The Future of In-Flight Entertainment Systems

If you do any amount of flying, you probably rely on the aircraft’s IFE (in-flight entertainment) system to while away the hours in that cramped seat. Since I find myself aboard 12- and 15-hour flights several times a year, IFE choices keep me from going insane. And some years ago, I was a supplier of some music programming for Air Canada before they switched to their current SiriusXM choices. Oh, and I’m something of a nerd when it comes to commercial aviation and airports.

My current favourites include Singapore Airlines, ANA and Qatar.  I confess to not having tried IFE systems on Emirates and Etihad, both of which are supposed to be extremely good. And although Air Canada shines when compared to American, Delta and United–okay, every American carrier except maybe Virgin America–their system is looking pretty long in the tooth.  And how many AC flights have you been on where the system has had to be rebooted to work? And now many times have those reboots failed? (Find an overview of IFEs from around the world here.)

This brings me to this report from Research and Markets, a site that deals with, well, market research. They have this analysis of how flyers are going to be amused in the skies with music and video in the next few years.