Lufthansa head of product Joachim Schneider called for greater co-operation among cabin interior providers in a wide-ranging keynote address at the Passenger Experience conference in Hamburg yesterday.
"We discussed this many years ago when we were introducing the [Airbus] A380, but we discovered it was difficult to bring parties together to bring a co-ordinated approach," said Schneider. "As an airline this would be of high value to us.
"We are now seeing the first moves to bring interiors and IFE together. That is an area we see a value to building a service that is not available [to airlines] today."
He also points to the need to stop maintenance costs related to interiors from increasing. "Our challenge as an airline is we need to provide more dedicated and personalised service, but at the same time save costs. So it is not just about making a new seat, but taking steps to reduce the maintenance costs."
It was part of a wide-ranging speech which also touched on the way airlines will interact with passengers in future, especially as connectivity becomes more common place.
"We are just at the beginning of this digitisation. It is a very powerful tool and we need to be using it," he says.
"So [for example] if there is something wrong with your connection, we can inform you - and we should - about what our solution for you is. If we have that channel to the passenger, we can do it."
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Source: Flight Daily News
