APEX Expo What you might have missed – APEX Expo and The Lufthansa Flying Lab
In this adventure
- A call from Germany
- Off to Heathrow T2. Wait. Terminal 2??
- LH2473 London Heathrow to Munich Airport
- Exploring innovation on the ground at Munich Airport
- LH424 Munich to Boston with Lufthansa and Recaro Aircraft Seating
- Into Boston, The Holiday Inn Bunker Hill
- Exploring Boston
- Robot and Bowl Food – Exploring Spyce… and lessons for the Passenger Experience?
- Oodles of Noodles – Pho and Ramen in Boston
- The APEX Conference and Expo – What you missed
- Back to Boston Logan International airport
- LH423 Boston Logan to Frankfurt-am-Main
- The joy of Frankfurt Airport
- LH924 Frankfurt to Heathrow… with a neo
- Train? Thataway
- The outlook for the next six months
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
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.
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
Doug Parker of American Airlines with Joe Leader on the sofa
- Aer Lingus setting out its A321neo plans and brand refresh – along with limited free WiFi and a new paint scheme to follow on the new planes
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.
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 Brazil reciving an APEX Award
Air Canada on its re-brand and the passenger experience
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
Robert Fornaro, CEO, Spirit Airlines
As for the show itself, there was a lot going on in terms of product announcements including
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
Examining the Airbus A220 supplied interior
Stelia Aerospace and SkyLights team up for an immersive VR experience… but is it any good?
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
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
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.
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.
BoardConnect at work
… and seeing the smallest toilet module from Diehl Aviation
Because at 30,000ft and above, toilets need to be light.
And these days… small
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
The Acro Series 3 – As used on many LCCs (and not a bad seat in the least)
Acro Series 7
Acro Series 6.
Wire things up…
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
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.
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.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can also follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to the European reader.
