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84-797: PAC is a supplier of in-flight entertainment equipment, including music, video on demand (movies and television shows), in-flight shopping, phone service, email, video games, and GPS flight location display. PAC supplies equipment to Boeing , Airbus and Bombardier . Competitors in the IFE market include Thales Group , Rockwell Collins , Safran/Zodiac In-Flight Innovations and LiveTV . In late 2009, Lufthansa announced that starting mid-2010 they will re-launch their 'FlyNet' service with Panasonic Avionics' satellite-based broadband technology offering passengers in-flight Internet and cellphone connections. Lufthansa will make use of their existing onboard hardware that had been installed in 2003 by Connexion by Boeing ,

168-539: A 3D world map using touch gestures, similar to Google Earth . FlightPath3D was chosen by Norwegian as the moving-map on their new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners , running on Panasonic's Android based touch-screen IFE system. After the attempted Christmas Day bombing of 2009, the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) briefly ordered the live-map shut-off on international flights landing in

252-402: A Western Air Express Fokker F.10 aircraft. In 1936, the airship Hindenburg offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room , and bar during the 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -day flight between Europe and America. The post-WWII British Bristol Brabazon airliner was initially specified with a 37-seat cinema within its huge fuselage; this was later reduced to a 23-seat cinema sharing

336-634: A celebration of the skill and determination of these early aviators. Before the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939, the British government had already implemented the Air Navigation (Restriction in Time of War) Order 1939. That ordered military takeover of most civilian airfields in the UK, cessation of all private flying without individual flight permits, and other emergency measures. It was administered by

420-675: A compulsory use of captions of all videos, DVDs, and other audio-visual displays played for safety and/or informational purposes in aircraft should be high-contrast captioned (e.g., white letters on a consistent black background [14 CFR Part 382/ RIN 2105–AD41/OST Docket No. 2006–23999]). As of 2013, several airlines, including have closed-captioning provided on their AVOD systems. Video games are another emerging facet of in-flight entertainment. Some game systems are networked to allow interactive playing by multiple passengers. Later generations of IFE games began to shift focus from pure entertainment to learning. The best examples of this changing trend are

504-610: A constant battle to cut costs of production, without cutting the system's quality and compatibility. Cutting production costs may be achieved by anything from altering the housing for personal televisions, to reducing the amount of embedded software in the in-flight entertainment processor. Difficulties with cost are also present with the customers, or airlines , looking to purchase in-flight entertainment systems. Most in-flight entertainment systems are purchased by existing airlines as an upgrade package to an existing fleet of aircraft. This cost can be anywhere from $ 2 million to $ 5 million for

588-489: A few seats apart from each other. The audio was played back through the headsets. In 1971, TRANSCOM developed the 8mm film cassette. Flight attendants could now change movies in-flight and add short subject programming. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, CRT -based projectors began to appear on newer widebody aircraft, such as the Boeing 767 . These used LaserDiscs or video cassettes for playback. Some airlines upgraded

672-400: A former Treasury Financial Secretary. The land operations were based at Croydon Airport to the south of London . IAL immediately discontinued its predecessors' service to points north of London, the airline being focused on international and imperial service rather than domestic. Thereafter the only IAL aircraft operating 'North of Watford' were charter flights. Industrial troubles with

756-498: A general rule, mobile phone use while airborne is usually not just prohibited by the carrier, but also by regulatory agencies in the relevant jurisdiction (e.g. FAA and FCC in the US). However, with added technology, some carriers nonetheless allow the use of mobile phones on selected routes. Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline , operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving

840-692: A hundred tons of mail had been delivered to India and a similar amount to Africa. In the same year, construction was started on the Empire Terminal in Victoria, London , designed by A. Lakeman and with a statue by Eric Broadbent, Speed Wings Over the World gracing the portal above the main entrance. From the terminal there were train connections to Imperial's flying boats at Southampton and coaches to its landplane base at Croydon Airport . The terminal operated as recently as 1980. To help promote use of

924-471: A majority of the cost paid for by advertisements on, around, and in their IFE. The largest international airlines sometimes pay more than $ 90,000 for a license to show one movie over a period of two or three months. These airlines usually feature up to 100 movies at once, whereas 20 years ago they would have only 10 or 12. In the United States, airlines pay a flat fee every time the movie is watched by

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1008-651: A moving map, speed, and altitude. Also, the IFT systems on Swissair offered first ever inflight gambling activities with winnings that could go as high as $ 3,500. Today, in-flight entertainment is available on almost all wide body aircraft, and often excluded from narrow body aircraft, largely due to aircraft storage and weight limits. The Boeing 757 was the first narrow body aircraft to widely feature both audio and video in-flight entertainment. Most Boeing 757s feature ceiling-mounted CRT screens, although some newer 757s may feature drop-down LCDs or audio-video on demand systems in

1092-447: A passenger. Some airlines spend up to $ 20 million per year on content. A moving-map system is a real-time flight information video channel broadcast through to cabin project/video screens and personal televisions (PTVs). In addition to displaying a map that illustrates the position and direction of the plane, the system gives (utilizing both the imperial and metric systems ) the altitude, airspeed, outside air temperature, distance to

1176-504: A plane to be equipped with a set of seat back LCD monitors and an embedded IFE system. Some of the IFE systems are being purchased already installed in a new aircraft, such as the Airbus A320, which eliminates the possibility of having upgrade difficulties. Some airlines are passing the cost directly into the customers ticket price, while some are charging a user fee based on an individual customers use. Some are also attempting to get

1260-518: A position on the board of the company while these negotiations were in train. The government, including the Prime Minister, regretted the decision to dismiss him, later finding that, in fact, no corruption was alleged and sought Bullock's reinstatement which he declined. The Empire Air Mail Programme started in July 1937, delivering anywhere for 1 ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ d./oz. By mid-1938

1344-410: A program that they have been watching. This is in contrast to older entertainment systems where no interactivity is provided for. AVOD also allows the passengers to choose among movies stored in the aircraft computer system. In addition to the personal televisions that are installed in the seatbacks, a new portable media player (PMP) revolution is under way. There are two types available: commercial off

1428-621: A result, this completely replaced the CRT technology. In 1996 and 1997, Swissair and Alitalia introduced first digital in-flight entertainment systems aboard its aircraft manufactured by US-based company Interactive Flight Technologies, marking a notable development in passenger amenities, that would generate additional revenue for the airline. These systems featured individual touchscreen displays integrated into seat armrests, allowing passengers to access various entertainment including pay-per-view movie library, music, games, and flight details such as

1512-812: A subsidiary of Inflight, produced at least one film, Deadlier Than the Male , specifically for use on airplanes. Pakistan International Airlines was the first international airline to introduce this entertainment system, showing regularly scheduled films from 1962. In 1963, Avid Airline Products developed and manufactured the first pneumatic headset used on board the airlines and provided these early headsets to TWA. These early systems consisted of in-seat audio that could be heard with hollow tube headphones. In 1979, pneumatic headsets were replaced by electronic headsets, which were initially available only on selected flights and premium cabins. Pneumatic headphones continued to be offered on Delta Airlines flights until 2003, despite

1596-552: A total of $ 280 million to the Department of Justice and the SEC. In-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment ( IFE ) refers to entertainment and other value-added services available to aircraft passengers during a flight. Frequently managed by content service providers, the types of in-flight entertainment and their content vary significantly based on the airline , aircraft type, and geographic region. During

1680-502: Is AS9100 , ISO 14001 , and ISO 27000 certified. In 2017, Panasonic Avionics decided to cancel planned investment in geostationary satellites, in the wake of development in low Earth orbit satellite constellations. This decision could be due to potential future competition from the Starlink and OneWeb satellite constellations. One of the key technical differences is that low Earth orbit satellites provide shorter latencies , because

1764-471: Is capable of streaming various text languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Spanish, and Russian. The technology is currently based on Scenarist file multiplexing so far; however, portable media players tend to use alternative technologies. A WAEA technical committee is trying to standardize the closed caption specification. In 2009, the US Department of Transportation ruled

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1848-771: Is experienced through headphones that are distributed to the passengers. The headphone plugs are usually only compatible with the audio socket on the passenger's armrest (and vice versa), and some airlines may charge a small fee to obtain a pair. The headphones provided can also be used for the viewing of personal televisions. Passengers can also connect their own headphones if they have compatible connectors; noise-cancelling headphones, which much reduce engine and ambient noise, are popular. In-flight entertainment systems have been made compatible with XM Satellite Radio and with iPods , allowing passengers to access their accounts or bring their own music, along with offering libraries of full audio CDs of different genres. Video entertainment

1932-821: Is provided either through a satellite network or an air-to-ground network. In the Airbus A380 aircraft, data communication via satellite system allows passengers to connect to live Internet from the individual IFE units or their laptops via the in-flight Wi-Fi access. Boeing 's cancellation of the Connexion by Boeing system in 2006 caused concerns that inflight internet would not be available on next-generation aircraft such as Qantas 's fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing Dreamliner 787s . However, Qantas announced in July 2007 that all service classes in its fleet of A380s would have wireless internet access as well as seat-back access to email and cached web browsing when

2016-564: Is provided via a large video screen at the front of a cabin section, as well as smaller monitors situated every few rows above the aisles. Sound is supplied via the same headphones as those distributed for audio entertainment. However, personal televisions (PTVs) for every passenger provide passengers with channels broadcasting new and classic films, as well as comedies, news, sports programming, documentaries, children's shows, and drama series. Some airlines also present news and current affairs programming, which are often pre-recorded and delivered in

2100-579: Is required. Such airlines include Emirates , Turkish Airlines , Pakistan International Airlines , Etihad Airways , Malaysia Airlines , IranAir , Qatar Airways , Mahan Air , Royal Jordanian and Saudia . Saudia and Malaysia Airlines have built-in Qur'ans , the Islamic holy book, in e-book form, and Garuda Indonesia has a dedicated Qur'an channel. Saudia and Emirates have audio Qur'ans. The AVOD systems on El Al aircraft feature an application that shows

2184-443: Is self-contained, and can not alter the functionality of the aircraft. Upon a showing of compliance to all of the applicable U.S. regulations the in-flight entertainment system is capable of being approved in the United States. Certain U.S. design approvals for IFE may be directly accepted in other countries, or may be capable of being validated, under existing bilateral airworthiness safety agreements. The companies involved are in

2268-462: Is sometimes a channel devoted to the plane's radio communications, allowing passengers to listen in on the pilot's in-flight conversations with other planes and ground stations. In audio-video on demand (AVOD) systems, software such as MusicMatch is used to select music off the music server. Phillips Music Server is one of the most widely used servers running under Windows Media Center used to control AVOD systems. This form of in-flight entertainment

2352-589: Is typically isolated from the main systems of the aircraft. In the United States, for an aviation product to be considered safe and reliable, it must be certified by the FAA and pass all of the applicable requirements found in the Federal Aviation Regulations . The concerning section, or title, dealing with the aviation industry and the electronic systems embedded in the aircraft, is CFR title 14 part 25. Contained inside Part 25 are rules relating to

2436-716: The Atlantic and to New Zealand . By mid-1937 Imperial had completed its thousandth service to the Empire. Starting in 1938 Empire flying boats also flew between Britain and Australia via India and the Middle East. In March 1939 three Shorts a week left Southampton for Australia, reaching Sydney after ten days of flying and nine overnight stops. Three more left for South Africa, taking six flying days to Durban. Imperial's aircraft were small, most seating fewer than twenty passengers; about 50,000 passengers used Imperial Airways in

2520-540: The British Empire routes to South Africa , India , Australia and the Far East , including Malaya and Hong Kong . Passengers were typically businessmen or colonial administrators, and most flights carried about 20 passengers or fewer. Accidents were frequent: in the first six years, 32 people died in seven incidents. Imperial Airways never achieved the levels of technological innovation of its competitors and

2604-424: The 1930s. Most passengers on intercontinental routes or on services within and between British colonies were men in colonial administration, business or research. To begin with only the wealthy could afford to fly, but passenger lists gradually diversified. Travel experiences related to flying low and slow, and were reported enthusiastically in newspapers, magazines and books. There was opportunity for sightseeing from

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2688-587: The Air Mail service, in June and July 1939, Imperial Airways participated with Pan American Airways in providing a special "around the world" service; Imperial carried the souvenir mail from Foynes , Ireland , to Hong Kong , out of the eastbound New York to New York route. Pan American provided service from New York to Foynes (departing 24 June, via the first flight of Northern FAM 18) and Hong Kong to San Francisco (via FAM 14), and United Airlines carried it on

2772-746: The Airbuses started operations in October 2008. Certain elements were also retrofitted into existing Boeing 747-400s . As of 2010 sixteen major U.S. airlines offered Wi-Fi connectivity service on their aircraft. The majority of these airlines used the service provided by Gogo Wi-Fi service . The service allows Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the Internet. Delta had the most Wi-Fi equipped fleet, with 500 aircraft offering Wi-Fi. In 2019, some airlines removed seatback screens, saving money by streaming video to passenger personal mobile devices . As

2856-613: The British Empire. In 1934 the government began negotiations with Imperial Airways to establish a service ( Empire Air Mail Scheme ) to carry mail by air on routes served by the airline. Indirectly these negotiations led to the dismissal in 1936 of Sir Christopher Bullock , the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Air Ministry , who was found by a Board of Inquiry to have abused his position in seeking

2940-607: The C.A.T Subsidies Committee) under Sir Herbert Hambling . The committee, set up on 2 January 1923, produced a report on 15 February 1923 recommending that four of the largest existing airlines, the Instone Air Line Company , owned by shipping magnate Samuel Instone , Noel Pemberton Billing 's British Marine Air Navigation (part of the Supermarine flying-boat company), the Daimler Airway , under

3024-770: The London to Cape Town route. On 9 February 1936 the trans-Africa route was opened by Imperial Airways between Khartoum and Kano in Nigeria. This route was extended to Lagos on 15 October 1936. In 1937 with the introduction of Short Empire flying boats built at Short Brothers, Imperial Airways could offer a through-service from Southampton to the Empire. The journey to the Cape was via Marseille , Rome , Brindisi , Athens , Alexandria , Khartoum , Port Bell , Kisumu and onwards by land-based craft to Nairobi , Mbeya and eventually Cape Town . Survey flights were also made across

3108-557: The Persian authorities regarding overflight rights, a London to Karachi service started on 30 March 1929, taking seven days and consisting of a flight from London to Basel , a train to Genoa and a Short S.8 Calcutta flying boats to Alexandria, a train to Cairo and finally a DH.66 flight to Karachi. The route was extended as far as Delhi on 29 December 1929. The route across Europe and the Mediterranean changed many times over

3192-533: The Thames at Westminster on 1 October 1926. Cobham was met by the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare , and was subsequently knighted by HM King George V . On 27 December 1926, Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.66 Hercules G-EBMX City of Delhi left Croydon for a survey flight to India. The flight reached Karachi on 6 January 1927 and Delhi on 8 January 1927. The aircraft was named by Lady Irwin, wife of

3276-527: The UK to Cape Town and back in the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar –powered de Havilland DH.50J floatplane G-EBFO . The outward route was London – Paris – Marseille – Pisa – Taranto – Athens – Sollum – Cairo – Luxor – Aswan – Wadi Halfa – Atbara – Khartoum – Malakal – Mongalla – Jinja – Kisumu – Tabora – Abercorn – Ndola – Broken Hill – Livingstone – Bulawayo – Pretoria – Johannesburg – Kimberley – Bloemfontein – Cape Town . On his return Cobham

3360-423: The United States . Some airlines complained that doing so may compel the entire IFE system to remain shut. After complaints from airlines and passengers alike, these restrictions were eased. Audio entertainment covers music, as well as news, information, and comedy. Most music channels are pre-recorded and feature their own DJs to provide chatter, song introductions, and interviews with artists. In addition, there

3444-525: The Viceroy, on 10 January 1927. The return flight left on 1 February 1927 and arrived at Heliopolis, Cairo on 7 February 1927. The flying time from Croydon to Delhi was 62 hours 27 minutes and Delhi to Heliopolis 32 hours 50 minutes. Regular services on the Cairo to Basra route began on 12 January 1927 using DH.66 aircraft, replacing the previous RAF mail flight . Following two years of negotiations with

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3528-442: The air and at stops. Imperial Airways stationed its all-male flight deck crew, cabin crew and ground crew along the length of its routes. Specialist engineers and inspectors – and ground crew on rotation or leave – travelled on the airline without generating any seat revenue. Several air crew lost their lives in accidents. At the end of the 1930s crew numbers approximated 3,000. All crew were expected to be ambassadors for Britain and

3612-536: The aircraft or integrated into the remote control used for passengers' in-flight entertainment. Some aircraft allow faxes and phone SMS ("texts") to be sent. A notable example of such a system was the Airfone which was used by several people on multiple aircraft during the September 11th attacks . This also allowed the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 to know about the other hijackings, ultimately leading to

3696-476: The aircraft's electronic system. There are two major sections of the FAA's airworthiness regulations that regulate flight entertainment systems and their safety in transport category aircraft: 14 CFR 25.1301 which approves the electronic equipment for installation and use, by assuring that the system in question is properly labeled, and that its design is appropriate to its intended function. 14 CFR 25.1309 states that

3780-494: The airline followed a burst of air route surveying in the British Empire after the First World War , and after some experimental (and often dangerous) long-distance flying to the margins of Empire. Imperial Airways was created against a background of stiff competition from French and German airlines that enjoyed heavy government subsidies and following the advice of the government's Hambling Committee (formally known as

3864-590: The back of each seat. Many Airbus A320 series and Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft are also equipped with drop-down LCD screens. Some airlines, such as WestJet , United Airlines , and Delta Air Lines , have equipped some narrow body aircraft with personal video screens at every seat. Others, such as Air Canada and JetBlue , have even equipped some regional jets with VOD . For the introduction of personal TVs on board jetBlue , company management tracked that lavatory queuing went far down. They originally had two planes, one with functioning IFE and one with none;

3948-535: The current Zmanim (Jewish prayer times) throughout the flight, with a compass pointing in the direction of Jerusalem IFE has been expanded to include in-flight connectivity—services such as Internet browsing, text messaging, cell phone usage (where permitted), and emailing. In fact, some in the airline industry have begun referring to the entire in-flight-entertainment category as "IFEC" (In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity or In-Flight Entertainment and Communication). The aircraft manufacturer Boeing entered into

4032-489: The destination, distance from the origination point, and origin/destination/local time (using both the 12-hour and 24-hour clocks ). The moving-map system information is derived in real time from the aircraft's flight computer systems. The first moving-map system designed for passengers was named Airshow and introduced in 1982. It was invented by Airshow Inc (ASINC), a small southern California corporation, which later became part of Rockwell Collins . KLM and Swissair were

4116-452: The early morning before flights commence. On some US domestic airlines, live TV is offered, which includes many national news channels. PTVs are operated via an in-flight Management System which stores pre-recorded channels on a central server and streams them to PTV equipped seats during flight. AVOD systems store individual programs separately, allowing a passenger to have a specific program streamed to them privately, and be able to control

4200-700: The early years of air travel in the 1920s, in-flight entertainment took the form of movies that were initially shown on a large screen. With advancements in digital technology over the decades, personal IFE display screens became prevalent during the 1990s, when demand for better IFE became a major factor in the design of aircraft cabins. The advent of small entertainment and communication devices also allows passengers to use their own devices, subject to regulations to prevent them interfering with aircraft equipment. Design issues for IFE include system safety, cost efficiency , software reliability , hardware maintenance , and user compatibility. The first in-flight movie

4284-405: The electrical equipment must not alter the safety or functionality of the aircraft upon the result of a failure . One way for the intended IFE system to meet this regulatory requirement is for it to be independent from the aircraft's main power source and processor. By separating the power supplies and data links from that of the aircraft's performance processor, in the event of a failure the system

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4368-413: The fact that electronic headphone jacks have existed on Delta planes since the adoption of Boeing 767-200 in 1982. Throughout the early to mid-1960s, some in-flight movies were played back from videotape, using early compact transistorized videotape recorders made by Sony and Ampex, and played back on CRT monitors mounted on the upper sides in the cabin above the passenger seats with several monitors placed

4452-558: The final leg from San Francisco to New York, arriving on 28 July. Captain H. W. C. Alger was the pilot for the inaugural air mail flight carrying mail from England to Australia for the first time on the Short Empire flyingboat Castor for Imperial Airways' Empires Air Routes, in 1937. In November 2016, 80 years later, the Crete2Cape Vintage Air Rally flew this old route with fifteen vintage aeroplanes –

4536-423: The first airlines to offer the moving map systems to their passengers. The latest versions of moving-maps offered by IFE manufacturers include AdonisOne IFE, ICARUS Moving Map Systems, Airshow 4200 by Rockwell Collins , iXlor2 by Panasonic Avionics and JetMap HD by Honeywell Aerospace . In 2013, Betria Interactive unveiled FlightPath3D, a fully interactive moving-map that enables passengers to zoom and pan around

4620-422: The functioning one was later called "the happy plane". One major obstacle in creating an in-flight entertainment system is system safety. With the sometimes miles of wiring involved, voltage leaks, arcing and heat become a problem. This is more than a theoretical concern; the IFE system was implicated in the crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998. To contain any possible issues, the in-flight entertainment system

4704-458: The in-flight-connectivity industry in 2000 and 2001 with an offshoot called Connexion by Boeing . The service was designed to provide in-flight broadband service to commercial airlines; Boeing built partnerships with United Airlines, Delta, and American. In 2006 Boeing closed Connexion; industry analysts cited technology, weight, and cost issues. The Connexion hardware then available weighed an unacceptable 1,000 pounds (450 kg). After Connexion

4788-406: The management of George Edward Woods, and Handley Page Transport Co Ltd. , should be merged. It was hoped that this would create a company which could compete against French and German competition and would be strong enough to develop Britain's external air services while minimizing government subsidies for duplicated services. With this in view, a £1m subsidy over ten years was offered to encourage

4872-628: The merger. Agreement was made between the President of the Air Council and the British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation on 3 December 1923 for the company, under the title of the 'Imperial Air Transport Company' to acquire existing air transport services in the UK. The agreement set out the government subsidies for the new company: £137,000 in the first year diminishing to £32,000 in the tenth year as well as minimum mileages to be achieved and penalties if these weren't met. Imperial Airways Limited

4956-434: The movie. There are also movies that are shown throughout the aircraft at one time, often on shared overhead screens or a screen in the front of the cabin. More modern aircraft are now allowing Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) to be used to connect to the on board in-flight entertainment systems. Regularly scheduled in flight movies began to premiere in 1961 on flights from New York to Los Angeles . The first movie shown

5040-643: The next few years but almost always involved a rail journey. In April 1931 an experimental London- Australia air mail flight took place; the mail was transferred at the Dutch East Indies , after the DH66 City of Cairo crashed landed in Timor, on the 19th April, having run out of fuel, and took 26 days in total to reach Sydney . For the passenger flight leaving London on 1 October 1932, the Eastern route

5124-712: The now defunct provider of the airline's previous onboard connectivity system. The product engineering and development departments are located in Irvine, CA ; program management, certification, system installation engineering and quality are located in Bothell, Washington , and manufacturing is performed in Osaka, Japan . Other offices and repair facilities are located worldwide, with major offices in Toulouse, Hamburg, London, Dallas, Dubai and Singapore. Panasonic Avionics Corporation

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5208-717: The old film IFE systems to the CRT-based systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s on some of their older widebodies. In 1985, Avicom introduced the first personal audio player system, based on the Philips Tape Cassette technology. In 1988, the Airvision company introduced the first in-seat audio/video on-demand systems using 2.7 inches (69 mm) LCD technology for Northwest Airlines . The trials, which were run by Northwest Airlines on its Boeing 747 fleet, received overwhelmingly positive passenger reaction. As

5292-547: The passengers revolting against the hijackers. Some systems allow a passenger to call another by seat number. Intranet type communication systems have been introduced. Functionalities may include allowing passengers to chat with each other, compete against each other in provided games, talk to flight attendants , request and pay for food or drinks, and have full access to the Internet and email . Several airlines are using in-cabin wi-fi systems. In-flight internet service

5376-505: The pilots delayed the start of services until 26 April 1924, when a daily London–Paris route was opened with a de Havilland DH.34 . Thereafter the task of expanding the routes between England and the Continent began, with Southampton–Guernsey on 1 May 1924, London-Brussels–Cologne on 3 May, London–Amsterdam on 2 June 1924, and a summer service from London–Paris–Basel–Zürich on 17 June 1924. The first new airliner ordered by Imperial Airways,

5460-685: The playback. Some airlines also provide video games as part of the video entertainment system. For example, Singapore Airlines passengers on some flights have access to a number of Super Nintendo games as part of its KrisWorld entertainment system. Also Virgin America 's and Virgin Australia 's Entertainment System offer passengers internet gaming over a Linux -based operating system . Most airlines have now installed personal televisions (otherwise known as PTVs) for every passenger on most long-haul routes. These televisions are usually located in

5544-636: The popular trivia game series and the Berlitz Word Traveler that allows passengers to learn a new language in their own language. Appearing as a mixture of lessons and mini games, passengers can learn the basics of a new language while being entertained. Many more learning applications continue to appear in the IFE market. In several airlines from the Muslim world , the AVOD systems provide Qibla directions to allow Muslims to pray facing Mecca , as

5628-478: The previous 30-inch-diameter film reels. In 1961, TWA committed to Flexer's technology and was the first to debut a feature film in flight. Interviewed by the New Yorker in 1962, Mr Flexner said, "an awful lot of ingenuity has gone into this thing, which started from my simply thinking one day, in flight, that air travel is both the most advanced form of transportation and the most boring.” Amerlon Productions,

5712-430: The rear of the aircraft with a lounge and cocktail bar. The aircraft never entered service. However, it was not until the 1960s that in-flight entertainment became mainstream and popular. In 1961, David Flexer of Inflight Motion Pictures developed the 16mm film system using a 25-inch reel for a wide variety of commercial aircraft. Capable of holding the entire film, and mounted horizontally to maximize space, this replaced

5796-460: The seat-backs or tucked away in the armrests for front row seats and first class. Some show direct broadcast satellite television which enables passengers to view live TV broadcasts. Some airlines also offer video games using PTV equipment. Many are now providing closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers. Audio-video on demand (AVOD) entertainment has also been introduced. This enables passengers to pause, rewind, fast-forward, or stop

5880-423: The seats, since those boxes increase the weight of the aircraft and impede legroom. Personal on-demand videos are stored in an aircraft's main in-flight entertainment system, whence they can be viewed on demand by a passenger over the aircraft's built in media server and wireless broadcast system. Along with the on-demand concept comes the ability for the user to pause, rewind, fast forward , or jump to any point in

5964-470: The shelf (COTS) based players and proprietary players. PMPs can be handed out and collected by the cabin crew, or can be "semi-embedded" into the seatback or seat arm. In both of these scenarios, the PMP can pop in and out of an enclosure built into the seat, or an arm enclosure. An advantage of PMPs is that, unlike seatback PTVs, equipment boxes for the inflight entertainment system do not need to be installed under

6048-569: The signal doesn't have to travel 35,786 km (22,236 mi) back and forth to the geostationary orbit. In March 2013, it was reported that American authorities were investigating the subsidiary for bribery. In February 2017, Panasonic said that PAC was being investigated by the DOJ and the SEC under the FCPA . In December 2018, the former CEO and CFO of the company settled with the SEC and agreed to pay

6132-426: Was By Love Possessed (1961), starring Lana Turner ; it was first shown on July 19, 1961, when TWA showed it to its first-class passengers. Closed captioning technology for deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers started in 2008 with Emirates Airlines . The captions are text streamed along with video and spoken audio and enables passengers to either enable or disable the subtitle/caption language. Closed captioning

6216-591: Was awarded the Air Force Cross for his services to aviation. On 30 June 1926, Cobham took off from the River Medway at Rochester in G-EBFO to make an Imperial Airways route survey for a service to Melbourne, arriving on 15 August 1926. He left Melbourne on 29 August 1926, and, after completing 28,000 nautical miles (32,000 mi; 52,000 km) in 320 hours flying time over 78 days, he alighted on

6300-659: Was discontinued, other providers emerged to deliver in-flight broadband communication to airlines—notably satellite-based by Row 44 , OnAir and AeroMobile , and air-to-ground connectivity via a cellular signal by Aircell. Many have tested and deployed in-flight connectivity for passengers. Industry expectations were that by the end of 2011 thousands of planes flying in the US would offer some form of in-flight broadband communication to passengers. Some airlines provide satellite telephones, usually able to make but not receive calls, integrated into their system, located at strategic locations in

6384-565: Was extended experimentally to Cape Town for the carriage of Christmas mail. The aircraft used on the last sector, DH66 G-AARY City of Karachi arrived in Cape Town on 21 December 1931. On 20 January 1932 a mail-only route to London to Cape Town was opened. On 27 April this route was opened to passengers and took 10 days. In early 1933 Atalantas replaced the DH.66s on the Kisumu to Cape Town sector of

6468-557: Was for mail; passenger flights to Brisbane began the following April.) The first London to Hong Kong passengers departed London on 14 March 1936 following the establishment of a branch from Penang to Hong Kong. On 28 February 1931 a weekly service began between London and Mwanza on Lake Victoria in Tanganyika as part of the proposed route to Cape Town . On 9 December 1931 the Imperial Airways' service for Central Africa

6552-631: Was formed on 31 March 1924 with equipment from each contributing concern: British Marine Air Navigation Company Ltd, the Daimler Airway, Handley Page Transport Ltd and the Instone Air Line Ltd. Sir Eric Geddes was appointed the chairman of the board with one director from each of the merged companies. The government had appointed two directors, Hambling (who was also President of the Institute of Bankers ) and Major John Hills ,

6636-476: Was in charge of the flight. Astraea flew Croydon - Paris - Lyon - Rome - Brindisi - Athens - Alexandria - Cairo where it followed the normal route to Karachi then onwards to Jodhpur - Delhi - Calcutta - Akyab - Rangoon - Bangkok - Prachuab - Alor Setar - Singapore - Palembang - Batavia - Sourabaya - Bima - Koepang - Bathurst Island - Darwin - Newcastle Waters - Camooweal - Cloncurry - Longreach - Roma - Toowoomba reaching Eagle Farm, Brisbane on 23 June. Sydney

6720-586: Was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939. BOAC in turn merged with the British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways . The establishment of Imperial Airways occurred in the context of facilitating British colonialism by making travel to and from the colonies quicker than travel by ship. Air travel would speed up both colonial government and trade. The launch of

6804-452: Was screened by Aeromarine Airways in 1921, showing a film called Howdy Chicago to passengers on a Felixstowe F.5 flying boat as it flew around Chicago. The film The Lost World was shown to passengers of an Imperial Airways flight in April 1925 between London (Croydon Airport) and Paris. Eleven years later, in 1932, the first in-flight television called 'media event' was shown on

6888-812: Was switched from the Persian to the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, and Handley Page HP 42 airliners were introduced on the Cairo to Karachi sector. The move saw the establishment of an airport and rest house, Mahatta Fort , in the Trucial State of Sharjah now part of the United Arab Emirates . On 29 May 1933 an England to Australia survey flight took off, operated by Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta G-ABTL Astraea . Major H. G. Brackley, Imperial Airways' Air Superintendent,

6972-586: Was the Handley Page W8f City of Washington , delivered on 3 November 1924. In the first year of operation the company carried 11,395 passengers and 212,380 letters. In April 1925, the film The Lost World became the first film to be screened for passengers on a scheduled airliner flight when it was shown on the London-Paris route. Between 16 November 1925 and 13 March 1926, Alan Cobham made an Imperial Airways' route survey flight from

7056-498: Was visited on 26 June, Canberra on 28 June and Melbourne on 29 June. There followed a rapid eastern extension. The first London to Calcutta service departed on 1 July 1933, the first London to Rangoon service on 23 September 1933, the first London to Singapore service on 9 December 1933, and the first London to Brisbane service on 8 December 1934, with Qantas responsible for the Singapore to Brisbane sector. (The 1934 start

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