Inflight Live Radio + Live TV in the Post-Pandemic World
Inflight live radio and live TV is set to make waves in the aviation industry in the post-pandemic world.
The pandemic has greatly impacted the aviation industry, grounding planes in the “worst year in history for air travel demand”, with global passenger traffic, as measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), declining by 65.9%, compared to 2019.
International passenger demand dropped 75.6% and domestic demand 48.8% below 2019 levels.
However, the aviation industry has proven itself resilient through past downturns. It is projected to fully recover for air travel to return to 2019 levels in three years. Moving forward post-pandemic, air travel, as we know, will change for travellers, airports and airlines.
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Passengers flying into Australia via popular airlines like Qantas, Sharp, Rex and domestic airlines will be required to be vaccinated or present a negative PCR test result, from a test taken within the certain mandated hours.
All airports including Sydney Airport, Melbourne, Brisbane or any other airport will need to implement cleaning and disinfection procedures. Social distancing policies, face mask usage, sanitiser availability, use of PPE by staff and other hygiene improvement systems must also be implemented.
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When international air travel resumes, leisure trips will take precedence over business trips. With remote work and other flexible working arrangements, people will take fewer corporate trips.
It is predicted that business trips will only likely recover to around 80% of pre-pandemic levels by 2024.
As a result of business trips taking precedence, it is recommended that airlines should re-evaluate the economics of their operations, especially in the area of long-haul flights.
Making up for lost revenue and achieving profitability post-pandemic means airlines must differentiate themselves and manage operational costs effectively.
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Operational costs will increase in the short-run for airlines with the addition of health and safety requirements. These costs include temperature or viral tests, and aircrafts undergoing deep cleaning between trips. Some airlines might even opt for the cabin air being extracted into the air mixer unit through High-Efficiency Particulate Air filters (HEPA) so that the cleaned and filtered cabin air is mixed with fresh air drawn in from outside
Moreover, if implemented for air transport, social distancing measures could force a reduction in the passenger load factor (i.e., the number of seats that can be occupied during a flight) by up to 50%.
Part of cost management is also balancing IFE operational costs while delivering quality inflight entertainment experiences to passengers.
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MANAGING
IFE COSTS
As the world embraces the new normal in a post-pandemic world, the IFE industry will have to evolve & adapt as well.
In terms of IFE systems, some airlines are foregoing seatback screens not just due to high installation and maintenance costs but also because of added weight. Reducing weight from screens means saving on fuel costs.
From a content standpoint, the pandemic halted all content production and forced movie release dates to be pushed back or moved to PVOD (premium video-on-demand) or streaming services.
In the short-term, this has forced airlines to make drastic changes to their IFE offerings by lengthening content cycles to bi-monthly or quarterly updates in the bid to save costs. Further changes in the film industry post-pandemic and the advent of streaming services will also be impacting content licensing costs and potential availability.
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Enhanced connectivity is also significantly impacting IFE in several ways. Advanced wireless IFE systems allow airlines to be connected to passengers through their Personal Electronic Devices (PED) or digital devices.
In a global passenger survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association in 2018, it was observed that passengers would still rather watch digital content on an embedded IFE system. However, post-pandemic, this behaviour will most certainly change as using common devices poses a health risk.
Australia carries the internet penetration rate of 88%. 89% of people in Australia are using any type of mobile phones and smartphones. Collectively, users in Australia spend an average of 6 hours online.
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The mass adoption of consumers interacting with IFE on their PEDs allows airlines to interact with passengers beyond the cabin through airline apps. These apps can offer a variety of services including choice of entertainment, food and beverage purchases, moving maps, crew engagement, travel notifications and in-cabin upgrades.
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When providing a seamless IFE experience for passengers, airlines must manage the associated operational and cost challenges. These include providing passengers with high power charging for their devices, a large connectivity pipe with low latency and enough data to stream content.
In addition, when it comes to broadcasting inflight content, especially live TV and live radio, traditional technology makes it very expensive for airlines.
Conventional inflight content streaming considers every passenger as a separate entity for bandwidth and cost purposes. That means if 10 passengers are watching live sports, the airline will have to pay for 10 times the cost, even though it is the same live feed.
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However, airlines should explore new technology that can reduce the cost of inflight live radio and live TV significantly such as the Next Generation Live technology devised by IIM+ – a digital media solutions provider based in Singapore.
Ong Yong Beng, CEO of IIM+, shares:
“Our patented signalling server technology allows the use of live TV without the need to install additional hardware or even implement new software. This allows the streaming of live sports events, live TV and live radio at much lower costs compared to traditional technology.”
NEXT
GENERATION
INFLIGHT LIVE RADIO + TV
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