We’ve crossed into June, and as such a new month of news and views is amongst us.
Which might seem suspicious to some.
But we’ve got a catchup show to run here, so welcome to Last Week at Economy Class and Beyond
The Hamburg TV Tower and Hamburg Messe. with the U Bahn entrance to the right
Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024
We’ve had a busy week on the show floor in the Hamburg Messe (and if my feet and calves tell me anything, it was far too long a week). Here are the headline releases from AIX that you might have missed.
Seats
- Recaro Rebrands its seating lineup – Welcome R1 to R7 – Going from lots of letters and numbers to a simpler code.
- Introducing Maya by Collins Aerospace and Panasonic Aerospace – The hot concept seat of the show with its 45″ Curved OLED. Interest was high in the seat – to put it bluntly
- Stelia Aerospace launches Opera Essential – A sustainability saver or a way to cut the business class seat to the bone?
- Air France launches Expliseat Ti2X for its Embraer E190 fleet – And it’s not too bad either.
- Acro Aircraft Seating Series 9 takes to the sky with Volotea – It’s good to see traction with the Series 9 family.
- Collins Aerospace unveils its new “Helix” seat – The PR might be dry, but it’s not too bad, to put it mildly
- airBaltic selects the Recaro R2 seat for its A220-300s – Another big order for the efficiency seat that is the R2
- flyadeal selects Acro Aircraft Seating Series 9 for its aircraft – Throwing in some Series 6 to Series 9 conversions to the mix
- Expliseat signs Jazz Aviation for its TiSeat 2V seat – And a late-breaking order from Jazz to round out the seating news
Interiors
- Collins Aerospace to unveil cabin solution for onboard wheelchair accommodation – Much more about this next week
- ATR pushes forward with its HighLine premium platform – With progression with its launch customers. Yes, customers.
- AIX24: JetBlue and Bucher announce a partnership for cabin features – And some lovely dividers and panties for JetBlue
IFE
- AirFi Appointed as Portable IFE Partner for Indigo Trial – Another win for AirFi as it continues to expand its reach
- FlightPath3D takes off with an updated Kids map – Edutainment in a map
- Air Canada signs for Panasonic Avionics Astrova – Some big upgrades for Air Canada for its passenger
- AIX24: EVA Air signs for 54 installs of Panasonic Avionics equipment – A nice spread of orders across various Panasonic product lines
Connectivity
- Bluebox Aviation Systems and FFLYA test payment over the Iridium Certus satellite network – next to take it to the sky
- AJet to partner with Hughes, TCI and Turksat for in-flight connectivity – Another win for Hughes as they start inking their own deals via its network and partners
- Hughes signs onto the Airbus HBCplus Programme as it nears entry to service – with SES and others having pieces of the pie too
- Qatar Airways announces its Starlink Deployment plans – Although good luck finding a Starlink rep at the show.
Crystal Cabin Awards
There was also the Crystal Cabin Awards in Hamburg, with winners and innovation.
Pretty pictures
Next Week
We do have a fair bit of wash-up from the show before we go to in our big-deep dives from the show (And trust me, there’s some on all fronts – to put it bluntly).
I’ve also got some passenger experience snapshots to get out from this trip – there’s plenty to write as I head towards the trip report from the past week.
Things however are still more than a little limited – the office move which has been consuming pre-show is approaching its climax – and it won’t surprise you that some things have gone south, fast.
So things might be a little quieter than usual.
If time allows, I’ll try and get through the headlines that come through as well.
Until then, Happy Landings.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
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