It has been a couple of years since I have been to the Aircraft Interiors Show, the annual exhibition for all things cabin interiors held in Hamburg last month, so it was interesting to see how this part of the business has moved on.
During one of panel debates at the related Cabin Innovation & Strategies for the Future conference on the eve of the show, Panasonic Avionics vice president global communications David Bruner said the IFE suppliers were "very close on the heels" of consumer technology and talked about the different approach in terms of seat integration. "For first the time now you are seeing seats really designed for the IFE," he said. "It's not just practical, but beautiful."
A look around the various exhibitors' stands during Aircraft Interiors seemed to bear this out. For example Thales was demonstrating its new generation Avant IFE system integrated into various seats - demonstrated in this picture by the head of Thales' in-flight entertainment business Alan Pellegrini - and both the modern feel of the system and the design of its integration into the seat make them appear much more natural bedfellows than seats and IFE systems of the past.
You can read much more on IFE and all aspects of cabin interiors development with our three editions of Flight Daily News from the recent Aircraft Interiors show.
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