personal devices instead of seatback IFE systems, presents to both the airline and the passenger increased choice, flexibility and satisfaction with the whole in-flight experience.”

But the truth is, there is no simple solution – yet. Inmarsat has bragging rights for becoming the world’s first single provider of a Ka-band satellite network, but that doesn’t mean this will be the perfect turnkey solution for all airlines. Over the next few years, a number of Ku-band High Throughput Satellites are expected to launch, promising optimized coverage of higher-trafficked routes – an offering that some analysts argue will be more palatable to airline customers.

> APEX.AERO/ Connectivity-Roundtable

One of the messier realities of the airline industry is just how particular connectivity demands have become. Long-haul flights need connectivity over water that air-toground solutions can’t handle, while certain airlines are outfitted with specific antennae and don’t have the margins to retrofit. The list of hurdles, in other words, is as vast as the Kazakh Steppe.

Add to the mix the fact that Inmarsat is predicted to be offering direct-to-airline service, which means that its entrance into this part of the market could stir up problems for its current connectivity distribution partners like Gogo and SITA OnAir. Indeed, these are exciting – and for the companies involved, risky – times for in-flight connectivity. The upshot for the rest of us is that even as Inmarsat begins evolving both what it offers and how it offers it, the added incentive to other connectivity providers means the market is only getting more competitive. And just as it is on the ground, competition in the sky is always a good thing for paying customers.

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I think we all

take flying for granted. It is just amazing that we fly through the skies safely – and in most cases, get entertained for free.

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> Fast Facts Frequent Flight:

ATL-LAX

The future of flight will be:

Immersive

Favorite airport:

ATL

Jennifer Arnold

Paper or electronic boarding pass?

Electronic

Senior Product Manager, Onboard Experience, IFE & Wi-Fi Delta Air Lines

photo: vance walstra

Jennifer (Jenny) is the senior product manager for in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi and Delta Studio at Delta Air Lines. She began her media career with CNN in 2000 and transitioned to Turner Latin America in 2006, where she worked in planning and acquisitions until she joined Delta in May 2014.

To read Jennifer’s full Q&A, please visit us online at > apex.aero/ jenniferarnold

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I

f you weren’t doing your current job, what would you love to be doing?

I vacillate between the dreamy answer of being a hiking guide and my very real interest in working as an advocate and teacher of special education in public schools.

Something that never ceases to amaze you in your industry?

Everything! Google “Louis CK” and “air travel” and behold the funny. I think we all take flying for granted. It is just amazing that we fly through the skies safely – and in most cases, get entertained for free.

What do you think is the most overlooked aspect of the passenger experience?

Deplaning.

Craziest travel experience?

On another airline, I was given a seat twice, boarded twice as a pass rider (they had accidentally canceled my reservation) and then twice removed from the flight. The third time was the charm and I was put in first class.

What’s the best seat on the airplane?

Any seat next to your friend, partner or spouse on the way to a vacation destination.

What’s the one item you can’t travel without?

My super big-and-soft plaid scarf – part security blanket, part practical to keep me warm.

What’s the most efficient way to pack a carry-on suitcase?

Roll your clothes!

Fail-proof travel tip?

Be flexible and be polite.

Two things you miss most about home when you’re traveling?

That’s easy, I have four: my kids.

Your top three films of all time?

This is a difficult question for a movie nerd like me, but here are the ones that most consistently hang in my top 10: Children of Men, Lawrence of Arabia and Spirited Away. A call-out to the best docs: The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War and Happy People: A Year in the Taiga.

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Taxi Tech

Taxiing

Follow the author on Twitter > @HowardSlutsken

Shh! Unbeknownst to passengers, emerging fuel-saving aircraft taxi equipment is making that crucial trip from the apron to the runway safer and quieter.

photo: TaxiBot

by Howard Slutsken

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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S ABOVE At Frankfurt Airport, operators ready TaxiBot for narrow-body and, TOP, wide-body aircraft. BELOW A close-up of the mechanism on a cradle being tested on an A320.

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ince November 2014, passengers flying from Frankfurt Airport on Lufthansa’s Boeing 737s have been the first in the world to experience an innovative technology without, perhaps, even realizing it. The airplanes have been pushing back from the gate and taxiing to the runway as usual. But on these flights, the 737s have been rolling from the ramp to the runway without using the aircraft engines. Under the control of the pilots, the jets are being towed by a semi-autonomous aircraft tractor called TaxiBot. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) led the development of TaxiBot, along with Airbus, Lufthansa LEOS, and ground-service equipment manufacturer TLD Group. With a different approach, competing systems in development by WheelTug, electric green taxiing system (EGTS) by Honeywell, Safran, and Technodinamika instead add pilotcontrolled electric motors to an aircraft’s landing gear. But all of the concepts give an aircraft the ability to taxi without engines running, making airports quieter and safer.

Visit us at apex.aero

The technology is also a big nod to the industry’s global mandate to use less fuel.

electric drive From the outside, TaxiBot looks similar to a widely used wheel-lift aircraft tractor, but is a completely new vehicle, according to Ran Braier, program director at IAI, which owns TaxiBot International. “Normally, this kind of tow tractor has a hydrostatic drive. In the case of TaxiBot, the driveline is electrical.

The reaction time of the electric driveline is much better,” says Braier. “Since we need to very carefully maintain the load on the nose landing gear in a narrow envelope, we need a very fast reaction time.”

When it’s ready to roll, the aircraft’s nose gear is lifted up in TaxiBot’s specially designed, sensor-laden cradle. Working with the ramp crew, a safety driver performs the pushback and then switches control of TaxiBot to the pilots. “Going forward is similar to an automatic car in drive gear. When you release the brakes, the vehicle starts to move forward.

TaxiBot is exactly the same,” explains Braier.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: TaxiBot

Taxiing

The tractor knows how fast to go, thanks to a precise navigation system that’s programmed with the airport’s taxiway speed limits.

TaxiBot senses when the pilot applies the aircraft’s brakes and does the same to the tug.

When the pilot maneuvers the nose wheel’s tiller control for a turn, TaxiBot measures the rotation of the nose gear and moves the tractor’s all-wheel steering to match the precise turning characteristics of the aircraft.

“We want to give the pilot the same feeling as normal taxiing, so the pilots don’t need special training,” says Braier. Once at the runway, the aircraft is released, starts its engines – and takes off. Pilots will also have

the option to start the airplane’s engines while on the cradle.

To convoy a fully loaded Boeing 737 or Airbus A320, TaxiBot has an 800 hp powerplant, compared with 150 hp in a normal tow tractor. Why? “We need to bring the airplane to the same taxiing speed as if it were doing it on jet engine power,” says Braier. “Normal tractors in pushback are traveling 5-7 km/h, and they cannot take a fully loaded airplane to 42-43 km/h like TaxiBot.” With the main engines off, and only the airplane’s auxiliary power unit (APU) running, Braier says TaxiBot will save 85 percent of the fuel burn during taxi.

In the past 10 years, approximately 825 individual patent applications have been made pertaining to aerospace eTaxi technology. But it’s not just wheels and motors that are being patented.

Aeropatent.com breaks eTaxi patents down into four different categories: mechanical and electronic elements pertaining to system architecture, the pilot’s flight deck control and display, operational procedures relating to commercial use of eTaxi systems, and other niche technologies related to research and development.

■

System Architecture Flight Deck Control & Display

■ ■

15% 65% 15%

5%

Operational Procedures Niche Technologies

Newly Published Patent Families – by Technology Sector ■ ■

System Architecture Flight Deck Control & Display

■ ■

Operational Procedures Niche

25

Honeywell and Safran’s EGTS was first demonstrated to the public at the 2013 International Paris Air Show. An Airbus A320 had an electric motor installed on one wheel of each of the main landing gear, with power coming from the airplane’s APU. With engine inlets covered, the taxiing A320 was controlled from the cockpit through a pilot interface unit. The EGTS aircraft has logged more than 1,500 kilometers of rolling tests, including pushback, tight turns and U-turns, in various load configurations and runway conditions.

“EGTS is compelling, but a complex technology to implement in existing aircraft, while minimizing the aircraft modifications required,” says the EGTS team. Since the 2013 demo, the team has “remained focused on our development work with Airbus and our testing partners as we work towards a firm launch date.” >

“Can the electric motor move the aircraft?

Check! Can it move aircraft in snow? Yes!”

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15

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Lufthansa is dispatching aircraft every day at Frankfurt Airport using TaxiBot. At a major airport like FRA, Braier suggests that somewhere between 70 and 85 percent of the ground operations could be done by TaxiBot. “The rest would be using conventional tractors,” he says.

Testing has begun on a 1,500 hp, 12-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering TaxiBot for wide-body aircraft, covering airplanes from the Boeing 767 to the Airbus A380.

The first airplane to be certified will probably be the 747, Braier says. But for airlines operating at airports where TaxiBot isn’t available, other suppliers are hoping to meet the same fuel-saving objectives by installing a self-contained electric-drive system on an aircraft’s landing gear.

auxiliary power

It’s Not Just Wheels and Motors

■

Taxiing

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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Source: Aeropatent.com

Airline Passenger Experience Association

Isaiah Cox WheelTug volume 5, edition 6

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Taxiing

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When compared to dual-engine taxi operations, Electric Green Taxi Systems (EGTSs) deliver considerable reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide:

NO

CO

CO

x emission

emission

2 emission

Up to 50% total

Up to 75% total

Up to 60% total

One aircraft equipped with an EGTS is the equivalent of:

932 fewer cars producing NOx

and

948 more trees lowering CO2

EGTS can deliver up to 4% savings of total block fuel consumption.

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And, at Moscow’s MAKS-2015 air show, Russia’s Technodinamika announced it is also developing an “electrical ground taxiing system.” The diverse aviation company calls it “the first development of its kind in Russia to date.”

towing the nose Gibraltar-based WheelTug has developed electric motor technology for a nose gear installation. CEO Isaiah Cox says, “We had a list of showstoppers that we had to deal with.

Can the electric motor move the aircraft?

Check! Can it move the aircraft in snow?

Yes! Can it fit inside the [nose] wheel? That’s trickier, but we got there.”

After initial tests in 2012 on a Germania Airlines 737, WheelTug is now undergoing extensive testing in a sophisticated dynamometer, which simulates and measures operational tests. Cox laughingly calls the device the “Iron Foot,” paying homage to a ground-bound Iron Bird often used in aircraft testing. “It allows us to duplicate the resistance of going uphill or downhill, of different traction or thermal conditions and varying contact pressures,” says Cox. A WheelTug installation will include a camera system called TaxiCam, giving the pilots situational awareness around the aircraft. According to Cox, close to 1,000 WheelTug systems have been ordered by 22 airlines.

Like the other systems, WheelTug will reduce emissions, fuel burn and noise; improve ramp safety; and eliminate expensive damage from foreign-object debris during taxi by not having the engines running. Cox also identifies a potential time benefit to an airline and its passengers by eliminating the time taken by a pushback tug to disconnect.

And, in a throwback to the early days of jet travel, Cox suggests that WheelTug-equipped aircraft could park sideways at a terminal, a manoeuver he calls “the twist.” With jet bridges at both the front and back aircraft doors, turnaround would be quicker, saving up to 20 minutes per cycle.

WheelTug’s entry into service is still a couple of years away, according to Cox. “We’ve been preparing for the formal submission to the Federal Aviation Administration, for the formal launch and certification process,” he says. Canada’s Air Transat is expecting to provide a Boeing 737 for certification testing, and the airline plans to install WheelTug on its permanent fleet of 737s.

Keith Lawless, Air Transat’s senior director, Business Sustainability and Improvement, says, “We believe that the WheelTug will save us money by saving fuel, maintenance costs and ground-handling costs. It will benefit the environment by reducing [greenhouse gas] emissions. Finally, we believe that it will provide an operational advantage by enabling us to perform faster turnarounds.”

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: egts, WheelTug, Icons made by Freepik from flaticon.com

LEFT Honeywell and Safran’s EGTS uses the auxiliary power unit to power motors on the main wheels.

TOP The WheelTug system during ground testing in Prague.

Application development specialists for in-flight entertainment and communications systems.

Our software is installed on hundreds of aircraft and used by thousands of passengers every day in every corner of the world all in their own languages.

Applications we have developed allow passengers to view their location on the map, watch on-demand video & audio, play games, go shopping, reserve a hotel, car or just browse for information all from 30,000ft.

Established in 1998 with development facilities in Chichester, UK and Lake Forest, CA and a team of over 40 experienced developers we provide unrivalled expertise in the IFEC industry.

20151022_emphasis printAD_2_OP.pdf

Apex 1-2 Hor.indd 1

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2014-09-22 4:47 PM

Q&A

Visit us at apex.aero

“

People stay in this industry.

It is so much fun, they want to stay forever!

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�

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Follow us @theAPEXassoc

Q&A

> Fast Facts Location:

YUL

Now Watching:

House of Cards Favorite Aircraft:

Boeing 747

Brand of Suitcase:

Tumi

Isabelle Bégin Managing Director

Skeye Inflight Entertainment Inc.

photo: Isabelle Bégin, Skeye

Before founding Skeye Inflight Entertainment in 2005, Isabelle worked on and off as a flight attendant from 1989 to 1999. After three years as in-flight entertainment manager for Air Canada, she joined Just for Laughs as director of International Sales, and later held the same position at Cité Amérique.

To read Isabelle’s full Q&A, please visit us online at > apex.aero/ Isabellebegin

Airline Passenger Experience Association

S

omething that never ceases to amaze you in your industry?

People stay in this industry. It is so much fun, they want to stay forever!

What does your typical workday look like?

E-mails when at home and lots of meetings and e-mails when I travel.

What are your ritual travel habits?

When I go to Europe, I eat right after takeoff and I go to sleep. I always wear comfortable clothing made of natural fibers (cotton, linen or wool). I also drink a lot of water.

What’s the most efficient way to pack a carry-on suitcase?

Neutral colors, basic items such as a nice pair of jeans, white shirts, a black dress, a nice jacket. Shoes and boots are important to create great looks. And jewelry.

What’s the one item you can’t travel without?

My cashmere scarf.

Two things you miss most about home when you’re traveling?

My kids (my husband travels with me) and home.

What’s the best seat on the airplane?

Economy: bulkhead aisle. Business: window seat toward the front.

What’s the best meal you’ve ever had during a flight?

The food is always very good in Air France’s business class. Great wines as well.

Fail-proof travel tip?

Eat well, sleep and drink a lot of water.

Favorite airport restaurant?

Juggle Juice Bar in Amsterdam. Every time I go through this airport I go get a fresh juice made with carrots, celery, kale, apple, spinach, parsley, lemon and lots of ginger. It is filled with vitamins. It makes me feel great and it truly helps for the jet lag.

Favorite hotel?

Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme. They have the best breakfast and everything is done and cooked to perfection. Their hot chocolate is exquisite. Every time I go, I drink two or three a day! And I love their barman who won “best barman” in France. He creates excellent and beautiful cocktails.

Your top three films of all time?

Forrest Gump, Fargo and The Intouchables. volume 5, edition 6

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Venture

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An Airliner Lands in the Valley Airbus is setting up shop in Silicon Valley. With new digs in the geek playground, and armed with its own band of forwardthinking techies, the aircraft manufacturer is inventing the future of aviation.

by Jordan Yerman | illustration Nelson Aedo

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For more from the startup world, visit > APEX.AERO/STARTUP

Thinking like a startup means working from a blank slate. What if you could just reinvent your entire industry?

N

o company innovates like a company that’s fighting for survival.

That truism is the basis of Silicon Valley’s transformation from the sleepy suburbs south of San Francisco to the center of the high-tech world. Back in the day, the US military was in an arms race with the then Soviet Union. Rather than go toe to toe and tank for tank, the Pentagon wanted to fight smarter. Top brass reached out to Fairchild Semiconductor, one of the only companies in the world at the time that could build silicon transistors.

Thus began a symbiotic relationship between established industries and tech startups (and, while we’re at it, hipster coffee shops). That relationship has only strengthened over time as the airline industry leans heavily on the tech world to take in-flight entertainment and connectivity, check-in and even snack sales to the next level. Perhaps it was inevitable, but now we’re seeing airline companies dive directly into the tumultuous world of Silicon Valley innovation.

Thinking like a startup means working from a blank slate: What if you could just reinvent your entire industry, forget the legacy constraints? That outside-the-cabin

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thinking is just what airlines and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) need in this highly competitive, low-margin marketplace, and Airbus is betting big on that very idea.

Airbus isn’t just competing with established aerospace companies; upstart startups like Elon Musk’s SpaceX have landed in the valley, as well as satellite launcher Planet Labs and drone-based mapping company Skycatch.

california dreaming To future-proof itself, Airbus has booted up two new Silicon Valley ventures, both of which are firmly in the domain of the adventurous.

To helm them, Airbus hired not only two Valley mainstays, but two disruptors.

Airbus Group Ventures is in the business of writing checks to the smartest young companies it can find. Its latest key hire is Tim Dombrowski, former partner at venture capital (VC) firm Andreessen Horowitz, and global director of Biz Dev at HewlettPackard. In leading Airbus Group Ventures, Dombrowski brings his deep experience to the complicated, high-stakes game of emerging-technology investment.

Beyond just funding Valley startups, Airbus has taken an active role in shaping them by opening an innovation lab. The OEM’s startup incubator is sort of like a passenger experience version of the US Military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Leading the Airbus innovation lab is selfdescribed “complexity geek” Paul Eremenko, most recently director of Engineering for Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects division. His baby was Project Ara, a modular smartphone whose hardware components could be upgraded, rather than just tossed atop an ever-swelling landfill as the materials to build such phones become more difficult to source. A great fit, considering the length of time an aircraft must fly until it spends time in a desert boneyard. Its interior can be remodeled and retrofitted to make it more modern, but then it must fly again for many years in its current configuration. Before that? Eremenko worked for the actual DARPA. “We are thrilled to welcome Tim and Paul to Airbus Group. Both bring tremendous experience in their relative fields and an entrepreneurial spirit that aligns with our vision for the Airbus Group Ventures fund and the business innovation center,” says Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus Group in a press release. “Our investment and engagement through these new initiatives are key elements in the global transformation of our company.” > Airline Passenger Experience Association

Venture

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Visit us at apex.aero

More Like Apple Speaking in Seattle at an annual company conference in 2014, Boeing’s co-chief executive, Jim McNerney, said he wanted Boeing to upstart the original equipment manufacturer’s approach to innovation. “The more-forless world will not let you pursue moon shots,” he said.

“We want to be more like Apple than the apocryphal, every 25 years, because the risk in this company is in the integration, is in the [building].”

In a keynote address at the AIAA Aviation conference this summer in Washington, DC, Airbus CEO Tom Enders echoed the idea that the aerospace industry could stand to take a few cues from the unrelenting tech world. “What distinguishes the startup technology community is its focus on being bold regardless of risk and regardless of offending anybody,” he explained. “Our energy must go toward riding the tech wave, not protecting ourselves against it.”

For Enders, partnering with “new disruptors,” is key to bringing aerospace to the forefront of technological advancements again. “The industry was the driver of technological progress in the ’50s, ’60s and beyond.

We were bold, too,” he said. “[We] need to recapture that pioneering spirit and find ways to work with new audacious partners.”

In 2010, Apple surpassed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

Still on Top Apple Microsoft Alphabet Cisco Oracle Yahoo!

Qualcomm EMC eBay Facebook 0

100

200 Short-term and long-term investment cash in billions

Sources: S&P Capital IQ, Forbes

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Venture

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venture playground Incubators are boot camps for startups, which take fresh-faced entrepreneurs and hone their ideas into something marketable – like a no-nonsense personal trainer for your fledgling business. Airbus will use the VC company and its innovation lab to bring new enterprises into its already established ecosystem.

“Big corporations have visions; small startup companies have solutions,” says Sally Ann Reiss, founder and CEO of PlayyOn, employee number one of TiVo and founding director of BioSF. Having run a huge biotech incubator herself, Reiss is not new to the game. She’s intimately familiar with the dynamic that emerges when a bunch of kids, hyperactive and maybe too smart for their own good, get to run riot in the biggest playground they’ve ever seen. These makers and doers are free to do and make, but under a larger company’s auspices.

“Those incubators are showcases for the big companies to have a look at what’s going on in research and technology,” says Reiss. It’s like being on a reality show: You’re in unnaturally close proximity to your competitors and potential collaborators, and under the spotlights of mega-corporate scrutiny the whole time. Can you handle the pressure? That’s part of the test.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

people of the world

the new normal

A company is nothing without the minds that drive it, and Airbus knows this. One unique problem with staffing in Silicon Valley is that these tech workers are too good. You can’t hire them, because they can’t be hired.

“There’s amazing talent here, but everyone wants to start their own company,” says Reiss. “Innovators and really clever business people want to invent their own things. The only way [big companies] can get access to that talent is to create an environment where they’ll come and play in their store.”

Not content with California dreaming, Airbus is also courting the startup world in its hometown of Toulouse, France, with a biz dev gymnasium called BizLab, which will be the first of several across the globe. Airbus BizLab hit the ground running this past summer with an initial cohort of five startups.

“The quality of the projects has made the selection process tougher than expected, which is good news,” says Bruno Gutierres, head of BizLab, in a press release.

Aside from wireless 3-D printing data transfer and ground system equipment provisioning technology, one product will stand out even to the layperson: Hong Kong-based Paperclip Design’s seat that can transform from a premium-economy seat to a lie-flat business-class bed. “The challenging phase of transforming ideas into reality begins, and we can’t really wait,” says Gutierres.

Welcome to the new normal, says Reiss: “Everywhere I turn, everyone’s got an incubator! Disney has an incubator here in Palo Alto. I was like, ‘What?!,’ but it’s one step past a VC. If you make progress, Disney might come in and fund you, or they might just buy you outright. Very fascinating, and very smart on the part of the big corporations. My guess is, Airbus is coming in and saying, ‘We’re gonna create a playground!’” Reiss reckons that the smart kids will come running. Just as today’s bachelor’s degree is yesterday’s high school diploma, participation in an incubator may well soon be a necessary phase in a serious startup’s life cycle.

“In some ways, these accelerators are like internships,” says Reiss. “They see if you can do what you say you’re going to do. If they like you, they’ll keep you.” Getting that sage nod of approval from a juggernaut like Airbus is high praise indeed, and perhaps the beginning of a blindingly bright future.

What, what did she say? Accelerators? “‘Accelerator’ just sounds sexier than ‘incubator,’” says Reiss with a laugh. Is it too late for a rewrite?

Follow the author on Twitter > @jordanyerman

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Travelogue

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Remember the Fantasy Born a jet setter, Linda Massarella has trotted her way across the globe from one opportunity to the next. And while she’s made a habit out of taking to the skies, her childhood wanderlust persists.

by Linda Massarella | illustration Mathias Sielfeld

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F

araway places have always captured my imagination. As a girl, I would often play the game of “spin the globe” with my older sister, taking turns with our fingers to see where we would land. Egypt would see us sneaking our mother’s liquid eyeliner and our brother’s plastic snake, so we could pretend to be Cleopatra in her final moments. A spin to England? Why, we became John Lennon and Paul McCartney, of course, singing harmonies from The White Album – or maybe Audrey Hepburn with her full-on Cockney Eliza Doolittle twang before Professor Henry Higgins “fixed” her up. Another turn on the ball’s axis transported us to Siam – did I mention it was a very old globe? – where we magically turned into Anna and the King from the musical The King and I. Over time, I have made those travel fantasies a reality. I pinched my pennies during a summer journalism internship at Toronto’s Globe and Mail back in 1986, with the aim of finally making my first trip

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apex experience

out of North America. The only way to get an airplane ticket back then was to go to either the airlines directly or a travel agent (Priceline was still a good 10 years away from being created). I chose the travel agent, who regaled me with choices. I was one of the legions of alienated Albert Camus fans at the time, so I went with the agent’s recommendation to fly to Paris, because I could get a direct flight on Wardair Canada.

Complimentary drinks and a killer dinner of beef Wellington had all of us happy.

Travelogue

Refined, ladylike and oh-so excited was how I felt as I buckled myself into the Boeing 747 bound for Orly Airport. The cabin crew at Wardair – a small airline that ended up being folded into Canadian Airlines just three years later – was famous for its white-gloved service for every single passenger. True to its reputation, the service was spectacular.

Sweet smiles, complimentary drinks and a killer dinner of beef Wellington (yes, I’ll never forget it: It was beef Wellington) had all of us on the flight laughing and happy. Above all, though, that airplane was spic and span, the flight attendants handed out heated washcloths before and after dinner and there was elegant pump soap in the bathroom with matching hand lotion. For the ladies, there were even individually wrapped sanitary pads discreetly folded into a secure cabinet.

When I landed in Paris, bleary-eyed at 7 a.m., I was ready for anything. The fact I ended up staying in Europe and not needing a return ticket for four years is another story. >

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In July, I joined the APEX Media team at the Montreal office. I was finally returning home to Canada and my family after 25 years of working as a newspaper journalist and magazine editor in Europe, New York and Los Angeles. It turned out those early years of travel gave me invaluable skills on the international desks of major news organizations. One of the conditions of employment here at APEX is that I be free to travel. Are you kidding? You call that a “condition”? True, two children can clip your wings, as they absolutely should, but my kids are pretty much grown now and safely in university.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I quickly realized that APEX and the passenger experience industry was a complicated beast. APEX serves its storied members, yet also helps those members define the direction of air travel. In the first month of the job, I hunted for themes of what APEX really means – and where APEX is going in this rapidly evolving planet and galaxy.

Words are vital and I have a habit of jotting individual words down when I am trying to understand something. Some of the images I noted about our members are “Elegant,” “Hopeful,” “Boss,” “Image Makers,” “Brilliant,” “Economic Leaders” and “Charles Lindbergh.” About what I see for the future of the airline industry? “Athenian,” “Innovative,” “Saviors,” “Diplomats,” “Stately” and, most importantly, “Arbiters of Security and Safety.”

Galloping to Portland, Oregon, for APEX’s annual EXPO was the first big trip on my plate, and my new lexicon danced in my head. My brain was also brimming with to-do lists – one of which was writing this travelogue.

But as I pulled down the tray table to set

At EXPO, my flight fantasies and excitement quickly returned.

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apex experience

down my laptop, I took a good look around and realized how far the industry has to go in order to mix those good old days of travel with the ones ahead. I think we can agree that some magic has been lost after decades of a rough economy, high oil prices, industry consolidation and massive disruptions on all fronts. I had planned to write this travelogue about the time I was invited on a zero-gravity flight with hero astronaut Buzz Aldrin. That, my friends, was magical. More magical than the beef Wellington.

Of course stuff gets old. I’m getting old, we’re all getting old. The Sistine Chapel

Travelogue

is old, too. Buzz Aldrin is now, if you can believe it, 85. The Boeing 717 we were on during that flight to Atlanta has safely been in service for about 20 years. But at EXPO, my flight fantasies and excitement quickly returned as I witnessed the marvels technology has in store for in-flight connectivity and entertainment, the new ergometric and elegant designs for cabin seating and storage, the thought processes that are now merging necessary global security with passenger comfort. Innovation is wonderful, I thought, as long as we don’t forget the details that forge the fantasy. volume 5, edition 6

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Upcoming APEX Events

For the most up-to-date event calendar visit > apex.aero

new location!

apex tec 8-9 June 2016 Los Angeles, CA USA #APEXTEC

1

apex multimedia market 18-20 April 2016 Amsterdam, Netherlands #APEXMMM

2

4

apex south

america March 2016 São Paulo, Brazil

1

2

apex multimedia market 18-20 April 2016 Amsterdam, Netherlands #APEXMMM apex tec 8-9 June 2016 Los Angeles, CA USA #APEXTEC

expo 24-27 Oct. 2016 Singapore #APEXEXPO

3

3 apex south america July 2016 São Paulo, Brazil

2017-2018 EXPO Dates:

expo 4 24-27 October 2016 Singapore #APEXEXPO

2018 – Boston, MA USA 24-27 September

2017 – Long Beach, CA USA 25-28 September

Tweeting from one of our upcoming events? Be sure to use the designated hashtag so other members can join the conversation!

Follow us on Twitter > @theapexassoc

next up: Starting With a Bang illustration: freevectormap

2016: volume 6, edition 1 The first issue to launch next year is all about you – or personalization in the airline industry, that is. Inside, we connect with social gurus at Facebook, look at niche-market airlines and the passenger profiles they target, and explore how airlines, studios and manufacturers are tailoring offerings to meet all traveler needs. Join us as we tour SITA’s Montreal Command Center and talk airport security with industry heavyweight IATA and others. Also, our exclusive interview with frequent-foodie Anthony Bourdain is sure to whet your appetites.

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APEX MultiMedia Market Lands in Istanbul in 2016

When it comes to selecting what’s best in onboard content, one event stands above all others: The APEX MultiMedia Market.

With only a few short months before APEX’s second-largest global gathering, it is time for members to register for this premier event.

The 2016 MultiMedia Market will be April 13-15, 2016, in Istanbul, Turkey.

The APEX MultiMedia Market has expanded in scope in recent years from TV-only to be more comprehensive of the full passenger in-flight entertainment experience. The world’s premiere marketplace now covers TV, movies, games, graphical user interfaces, music and apps. This appointment-driven event gives airlines, content providers and CSPs prime opportunities to make connections and do business in an ideal setting. Additionally, the MultiMedia Market gives you invaluable networking opportunities, including the always-popular MutliMedia trivia quiz!

In previous years, exciting educational sessions capped the event on the final day, 104

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but this year, the 2016 MultiMedia Market will start with the popular Education Day (Wednesday), and the market itself occurring on the final two days (Thursday and Friday). We hope that this new structure will better accommodate attendees and allow you to get the most from your MultiMedia Market experience.

As part of the MultiMedia Market mandate, we are committed to taking this world-class event to different regions of Europe, and we’re excited to land in Turkey for 2016. If you plan on attending, don’t forget that Turkey requires a visa to enter. To apply for a visa, please visit the Republic of Turkey Electronic Visa Application System at Evisa.gov.tr/en/ apply. More information on the 2016 MultiMedia Market will be made available over the next few months, so stay tuned at apex.aero.

For immediate questions, please contact info@apex.aero.

Want to flex your movie trivia skills? > jump to pages 110 – 125

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Across the Board: The Nominations Committee What makes APEX different from any other passenger experience organization is that it is driven entirely by industry volunteers. The board members, who set the association’s course, and the committee members, who put complex plans into action, are not paid. Rather, they do it out of a passion for the industry. They work tirelessly to bring you quality events and invaluable association resources.

For that reason, the APEX Nominating Committee has one of the most important roles within the association: finding the right people. It takes a special kind of person to do the heavy lifting of an association this size.

The Nominating Committee is constantly on the lookout for Board of Director recruits who bring professionalism, industry know-how and unwavering commitment to the afterhours work necessary to get the job done right. The committee coordinates with the APEX marketing team to spread the word and to encourage full member participation in the nominations and election process.

In 2015, the committee had one of its most successful elections in years, with record voter turnout and a high level of participation during a subsequent tie and run-off election – the first of its kind.

specific objectives of the nominating committee include: – Improving awareness of required time commitments for Board service among potential candidates and their companies – Aligning nominating processes with a strategic plan To learn more about the work of the Nominating Committee, or to volunteer to help identify promising association talent, contact Lee Casey or Mark Horton, whose contact information is available at apex.aero. And for more information on volunteering for any APEX committee, contact info@apex.aero.

nominating committee: Members: Lee Casey, Lumexis Corporation; Mark Horton, Cinesky Co-chairs: Brian Richardson, American Airlines; Alfy Veretto, Virgin America

For more information visit > apex.aero

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Awarding the Industry’s Best in Portland, Oregon On September 28, 2015 at the APEX EXPO Award Ceremony in the Oregon Convention Center Ballroom, host and BBC star Rajan Datar handed the association’s awards out to the industry’s best and brightest.

passenger choice awards The passengers have chosen! Based on flyer feedback and airline input, the winners of the annual Passenger Choice Awards are…

Best Overall Passenger Experience > Emirates

Best in Region: Asia and Australia > Korean Airlines

Best in Region: Africa > Ethiopian Airlines

Best in Region: Europe > Norwegian

Best in Region: Americas > Virgin America

Best in Region: Middle East > Emirates

John White Publication Award > Norwegian Best IFE User Interface > Emirates Best In-Flight Connectivity and Communications > Emirates

Best Cabin Ambience > Emirates Best Food and Beverage (with IFSA) > Emirates Best Ground Experience > Emirates

Best In-Flight Video > Virgin America

cool award This new honor recognizes the innovative APEX spirit showcased each year at EXPO. The 2015 Cool Award finalists are…

apex awards Previously the Avion Awards, the APEX Awards honor industry innovation as it relates to technology and the overall passenger experience.

Best Achievement in Passenger Experience > El Al Israel Airlines “Cockpit” High-Tech Innovation Hub Best Achievement in Technology > Gogo 2ku Technology

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Honorary Awards Each year, APEX recognizes the people who make this association unique. Their amazing contributions continue to shape APEX and the industry as a whole.

1. Buzz Products > ecoTHREAD Blanket > Billboard Earbuds for Delta Air Lines > Qantas Next-Generation Check-In Bag Tag > TUMI for Delta Air Lines > Amenity Kits

2. Panasonic Avionics > The Cool Room 3. PXCom > PXApp Destination Guide

Lifetime Achievement > Rick Warren Outstanding Contribution > Mary Kirby, Runway Girl Network > Steve Harvey, Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE)

Airline Passenger Experience Association

IFSA

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IFSA President’s Letter Best In-Flight Executive Chef.

It is always so interesting to see how different each chef’s dishes are even when they have the same main ingredients.

On behalf of IFSA, I’d also like to welcome our new board members. I look forward to continuing to work together to provide an invaluable membership experience.

Lastly, I want to extend a big thank you to all of our members for their dedication. We take a lot of pride in what we have done for the past 50 years with IFSA. I would like to continue to pursue new ideas and approaches so that our members feel that their participation in IFSA is valuable. I want to bring new innovative companies to the conference and EXPO that can help create solutions for our airline, caterer and supplier members. I look forward to continuing to work with our longtime members and to welcoming new and legendary companies to join us in Chicago in 2016.

“I want to extend a big thank you to all of our members for their dedication.

We take a lot of pride in what we have done for the past 50 years with IFSA.”

Best,

> Jane Bernier-Tran President International Flight Services Association

photo: IFSA

As you all know, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary EXPO this year in Portland, Oregon. I hope all those who were able to attend enjoyed the experience and took advantage of all the informational sessions and networking opportunities available. This is always an energetic and motivating event, and this year was no different.

We are extremely proud of IFSA’s Scholarship Foundation program. This year the foundation awarded 20 scholarships during the conference. It is an honor to provide our members and their families with this assistance and reward these hardworking students. To date, over $400,000 has been awarded.

The Government Affairs & Education Committee (GAEC) focused on issues facing our members on a global level this year, including the appropriate labeling of allergens in onboard food products. The group is planning expansion in 2016 to further support members and provide industry solutions.

We all love IFSA’s Chef’s Competition at the EXPO and this year we brought together some of the most talented chefs in the onboard industry to cook their way to the title of

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IFSA Welcomes New Board Members Randy Barnard LSG Sky Chefs With over 26 years in the airline services industry, Barnard has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility with LSG Sky Chefs. As the managing director of LSG Sky Chefs North America Solutions, he oversees various lines of business in LSG’s overall portfolio, including onboard retail, frozen meals, airline equipment and logistics, snack boxes and airport lounge services.

Darren Bott Emirates Bott is a qualified chef who has been working in the food and hospitality industry for 30 years. In 2004, he joined Emirates Flight Catering as vicepresident and played a pivotal role in the design, construction, commissioning and successful startup of the Emirates Flight Catering Food Point facility. He has global responsibility for the overall management of the Emirates onboard and premium-class lounge food and beverage offering.

Kimberly Guanci Dylewski Campione d’Italia Foods As chief executive officer of Campione D’Italia Foods, Dylewski is responsible for overseeing manufacturing facilities in Los Angeles and manufacturing and distribution operations in Henderson, Nevada. She has an extensive professional background, and has been in the food industry since 1994.

Read more coverage of the IFSA Chef’s Competition at > APEX.AERO/IFSACHEF

Best In-Flight: IFSA Crowns Executive Chef The 2015 IFSA Chef’s Competition kicked off with all four chefs working the red carpet as they made their way toward the stoves.

Each chef was given five surprise ingredients and 10 minutes to prepare a menu. The ingredients were rack of lamb, shishito Japanese peppers, scallops, brussel sprouts and one of four local Oregon beers – a choice chefs had to incorporate into their meal.

There were no empty plates when the judges finished their analysis. It was a tough battle that ended with Ajay Rana of Emirates Flight Catering taking home the title for his unique and delicious meal.

photos: IFSA, Vance Walstra

Varangkana Luerojvong Thai Airways Luerojvong is the acting managing director of Thai Catering where she works to drive the entire catering department toward becoming a worldclass caterer in culinary excellence and food supply solutions. She has more than 18 years experience at Thai Airways.

Rachel McCarthy JetBlue With over 25 years in the airline industry, McCarthy is JetBlue’s vice-president of Inflight Experience.

She’s responsible for leading a team of over 3,500 in-flight crewmembers who deliver the airline’s award-winning customer service and offerings.

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What to look for in the months ahead

Coming Attractions 10 Days in a Madhouse w

Director: Timothy Hines Cast: Caroline Barry, Christopher Lambert, Julia Chantrey, Kelly Le Brock, Alexandra Callas In 1887, at age 23, reporter Nellie Bly, working for Joseph Pulitzer, feigns mental illness to go undercover in the notorious Blackwell’s Island Asylum to expose corruption, abuse and murder.

Distributor: Encore Inflight Limited Contact: Edwin Cheung

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi w

Director: Michael Bay Cast: James Badge Dale, John Krasinski

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Director: Patricia Riggen Cast: Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, Mario Casas, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rodrigo Santoro, Gabriel Byrne

An action thriller based on the true story of six security team members who fought to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi from an attack by Islamist militants on September 11, 2012, the eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Thirty-three Chilean miners are trapped for 69 days, more than 200 stories underground, beneath a boulder twice the size of the Empire State Building. Shot in working mines in Colombia and Chile, the story, based on real events, represents the longest underground survival in history.

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Contact: Joan Filippini

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Contact: Jeff Crawford

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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N: North america

Addicted to Fresno w

Director: Jamie Babbit Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Judy Greer, Fred Armisen, Jessica St. Clair, Molly Shannon, Ron Livingston Shannon is fresh out of sex rehab when her sister Martha lands her a job as a maid at Fresno Suites, the local hotel. When Shannon jeopardizes her fresh start by accidentally killing a hotel guest, Martha goes to great lengths to help her sister cover up the crime.

Distributor: Terry Steiner International Contact: Nadja Rutkowski

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: © Pendragon Pictures LLC; © 2015 Paramount Pictures; © 2015 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved; Cleveland The Movie, LLC – 2015

Which actor starred in The Matador, Mama Mia and Mars Attacks!?

2015-10-30 11:00 AM

photos: © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved; Courtesy of Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited; © 2015 Attack on Titan Film Partners © Hajime Isayama/Kodansha Ltd. All rights reserved; © 2015 Paramount Pictures; © 2015 DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; © 2015 Hanway Films

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip w

Director: Walt Becker Cast: Jason Lee, Tony Hale, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Josh Green, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin, Simon and Theodore come to believe that Dave is going to propose to his new girlfriend – and dump them. They have three days to stop the proposal and save themselves from losing Dave, but also from gaining a terrible stepbrother.

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Assassination

Director: Choi Dong-hoon Cast: Gianna Jun, Ha Jung-woo, Lee Jung-jae Seoul, 1933. For the covert mission of assassinating a Japanese army commander, Yem Sek-jin, an agent of the interim Korean government, breaks out deadly sniper Ahn Ok-yun from jail. She hooks up with ruthless gun-for-hire Hawaii Pistol, his right-hand man Pomade, along with firearms specialist Soksapo.

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Attack on Titan

Director: Shinji Higuchi Cast: Haruma Miura, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongo, Hiroki Hasegawa A hundred years ago, Titans appeared on Earth causing civilization to veer on collapse. Humans built a giant wall to defend themselves. But when the wall is broken, Eren joins the Outer Wall Restoration Team with friend Mikasa to protect the population from attack.

Distributor: Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited Contact: Grace Lau

Distributor: Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited Contact: Grace Lau

* excluding Korea, Japan, Taiwan

* excluding Japan

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Contact: Julian Levin

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The Big Short

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Bridge of Spies

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Brooklyn

Director: Adam McKay Cast: Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Brad Pitt

Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Scott Shepherd, Amy Ryan

Director: John Crowley Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Emory Cohen

A remarkable true story of the genius contrarian investors who, recognizing just how insane the housing bubble had become, figured out how to “short” the market prior to the financial collapse of 2008.

This dramatic thriller set against historic events tells the story of James Donovan, a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War. The CIA sends him on the nearimpossible task of negotiating the release of a captured American U-2 pilot.

Set in the 1950s, a young woman moves from small-town Ireland to New York where, unlike at home, she has the opportunity for work, a future and love. When a family tragedy brings her back to Ireland, she finds herself absorbed in a heartbreaking choice between two men and two countries.

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Contact: Joan Filippini

Distributor: Disney Studios Non-Theatrical Contact: Ruth Walker * excluding India

Distributor: Jaguar Distribution Corp.

Contact: France Capor * excluding Canada

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

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Burnt

Director: John Wells Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Uma Thurman, Daniel Brühl

Brothers of the Wind w

Director: Gerardo Olivares, Otmar Penker Cast: Jean Reno, Manuel Camacho, Tobias Moretti

The story begins in an eagle’s nest where the firstborn chick pushes his weaker brother to a certain death on the forest floor. But fate intervenes and the chick is found by Lukas, who cares for the bird while finding a love and companionship denied to him at home.

Distributor: Jaguar Distribution Corp.

Contact: France Capor

Chef Adam Jones had it all and lost it. The former enfant terrible of the Paris restaurant scene did everything different and only cared about creating explosions of taste. To land his own kitchen and that third elusive Michelin star, he’ll need the best on his side.

Distributor: Terry Steiner International Contact: Nadja Rutkowski * excluding Canada

* excluding Germany, Austria, German Speaking Switzerland, Luxembourg

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Captain Fantastic

Director: Matt Ross Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Missi Pyle, Kathryn Hahn Ben, free-thinking father of six, is raising his kids in the woods of Washington State. When a family emergency forces them to leave their self-created-paradise home and embark on a road trip across the country, Ben finds his unconventional ideas challenged.

Distributor: Skeye Inflight Entertainment Contact: Isabelle Bégin * excluding US, Canada, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and UK

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The Crossing 2

Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Tony Bellew, Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad

Director: John Woo Cast: Huang Xiaoming, Song Hye-kyo, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, Tong Dawei, Masami Nagasawa

Adonis Johnson never knew his father, world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. But, boxing is in his blood, so he seeks out Rocky Balboa to be his trainer.

Balboa agrees, but whether Adonis has the heart of a true fighter remains to be seen.

After the collision, The Pacific ship capsizes, dragging hundreds of passengers deep into the water, but Yu Shen and Da Qing are able to survive. Meanwhile other passengers fight for floating boards, dropping their heavy necklaces and gold bars just to stay buoyant.

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Contact: Jeff Crawford

Distributor: Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited Contact: Grace Lau

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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Creed

This rough and tumble English actor appears in two films listed on these pages.

* excluding China

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: © Terra Mater Factual Studios GmbH; © 2015 The Weinstein Company. All rights reserved; © Regan MacStravic, Photographer. All rights reserved; © 2015 Warner Bros. Ent. All rights reserved; Courtesy of Emphasis Video Entertainment Limite

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CREED

PAN

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS

THE 33

JEFF CRAWFORD

jeff.crawford@warnerbros.com

ANGELICA McCOY angelica.mccoy@warnerbros.com wbnts.warnerbros.com

Š 2015 Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved.

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Daddy’s Home

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Disorder

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Directors: Sean Anders, John Morris Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church

Director: Alice Winocour Cast: Matthias Schoenaerts, Diane Kruger, Paul Hamy

A mild-mannered radio executive strives to become the best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading biological father arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids.

Vincent, a French Special Forces soldier back from Afghanistan, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is hired to ensure the security of Jessie, the wife of a rich Lebanese businessman at their luxurious villa. As he starts experiencing a strange fascination for her, he falls into paranoia.

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Contact: Joan Filippini

photos: © 2015 Paramount Pictures; © Dharamsala/Dariusfilms; 2015 Leg in Smoker, LLC; © 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc.; © 2015 Disney/Pixar

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Finders Keepers

Directors: Clay Tweel, Bryan Carberry Cast: John Wood, Shannon Whisnant Recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction.

Distributor: Terry Steiner International Contact: Nadja Rutkowski * US, Canada

Distributor: Encore Inflight Limited Contact: Edwin Cheung * excluding France, French Overseas Territories, Germany, US, Caribbean, Bermuda and Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand

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The Finest Hours

Director: Craig Gillespie Cast: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Holliday Grainger, Eric Bana, Ben Foster A heroic action-thriller based on the extraordinary true story of the greatest small boat rescue in Coast Guard history. It transports audiences to the Pendleton rescue mission in 1952 by Coast Guard ships, wherein two oil tankers were split asunder by a nor’easter.

Distributor: Disney Studios Non-Theatrical Contact: Ruth Walker

This True Detective star also appeared in 2004’s DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.

The Good Dinosaur w

Director: Peter Sohn Cast: Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn, A.J. Buckley, Anna Paquin, Sam Elliott

An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. Traveling through a harsh landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers his true abilities.

Distributor: Disney Studios Non-Theatrical Contact: Ruth Walker

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

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The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino Cast: Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Demian Bichir

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Goosebumps

Director: Rob Letterman Cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell

The long-awaited forth season of this BBC series is slated for early 2016, following a Christmas special.

When the creatures from R.L. Stine’s best-selling Goosebumps series come to life, Zach’s life takes a turn for the weird. In a crazy night of adventure, it’s up to Zach, his friends and Stine to capture these figments of the author’s imagination – back in the books where they belong.

A bounty hunter hurtles toward Red Rock where his fugitive will be brought to justice. They encounter two strangers and the four seek refuge at a stopover where they are greeted by four unfamiliar faces. As a storm takes over, the eight travelers realize they may not make it to Red Rock after all.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Contact: Rana Matthes

Distributor: Terry Steiner International Contact: Nadja Rutkowski

* excluding Australia, NZ

* excluding Canada

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 w

Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore After being symbolized as the Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen and District 13 engage in an all-out revolution against the autocratic Capitol.

She realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival – they are for the future.

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I Saw the Light

Director: Marc Abraham Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen, Cherry Jones, Bradley Whitford, Maddie Hasson, Wrenn Schmidt The meteoric rise to fame and its ultimately tragic effect on the health and personal life of legendary country western singer, Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Contact: Rana Matthes * excluding Canada

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Director: Ron Howard Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Jordi Mollà, Ben Whishaw In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe – a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance.

The real-life disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that’s just half the story.

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Contact: Jeff Crawford

Distributor: Entertainment In Motion Contact: Lynda Harriss

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

In the Heart of the Sea w

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing; Andrew Cooper, SMPSP/© 2015 The Weinstein Company. All rights reserved; Murray Close – Lionsgate; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics; © 2015 Warner Bros. Ent. All rights reserved

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photos: © 2015, Inspired to Ride, LLC; © Pegasus Motion Pictures (Hong Kong) Limited; © Andrea Pirrello; © 2015 Journey to the Shore Film Partners/Comme des Cinémas; © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved

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Inspired to Ride

Director: Mike Dion Cast: Mike Hall, Juliana Buhring, Jason Lane Forty-five cyclists set out on the inaugural Trans Am Bike Race. Their mission is to cover 4,233 miles in one enormous stage race, traversing 10 states in an epic adventure. Follow the cyclists as they prepare, compete and experience the 300-miles-a-day ride with only a few hours sleep.

Distributor: Terry Steiner International Contact: Nadja Rutkowski

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Ip Man 3

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Italian Race

Director: Wilson Yip Cast: Donnie Yen, Max Zhang, Lynn Hung, Mike Tyson

Director: Matteo Rovere Cast: Stefano Accorsi, Tatiana Luter, Rinat Khismatouline

Ip Man meets another Wing Chun practitioner, Cheung Tin-chi, after his son gets into a fight at school. It starts an ambiguous relationship between the two fathers. Meanwhile, gangsters are trying to take over properties in the neighborhood, provoking Ip Man and his students to fight them.

The De Martino family has always had motor oil and petrol flowing in their veins. They have been putting together racing cars for generations – tracks, rallies, endurance, wherever it’s needed to really let it rip.

Distributor: Encore Inflight Limited Contact: Edwin Cheung

* excluding Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Canada

Distributor: Encore Inflight Limited Contact: Edwin Cheung

* excluding Mainland China

Journey to the Shore w

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast: Eri Fukatsu, Tadanobu Asano, Masao Komatsu, Y Aoi, Akira Emoto Mizuki’s husband drowned at sea three years ago. When he suddenly comes back home, she is not that surprised. Instead, Mizuki is wondering what took him so long. She agrees to let him take her on a journey.

Distributor: Encore Inflight Limited Contact: Edwin Cheung * excluding France, DROM-POM-COM, Monaco, Andorra and Japan

Jennifer Lawrence sings “The Hanging Tree” on the soundtrack for this film.

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Joy

Director: David O. Russell Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini

A cross-generational story centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty. Betrayal, treachery, love and loss of innocence pave the road in this intense and emotional comedy about becoming an enterprise and facing a world of unforgiving commerce.

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Contact: Julian Levin

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

Airline Passenger Experience Association

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

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Legend

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Kung Fu Panda 3

Directors: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni Cast: Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Jack Black, Bryan Cranston

When Po’s long-lost father suddenly appears, the reunited duo travels to a secret paradise.

But when supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible – train his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of fighters.

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Contact: Julian Levin

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The Leisure Class

Director: Jason Mann Cast: Ed Weeks, Tom Bell, Bridget Regan, Scottie Thompson, Melanie Zanetti, Christine Lakin

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Lolo

On the eve of his daughter’s wedding, a United States senator discovers she’s marrying a con man when her fiancé’s unhinged brother unexpectedly arrives, exposing both the scheme and ugly truths about him.

On holiday in southern France, Parisian sophisticate Violette meets life-loving IT geek Jean-René. Against all odds, there’s real chemistry between them and they move in together. But Lolo, Violette’s ultra-possessive 19-year-old son, is determined to get rid of him.

Distributor: HBO Contact: Stephanie Gilliard/Jane Chapman

Distributor: Skeye Inflight Entertainment Contact: Isabelle Bégin

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* US only

What year did Coronation Street start? find answers at apex.aero/trivia

Louder Than Bombs Director: Joachim Trier Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Ryan, Gabriel Byrne The fractious family of a father and his two sons confront their different feelings and memories of their deceased wife and mother, a famed war photographer.

Distributor: Skeye Inflight Entertainment Contact: Isabelle Bégin * excluding US, Scandinavia

* excluding France

N: North america

Distributor: Universal Pictures Contact: Phyllis Bagdadi

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Director: Julie Delpy Cast: Julie Delpy, Dany Boon, Vincent Lacoste

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

The true story of London’s most notorious gangsters, the underworld of the 1960s and the life and times of the Kray twins – the relationship that bound them together and the events that secured their names in the history of infamy.

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: © 2015 DreamWorks Animation, LLC. All rights reserved; © 2015 Universal Studios. All rights reserved; Courtesy of HBO; © David Kostas; © Jakoblhre Motlys

Director: Brian Helgeland Cast: Tom Hardy, Paul Anderson, Emily Browning

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Ma Ma

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The Nice Guys

Director: Julio Medem Cast: Penélope Cruz, Luis Tosar, Asier Etxeandia

Director: Shane Black Cast: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Matt Bomer, Kim Basinger

A woman recently diagnosed with cancer forms an unexpected bond with a soccer scout whose wife has been gravely injured in a car accident.

Down on luck, private eye Holland March and muscle-for-hire Jackson Healy have nothing in common until they’re plunged into a missing persons case that makes them the target of trained killers. They must pull their resources – legal or otherwise – to save themselves and ensure the truth comes to light.

Distributor: Jaguar Distribution Corp.

Contact: France Capor * excluding Spain, Australia, NZ

Distributor: Jaguar Distribution Corp.

Contact: France Capor

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Paris Holiday

Director: James Yuen Cast: Louis Koo, Kuo Tsai-chieh, Alex Fong Broken-hearted, Kit leaves Hong Kong for Paris to start a new life where he shares an apartment with a rather odd tenant, Man. As Man has a hatred of men suffering from devastating breakups, Kit pretends to be gay in order for them to get along under the same roof.

Distributor: Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited Contact: Grace Lau * excluding China

The approximate number of characters who have died on Game of Thrones over the course of the first five seasons. find answers at apex.aero/trivia

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Point Break

Director: Ericson Core Cast: Edgar Ramírez, Luke Bracey, Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo An FBI agent infiltrates a team of extreme-sport athletes he suspects of masterminding a string of sophisticated corporate heists. Undercover and in danger, he strives to prove these ecoactivists are the architects of mind-boggling crimes devastating the world’s financial markets.

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Contact: Jeff Crawford

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Directors: Jérôme Le Maire Cast: Gérard Lanvin, Jalil Lespert, Alice Taglioni

A famous wine critic decides to take a break and go back home. He reconnects with his family and former flame, but learns his father may lose the family’s historic vineyard. He must step in to produce a great wine and save the family legacy.

Distributor: Skeye Inflight Entertainment Contact: Isabelle Bégin * excluding France, US

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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photos: © 2015 Seville International; © 2015 Bloom; Courtesy of Emphasis Video Entertainment Limited; © 2015 Warner Bros. Ent. All rights reserved.; © SNDa

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Queen of the Desert w

Director: Werner Herzog Cast: Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, James Franco, Damian Lewis

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The Program

photos: Courtesy of Penny Black Media; © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved; IM Global; © 2015 Open Road Films

Director: Stephen Frears Cast: Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Dustin Hoffman, Guillaume Canet, Lee Pace, Jesse Plemons

This film won best animated feature at the 2013 Oscars.

A tense and suspenseful thriller that tells the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most celebrated and controversial men in recent history, world-renowned Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong.

Distributor: Penny Black Media Contact: Cathie Trotta

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell’s life as a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the 20th century.

Distributor: Penny Black Media Contact: Cathie Trotta * excluding US and Canada

* excluding US and Canada

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

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The Revenant

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter Legendary explorer Hugh Glass is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, he endures unimaginable grief in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption, guided by sheer will and the love of his family.

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Contact: Julian Levin

Secret in Their Eyes i

Director: Billy Ray Cast: Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Chiwetel Ejiofor A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their district attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.

Distributor: Entertainment In Motion Contact: Lynda Harriss

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

Airline Passenger Experience Association

*

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

Snowden

Director: Oliver Stone Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans A true story that follows Edward Snowden, an American computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency to The Guardian in June 2013.

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Contact: Joan Filippini * US, Trinidad

W: WorldWide

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Spectre

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Spotlight

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Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, David Bautista

Director: Tom McCarthy Cast: Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci

James Bond uncovers the existence of the sinister organization known as Spectre and covertly enlists Moneypenny and Q to help him seek out the daughter of his old nemesis, Mr. White, who may hold the clue to untangling the web of Spectre.

The true story of how The Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Distributor: Entertainment In Motion Contact: Lynda Harriss

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Contact: Rana Matthes

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Star Wars

Directors: George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen For the first time, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi will be released for in-flight entertainment in January 2016.

Distributor: Disney Studios Non-Theatrical Contact: Ruth Walker

Steve Jobs

Director: Danny Boyle Cast: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels A biographical drama that explores the genius and shortcomings of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Set backstage at Apple’s most iconic product launches, this film goes behind the scenes of the digital revolution and This actor finally nabbed paints an intimate an Emmy for his portrait of the brilliant performance as an ad executive in man at its epicenter.

Distributor: Universal Pictures Contact: Phyllis Bagdadi

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Director: Sarah Gavron Cast: Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter

flight from his past.

volume 5, edition 6

The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement were women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal state. They had seen peaceful protests achieve nothing and were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality.

Distributor: Entertainment In Motion Contact: Lynda Harriss

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

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Suffragette

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing; Kerry Hayes – Open Road Films; Star Wars ©™ Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.; © 2015 Universal Studios. All rights reserved; Pathé

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Tale of Tales

Director: Matteo Garrone Cast: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C. Reilly From the bitter quest of a jealous queen who forfeits the life of her husband, to two mysterious sisters who provoke the passion of a king, to a king obsessed with a giant flea, these stories weave the beautiful with the grotesque in a work of gothic imagination.

Distributor: Jaguar Distribution Corp.

Contact: France Capor

This period drama, created by Gareth Neames and Julian Fellowes, debuted in the UK in 2010.

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Teen Beach 2

Director: Jeffrey Hornaday Cast: Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, Grace Phipps, Garrett Clayton After a summer adventure transported them into Brady’s favorite 1960s beach party movie Wet Side Story, sweethearts Mack and Brady find it hard to maintain their relationship during school. When they receive a surprise real-world visit from Lela, Tanner and Butchy, the real world and the movie world collide.

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Trumbo

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Director: Jay Roach Cast: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Elle Fanning, Helen Mirren, John Goodman The successful career of Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, comes to an end when he is blacklisted in the 1940s for being a Communist.

Distributor: Entertainment In Motion Contact: Lynda Harriss

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Director: James Vanderbilt Cast: Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Dennis Quaid Chronicling the story uncovered by Mary Mapes and Dan Rather – that a sitting US president may have been AWOL from the National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War – and the ensuing scandal that ruined Rather’s career and almost took down all of CBS News.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Contact: Rana Matthes

Distributor: Disney Studios Non-Theatrical Contact: Ruth Walker

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

Truth

* Bahamas, Bermuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. KittsNevis, St. Maarten, US; excluding St. Maarten/Dutch

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: © 2015 Hanway Films; © 2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc.; Entertainment One; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

find answers at apex.aero/trivia

2015-10-30 11:00 AM

photos: © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved; © 2015 Universal Studios. All rights reserved; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing; © 2015 Paramount Pictures

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Victor Frankenstein w

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Director: Paul McGuigan Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay, Andrew Scott, Charles Dance A never-before-seen twist on Mary Shelley’s 19th-century novel, told from the perspective of Igor, assistant to medical student Victor Von Frankenstein. It reveals his troubled dark origins, redemptive friendship with Frankenstein and the emergence of the legend we know today.

The Visit

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The Walk

Director: M. Night Shyamalan Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie

Director: Robert Zemeckis Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale

Life seems normal for siblings Rebecca and Tyler until their mother leaves them at their grandparents’ house for the holidays. The siblings soon discover that their grandparents’ behavior has become deeply disturbing and they must face the untold horrors and mysteries that surround their increasingly evil elders.

Philippe Petit, guided by his mentor, is aided by an unlikely band of international recruits, who overcome long odds, betrayals, dissension and countless close calls to conceive and execute their mad plan of rope-walking the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.

Distributor: Universal Pictures Contact: Phyllis Bagdadi

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Contact: Rana Matthes

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Contact: Julian Levin

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Zoolander 2

Director: Ben Stiller Cast: Ben Stiller, Penélope Cruz, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor The long-awaited sequel to the 2001 comedy of male model-turned-assassin Derek Zoolander, the follow-up is set more than a decade after the events of the first film and features Derek and Hansel modeling again when an opposing company attempts to take them out from the business.

Distributor: Paramount Pictures Contact: Joan Filippini

Ashton Kutcher and Michael Fassbender have both starred in roles as this larger-than-life tech figure. find answers at apex.aero/trivia

DISTRIBUTION rights codes

Airline Passenger Experience Association

N: North america

I: outside north amErica

W: WorldWide

volume 5, edition 6

125

Q&A

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APEX by the Numbers

If you’re interested in participating in a Q&A, or would like to nominate someone, please contact us at > editor@apex.aero

APEX Association members make up some of the most seasoned travelers in the world, so over the years we’ve polled them on their flying preferences. illustration Clara Prieto

Top Destinations

Paper or Electronic Boarding Pass?

62% Electronic

4. Nepal

3. Galápagos Islands

2. Vietnam

27% Paper 11% Both

1. Antarctica

Favorite Airport

Top Books The Innovator’s Solution Clayton M. Christensen The Luminaries Eleanor Catton The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari Robin Sharma

HKG Hong Kong International Airport. 18% of respondents chose Hong Kong International as their favorite airport.

The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt Gone Girl Gillian Flynn

Favorite Heroes

Top TV Shows

Nelson Mandela, dads, doctors, surgeons, firefighters and a few celebrity appearances from Pierce Brosnan and Jason Bourne.

“The Q&A really made me think about how I look at things, it was fun to share my personal side with the APEX membership. I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance to participate.”

Kevin Bremer Boeing

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House of Cards

Favorite Aircraft

Game of Thrones

Bloodline

Modern Family

Ripper Street

Frontline

Shark Tank

Top Brands of Suitcase

33% B777 27% B787 20.5% A380 6.5% Concorde 6.5% B747 6.5% A321

41% Samsonite 30% Tumi 13% Rimowa 4% La Bagagerie, Delsey 4% Longchamp, Eagle Creek

Airline Passenger Experience Association

QUALITY, INDEPENDENT FEATURE FILMS WWW.PENNYBLACKMEDIA.COM

CTROTTA@PENNYBLACKMEDIA.COM

Reading List

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Editors’ Reading List

Read our extra picks at > APEX.AERO/BOOKS

In this industry, we understand the importance of content on the go. These are the latest books we’ve had our noses in at the APEX offices.

My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante

Having taken the literary world by storm, the first instalment of the Italian author’s four-part Neapolitan novel series endears readers to the blossoming friendship of two girls, Elena and Lila. Poignant and entrancing, this modern masterpiece reads as richly as your favorite homecooked comfort meal. > Katie’s Pick

Arjun Basu

Susan Cain

We’ve all been there, torn between our corporate selves and the inner voice that urges us to break free. The plot of Basu’s novel centers on a successful New York advertising copy writer who embarks on a quirky road trip to get closer to “the voice.” Keen imagery heightens the narrative, which beautifully captures the workingman and woman’s dilemma.

Innovation comes from individuals with loud and charismatic personalities – at least that’s what society has been taught to believe. But in Quiet, Cain shows introverts, those who are shy and prefer spending time in their own thoughts, are equally, if not more innovative.

> Linda’s Pick

> Caroline’s Pick

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photos: cw press; europaeditions; crownpublicity

Waiting for the Man

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

Hotels

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Room and Board In this indusrty, we’re often on the go. Whether traveling for a conference or business meeting, or taking a break in between, here are a few great places to stay around the world.

Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi

MGM Grand

Wyndham New Yorker

Las Vegas, United States

New York City, United States

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

AUH, Abu Dhabi International Airport

LAS, McCarran International Airport

AED Emirati Dirham

USD $

Calling code: +971

photos: hyat; MGM grand; Wyndham hotels

Commute time to airport: 20 mins

Calling code: +1

Commute time to airport: 10 mins

LGA, LaGuardia Airport Calling code: + 1

USD $

Commute time to airport: 40 mins

why you’ll go

why you’ll go

why you’ll go

The Middle East is hot aviation territory.

Home to the UAE’s second-largest airline and flag carrier, Etihad Airways, firstclass research and development thrives here. Case in point: the airline’s Etihad Innovation Centre.

Given Las Vegas is one of the convention center capitals of the world, hosting big-league tradeshows like the International Consumer Electronics Show, you’re bound to wind up here for a mix of business and pleasure.

As the song says, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. New York City is the world center of media and finance and the hub for all deal making.

The Big Apple is also the headquarters of low-cost carrier JetBlue.

why you’ll stay

why you’ll stay

why you’ll stay

Relaxation awaits in the Rayana Spa on the 19th floor, Abu Dhabi’s only spa-inthe-sky experience. Thrill-seekers may also get revved up by Ferrari World, the world’s largest indoor theme park.

Take time away from the Strip and the slots to visit the American Museum of Aviation, which includes the LA Dodgers’ retired Boeing 720 – the cockpit of which has recently been restored.

Located in Manhattan’s midtown, the lobby is abuzz with international travelers. The Empire State Building is the view from east-facing rooms, and Times Square is a mere 10 blocks away.

fun fact

fun fact

fun fact

The hotel is located in the Capital Gate building, which holds the world record for the farthest-leaning man-made tower.

It would take approximately 412 years for one person to spend one night in every hotel room in Sin City.

Inventor Nikola Tesla spent his last days in Suite 3327. You’ll find a bronze plaque commemorating him in the south wing.

Airline Passenger Experience Association

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Throwback

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Concrete Arrows Crumbling concrete arrows lying in America’s vast fields and abandoned pastures are remnants of the world’s first ground-based civilian navigation system and a reminder of the major advancement in air pilotage.

by Caroline Ku

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Before radio, GPS or the technically advanced navigation systems that are being enforced by the FAA, pilots of the US airmail’s day-night service poked their heads over the fuselage to scan the ground for beacons lit by good-natured farmers and citizens to guide their way through the night. The 50-foot steel towers held rotating gas-powered beacons that sat on 70-foot yellow concrete arrows with a shed on one end to house beacon supplies and equipment.

In the 1920s, about 1,500 beacons were erected approximately 10 miles apart, many in remote locations, with the longest route running 2,612 miles, enabling a letter from New York City to San Francisco to be delivered at the lightning speed of 30 hours.

Not only did lighted airways provide a form of wayfinding, they saved the lives of numerous pilots, many of whom had served in World War I and flown in open cockpits with just the leather garments on their backs to protect them from the elements.

But with the advent of radio and radar technology in the 1930s, use of these beacons gradually dimmed. While the steel towers were disassembled and repurposed for World War II efforts, the concrete arrows were abandoned. Montana still relies on non-directional beacons to guide aircraft navigating its mountains, and site #62 in New Mexico has been restored as a heritage museum. But the majority of concrete arrows, eroding like old gravestones, unkempt and enveloped by overgrowing weeds, are mostly forgotten artifacts, until the rare hiker stumbles upon one and follows it down the path of its origins.

If you are an APEX member who is interested in contributing to the Throwback page, please submit your personal stories relating to the airline industry, or a moment or product in aviation history, to editor@apex.aero

Airline Passenger Experience Association

photos: Cibola County Historical Society, Steve Owen

Visitors can learn about these navigational relics at the Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum.