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The APEX Expo and Lufthansa Flying Lab – What you might have missed

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APEX Expo What you might have missed –  APEX Expo and The Lufthansa Flying Lab

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In this adventure

So onto the main reason why I’m in Boston – to catch up with the announcements at APEX Expo.

With a new conference comes new things… like lanyard holders

APEX EXPO
Black = dirty media.

With events like this, there is an expectation to be seen at certain things certain events. As such, I had a lot of appointments stacking up beforehand, as well as press appointments to keep.

This was going to shape up to be fun.

The Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX)  is a trade organisation that is dedicated to improving the passenger experience, whilst driving industry initiatives and regulation, so for me – there was intrest in how its members are trying to drive forward passenger experience.

With a lot of airlines members and airline CEO’s speaking at the conference, it’s an insight to see how the industry is improving itself, either by product or showing off Net Promoter Scores.  Whilst the Conference is talk, the Expo is an insight into the industry and its next steps.

a group of people on a stage
Airline CEO’s lined up

Co-located here is Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas – it’s a fraction of the size of the Hamburg event – but there were some familiar faces here too (both trade and press).

There were a lot of announcements at the event – some of which are starting to impact now, as well some eye-brow raising changes

  • The exit of Bose from the Consumer Aviation market – it seems that three pin connectors aren’t Bose’s bag – with American Airlines switching to Bang and Olfsen. Singapore Airlines followed right behind them…
  • New food options on AA Main Cabin in the Americas – and now live

a group of people sitting on a stage
Doug Parker of American Airlines with Joe Leader on the sofa

a group of men on a stage
Stephen Kavanagh of Aer Lingus receiving an APEX award

  • Aeromexico talked about its product and the movement to consistency within the airline – be it in cabin, or beyond.

a group of men on a stage
Andrés Consesa – Aeromeixco with Joe Leader and Arron Hesselurst of BBC News (the host)

  • LATAM showing off its plans and improved passenger experience (along with one of the few female CEO’s speaking on the stage).

Claudia Sender, CEO, LATAM Brasil
Claudia Sender, CEO, LATAM Brazil reciving an APEX Award

Air Canada on its re-brand and the passenger experience

a man sitting on a stage with a large screen
Calin Rovinescu, president and CEO, Air Canada

  • Thales talking about it’s install progress with the Spirit Airlines WiFi system and Spirit’s CEO on stage

a man sitting at a table with microphones and a screen on it
Robert Fornaro, CEO, Spirit Airlines

As for the show itself, there was a lot going on in terms of product announcements including

a large room with many booths
The show floor.
APEX EXPO: AeroMexico signs ViaSat for connectivity aboard its Boeing 737 MAX Aircraft

Thales Avant IFE to fly on the next set of American Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft

La Compagnie lines up its Airbus A321neos with Viasat Wi-Fi

a blue and white airplane flying in the sky
Examining the Airbus A220 supplied interior

a group of seats in an airplane
Stelia Aerospace and SkyLights team up for an immersive VR experience… but is it any good?

a chair with a seat and headphones on it
Spoiler alert. It is.
Two wins for Pansonic Avionics, with EgyptAir and Uzbekistan Airways

Air France Launches it’s Wi-Fi service- Air France Connect with Gogo 2Ku and GlobalEagle

people standing around a table with a model of a plane
It wouldn’t be a aviation trade show without the Gogo 2Ku Raydome wouldn’t it?

It was also interesting seeing the content providers out there too *such as the BBC, NPR, Paramount, Turner Connections and so on. Whilst these providers are not my direct interest, it’s good to see them at an event like this – where a face to face discussion can lead to deals being created to improve the content of an IFE system

a poster on a wall
The Doctor I presume?

Airbus were out in force – with one of the smaller stands I’ve seen them with. They also decided to bring over the C Series/Airbus A220 demonstrator cabin over too. Those of you with longer memories will remember the cabin from AIX a couple of years ago. This unit was demonstrated with the Zodiac Aerospace Seats and interior, with Panasonic IFE systems embedded in the ceiling

Meanwhile, Panasonic Aero Systems and Thales were out in force with their big breifings, with Panasonic going along the line of wellness, and Thales focusing on Connectivity and IFE.

a group of men sitting on a stage

I sat down with Recaro’s representatives to tease out future possibilities in the cabin too for a chat about seating, and the passenger space (as well as teasing out possibilities for narrow-body aircraft)

I also caught up Lufthansa Systems and talked about BoardConnect– the system that delivered the Flying Lab to 120 passsengers live on an Airbus A350.

a group of electronic devices on a shelf
BoardConnect at work

… and seeing the smallest toilet module from Diehl Aviation

a white box with a black object on it
Because at 30,000ft and above, toilets need to be light.

And these days… small

a white rectangular object with a curved top

a white locker in a room
A 31″ Width toilet module.

Acro Seating were showing off their products – those that are flying on Air New Zealand and also those on Frontier and Spirit

a group of people standing in front of a blue carpet
The Acro Series 3 – As used on many LCCs (and not a bad seat in the least)

a group of white chairs in a room
Acro Series 7

a group of chairs in a room
Acro Series 6.

a man pointing at a white board
Wire things up…

a group of people standing around a display of airplanes
Inmartsat and all the connectivity options

Avio Interiors were also showing a new business class suite product (no photos), but were happy to show off their Skycouch product

a man standing next to a white chair

You’ll be more than happy to hear they didn’t bring the Skyrider 2.0 saddle seat with them. However, I can confirm it will be back for Aircraft Interiors Expo. I bet you all can’t wait to see how they can make this thing fly – if at all.

With time running out sadly, I grabbed my bags – and headed out.

a group of stuffed animals in boxes
Well that was fun wasn’t it Duggee? Aaa-woof!

Overall: The APEX Expo is new trade show to me, but with familiar faces, as well as new faces – it was interesting to see how companies were pitching their product. I really needed two days there – but alas… time was not on my side.

Maybe next year. But there are a lot of insights gained on how the industry is moving forward.

Next: Back to Boston Airport

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: Recaro Aircraft Seating kindly invited Economy Class and Beyond, as a guest on the Lufthansa Flying Lab, as well as paying for the flights as part of this.  

Economy Class and Beyond attended Apex Expo and Aircraft Interiors Expo North America’s as a media delegate

All opinions and thoughts are the author’s own, and are not directed by Recaro Aircraft Systems, Lufthansa Systems, APEX or Aircraft Interiors Expo.

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