The Business of Passenger Experience
JetBlue's A320 fleet upgrade will be a little different than initially announced, mostly in a good way. Newer entertainment and connectivity solutions are now (officially) part of the plan.
Is it the ultimate surveillance scenario or a step forward in the passenger experience? Or maybe a little bit of both?? Vendors are cooperating today to deliver integrated biometrics in the inflight entertainment system, tying together a camera embedded in the screen with connectivity to various other platforms that can act on the data.
Consolidation is coming in the cabin components industry with Astronics set to acquire Telefonix for $104mm in cash. The two companies product lines are largely complementary, covering in-seat power, passenger service units, seat actuators, inflight connectivity components and more.
JetBlue’s A320s are now well overdue on a cabin refresh, and the program is showing further delays. Supplier issues are, again, at the core of the schedule push but this time around a new vendor is on the hook.
More shoulder room? Larger overhead bins? Better window views? Airspace by Airbus delivers these changes and more in A320 cabins with JetBlue signed on as the global launch customer for the product.
Netflix wants you to have free wifi on your next flight. That’s the only way it figures you’ll use your Netflix service on board. The catch (of course there is one) is that Netflix doesn’t want to be the one paying for that bandwidth. And it doesn’t really care who is, so long as it gets credit for making your flight better.
Good news (though hardly a surprise): Gogo’s 2Ku service is driving higher revenue for the company. Passengers, airlines and the service provider all win with the new system in play.
Easy to earn points for online shopping plus a re-up on free, fast in-flight internet is all good news from Amazon and JetBlue TrueBlue.
JetBlue is taking on American and Delta in the New York City “shuttle” market, adding six daily flights between Boston and LaGuardia starting this fall while also taking advantage of opportunities at Newark. Big changes for both business and leisure travelers.
New seats, a new entertainment system, new galleys, more wifi and even a mild STFU to a Wall Street analyst. Yup, just another quarter on the JetBlue earnings call.
