Emma Kelly/LONDON
Thales Avionics Inflight Systems (formerly Sextant In-Flight Systems) has secured a launch customer for its latest interactive in-flight entertainment (IFE) system, the i-Series. The customer, believed to be European and not an airline, will be announced at the Paris air show later this month.
I-Series is being developed to meet passenger demands for in-flight entertainment and communication services. In addition to standard IFE, such as films, audio and games, i-Series will feature laptop computer connectivity, voice and data communications capabilities and will be ready to support future in-flight internet developments, according to Thales.
I-Series is now the focus of the manufacturer's development and sales efforts. Although Thales will continue to support its current interactive system, the m-Series, it will not be looking for new orders for the equipment. Thales concedes that m-Series is "not technology that we can take forward".
Although lead m-Series customer Japan Air Lines has been happy with the hardware on its Boeing 747-400s, placing a number of repeat orders, the system has not achieved wide sales success. Sextant inherited m-Series (formerly the Multi-media Digital Distribution System, MDDS) from B/E Aerospace when it purchased that manufacturer's IFE division.
The MDDS was British Airways' first choice for its widebodies, but BA dropped the equipment in favour of Rockwell Collins' Total Entertainment System following MDDS reliability problems. Despite a name change, MDDS never recovered.
I-Series will be available in the first quarter of next year and comes in three versions - the i-2000, an overhead distributed system; the i-3000 in-seat distributed system; and the full capability i-4000 in-seat, on-demand system.
All variants have communication capabilities and are intended for narrow and widebody types. The i-Series will allow airlines to pick and choose, for example installing the i-4000 in premium cabins and the i-2000 in economy class, says Thales. The open architecture system features internet/ web browser technology and component commonality to minimise spare inventory requirements.
Thales is talking to "many" airlines about i-Series' capabilities and is also working towards line-fit approval at Airbus and Boeing. The first customer is expected to equip its aircraft late this year.
Thales will be demonstrating i-Series at Paris, with the system featuring Tenzing's in-flight e-mail and 'internet' services and KID Systeme's in-seat power supply.
Source: Flight International
