New chief executive of portable in-flight entertainment and cabin technology specialist AirFi, Laura Rosges, is putting the focus on product stability and scalability after taking the helm of the company at the start of the month.
”That means looking at production output, that means looking at rollout speed – so speed to market for the LEO [low-earth orbit] project – and really fulfilling the potential of what we already have and getting into the next generation,” she said, speaking to FlightGlobal during AIX.
AirFi’s range of cabin technologies products includes its new LEO-based in-flight connectivity solution, which has already been trialled by several airlines.
“When customers sign with you, you have a responsibility to them and I’d really like to concentrate on delivering what is promised – and beyond – even on the products which are very new and still require some love and affection, before we go into the next round of innovations,” she says.
Rosges predecessor, Job Heimerikx is well regarded, so to be selected to succeed him meant that she had to bring a vision of company’s future in order to be considered the person to take AirFi onwards.
“AirFi has grown very organically in the way that it grew into the Americas, into Asia and it was all based on Job and his vision of how the company should grow. It grew from passion, it grew from encouragement, commitment and right now AirFi is at a stage where it has grown so much in so many different regions, that there’s a little bit of commercialisation and maybe also a more mid- to medium-sized enterprise thinking necessary,” Rosges says
The new chief executive believes her experience, particularly at Retail in Motion, has prepared her to take on the challenge. “I come from a background where change is on the daily schedule, where retailing, especially in the aviation industry, changes every day. Payment industries, retailing industries and aviation sourcing is really, really complex. That is something that if I break it down I think I can help AirFi come to an even larger platform and audience,” she says.
Moreover, at Retail in Motion and before that Lufthansa Service Group, Rosges worked with AirFi from the supplier side and could see the USP of AirFi products and the business itself. “The great thing about AirFi – and what I really admired when I wasn’t part of it – was that it democratises connectivity. Because you have Intelsat, Viasat and all the big names and they give you different portions of connectedness and connectivity. But what AirFi does and what the USP is, is that it’s accessible for every airline,” she says.
“It serves the purpose of connecting passengers to the ground and the cabin to the passenger at a cost that is affordable for airlines. It also, in a certain way, creates a commodity of connectedness and that is where we want to move in the future. It shouldn’t be exclusive and that’s the strength of it,” Rosges continues. “Also, AirFi products don’t need any major installations. It’s easy and that’s what airlines often need.”
