Discover Airlines, a member of Lufthansa Group, has installed the fully-fledged AERENA Inseat System by AERQ – a provider of digital cabin solutions – in one of its A320 aircraft. This implementation has been realised through a collaboration and innovation partnership between AERQ, Discover Airlines and Lufthansa Group Innovation Runway.
AERQ’s open IT platform AERENA, supported by a state-of-the-art cloud-based infrastructure, boosts digital cabin innovations throughout the travel journey and facilitates greater passenger engagement onboard the aircraft. It inspires interaction through a PED (Personal Electronic Device) friendly environment.
“We are proud to be the first airline to trial this special entertainment system and to work together with AERQ on the next generation of inflight entertainment,” said Maximilian Meintgens, Director Product & Marketing, Discover Airlines. “Our goal is to test the system in everyday life and understand how to further improve and personalise the travel experience through feedback and usage behaviour from our guests. The insights we gather during the test phase will make an important contribution to the further development of the inflight entertainment experience for the entire Lufthansa Group.”
With an in-seat system on a narrow-body aircraft for medium-haul flights, Discover Airlines provides a unique offer to its passengers. During these flights, various use cases will be tested to fully realise the potential of AERENA. Passengers can benefit from personalised offers and information digitally, including access to the onboard catering menu and to a variety of applications, such as booking tours for their destinations. This approach enables passengers to make even more effective use of their travel time.
“We are very excited that AERENA now takes off and an airline as well as passengers get to experience what our platform has to offer,” said Arnd Kikker, Co-Managing Director, AERQ. “This is an important milestone for us and our parent companies.
Discover Airlines profits from AERENA’s agility that allows rapid updates of all content – AVoD (Audio/Video on Demand), the user interface or any application to move the experience and engagement to a new level. Onboard the AERENA-equipped aircraft, Discover Airlines can customise its digital onboard product rapidly. By smart data capturing, analytics, and matching, Discover Airlines can learn about passengers’ entertainment demands and address them specifically.
As a very important milestone for AERQ, an STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) covering the installation of the AERENA Inseat System has been issued by EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency).
“Agility and speed in content updates, customisation of the onboard product for a personalised passenger encounter and opportunities for new ancillary revenues through gaming or destination content are the advantages that will be derived from the implementation of AERENA,” explained Son Yob (Louis) Pak, Co-Managing Director, AERQ.
The project is supported by Lufthansa Group Innovation Runway – the Group’s innovation ecosystem. The Innovation Runway fosters innovative solution-finding within Lufthansa Group and with external partners, bringing together ideas and implementers, facilitating experimentation, and providing funding.
“Accelerating innovation enables us to continuously improve our customer experience, and this collaborative effort is a great example of that,” said Xavier Lagardère, VP Innovation, Lufthansa Group and Managing Director, Lufthansa Innovation Hub. “We are excited and proud to see our investments in cutting-edge inflight entertainment, together with our partners AERQ and Discover Airlines, installed in our first aircraft.”
