Star Alliance members that select the grouping's new common seat architecture can choose their own in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems, Star confirmed.
Earlier this month, Star revealed that Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian, as well as Air China will launch the alliance's joint long-haul economy seat programme, under a partnership with cabin specialist B/E Aerospace.
Both a baseline and an advanced version of the seat are being offered.
Integrating in-flight entertainment systems into the seats was taken into consideration as part of Star's study into a common seat architecture, according to the alliance.
"Star Alliance worked with the major suppliers of IFE equipment to optimise design and to ensure that the seat selected could accommodate all major known systems, but the selection and purchasing of any specific IFE equipment was not in scope for this project," Star Alliance Services director of strategic sourcing Steve Collard told FlightglobalPro.
While the ability to integrate IFE entertainment was deemed "clearly an important feature of a seat", the selection of IFE equipment "remains with the individual carriers", said Collard.
Installation of the seats are expected to begin next year.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
