Alaska Airlines unveiled the next phase of its passenger experience this week, with a heavy focus on the premium cabin experience. It includes the carrier’s Aurora 737 MAX layout, the first single-aisle planes with inflight entertainment screens in the seats. That’s a significant shift for the passenger experience, but only for some passengers. Those screens (powered by Panasonic Avionics‘ Astrova platform) will only fly in the Aurora (business class) and Premium Reserve (premium economy) cabins.
Limiting IFE screens to only some seats on a plane is incredibly rare. Copa Airlines similarly splits its cabin fittings between economy and business class, but it may be the only other carrier making that move.
When asked why the carrier made this choice, Alaska Airlines executives offered varying reasons, none of which wholly seemed like the answer. In combination, however, it mostly makes sense.
Alaska Airlines provided airfare and hotel accommodations for PaxEx.Aero to attend the company’s Media/Investor Day event where the new products were unveiled. As always, all opinions remain our own.
Is it Certification?
EVP and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison took a first stab at addressing the issue during the Media Day Q&A panel, offering up the less-than-satisfying “We’ve looked at wanting to make sure that a the premium experience is there.” While this initially seemed to imply a decision to further differentiate between the cabins, further conversations throughout the day suggest that’s not quite what Harrison meant.
President & CFO Shane Tackett followed up Harrison’s comment with a concern about seat certification and time to market. “It was more important to us to go deliver on all of the things we announced today,” Tackett explained, a better version of Harrison’s point about making sure the premium experience part happens quickly. Like Harrison, however, Tackett left open the possibility of screens in economy in the future, noting the company can “come back around and decide [if] that’s something that we need.”
A key challenge on the timing: seat certifications. Getting seats approved for flight with the screens installed takes longer than ever these days. Tackett cited “a really long time to market right now” for new seat certifications. Simplifying that process was key to meeting the airline’s delivery schedule. Mark Krolick, Managing Director of Inflight Guest Products at Alaska Airlines, similarly shared concern about avoiding the “situations like our competitors where you have planes but no seats.”
Read more: Screens Coming Back to American Airlines
Krolick continued, “The certification windows are tough. The supply chains can be difficult. So we had to be very thoughtful and strategic to make sure we have the absolute best seat for customers; that that was number one. But also to make sure that we have reliable supply chains that could meet our time lines.”
One key certification challenge in Alaska’s LOPA: the front row of economy class. There will not be a hard bulkhead between Premium Reserve and the main cabin, so screens cannot be mounted there. The switch from 2-2 to 3-3 seating means the company also cannot use the seat backs in row ahead. That means an in-arm mounting design on that front row of economy. It is hard to believe that engineering work (and the impact to seat comfort/width) was enough on its own to sink the idea of putting screens in economy, but it certainly was a factor.
Is it Customers?
There is also a theory that the screens are not necessary because passengers do not care. Demonstrating a firm booking trend based on availability of inflight entertainment (or internet) is incredibly difficult. Vendors will share stories and airlines will try, but most travelers focus on price and schedule more than anything, leaving loyalty and entertainment as lower priorities.
A statement from Alaska Airlines’ comms team was clear in the carrier’s belief that passengers – at least on the shorter trips these planes will take – are less likely to care about the screens once high-speed inflight internet becomes available:
On the Hawaiian A330 fleet, we saw usage drop as guests shifted to other activities during the flight. That shift was greatest on shorter, trans-Pacific flights around five hours. On longer, international flights, usage didn’t drop nearly as much, as guests chose to both have multi-screen experiences and relax by watching a movie or TV series.
In parallel with this view, Alaska believes that the updated inflight internet service precludes the need for airline-delivered IFE on board. “[W]e’re investing where it matters more: free, lightning-fast Starlink Wi-Fi at every seat. Watch what you want, on the devices you love, with outlets at every seat to keep them charged.”
Tackett shared a similar position during the Q&A portion of the day, noting passengers already score Starlink-equipped trips with a “materially higher” NPS than other flights. He also shared that “we just had a panel of guests at our annual planning session a couple of weeks ago… and they really leaned into wanting to be able to use their own content. That’s the most important thing: is give me immediate access to my own content.” It is unlikely that panel of guests represents the full breadth of the carrier’s customer base, but it likely does represent the bulk of the revenue, so perhaps that’s enough.
The industry remains firmly divided on this issue. Some or even most travelers bringing their own content does not mean all travelers do. And access to well-curated collections can also boost passenger engagement and satisfaction. And even those who do consume their own content often, as at home, want a second screen in play.
Is it Costs?
Harrison also offered up the idea that the decision had a significant economic component, with the airline looking hard at “what could be the business model around the seatback screen, curated content, marketing, advertising, monetizing, which you’re seeing some of the larger carriers do.” Given a relatively firm commitment to not installing screens on the rest of the incoming MAX 10 fleet, or any other single-aisle planes, any economic consideration actually happening is unlikely to change the company’s approach to in-seat IFE prior to the next decade.
Tackett was also clear that the company is unlikely to consider a different path in economy until after completing the current investment cycle. Arguably that pushes a potential revisit of this topic even further into the 2030s.
A revenue stream to offset those costs could shift the conversation, which Harrison spoke to. Some larger airlines argue they’ve found a formula that covers costs and makes the systems profitable, explicitly tied to a unified IFE/C approach, tying entertainment and advertising to the connectivity system. The challenge is real for smaller airlines, however, as scale is so critical in finding the right revenue partners. Alaska Airlines is not small, but is it still too small to produce an effective ad-supported approach?
Ultimately, Alaska Airlines is confident leaving the screens out in economy won’t harm its position in the market. As Tackett explained, “We are doing things today we didn’t think we might do 10 years ago. We’ve got to get through this investment cycle. We’ve got to get these products into the market. We’ve got to get planes on Starlink. And then we can sit back and see if [IFE screens are] actually a missing thing for guests or not.”
Slower than Expected on Starlink
Given Alaska Airlines’ heavy focus on Starlink as the key to happy passenger, it was rather surprising to note the carrier installed the system on zero planes in the month of September. Executives offered multiple explanations for this as well.
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