Newstand in hand - Rick Lundstrom

by Rick Lundstrom - Pax International

See article on page 26-27

26 | PAX INTERNATIONAL | JULY 2018 

 IFE & CONNECTIVITY 

Newsstand in hand 

With weight and logistics costs an ongoing concern among airlines, several have moved away from distributing onboard print, and a French company is waiting in the wings to snatch up more potential customers 

BY RICK LUNDSTROM 

The new version of ACES from Adaptive has made browsing particularly easy for smartphones 

It’s enough to make a grizzled newspaper reporter, copywriter or any other ink-stained wretch weep tears for the past. 

The digital revolution is slowly (or not so slowly, depending on an individual’s point of view) turning how consumers read from an ink-and-paper format to a flickering image encased in glass and manipulated with the flip of a finger. Media like newspapers, magazines and books are making way for the future. 

Changes in the way print media is consumed, combined with a desire by airlines to reduce weight and the logistics cost connected with handling and distributing print media in flight, has led to a number of changes in recent years. Trend-setting airlines such as Singapore Airlines, SAS, TAP Portugal, Air France and more than two dozen others have added a digital media platform to their services that use the capabilities of a French company called Adaptive. 

Adaptive’s success in gaining new customers can be attributed as much to the devices passengers travel with as to the changes airlines are constantly making to enhance the travel experience. Just four years ago, SITA conducted a trends survey that showed more than eight in 10 passengers traveled with a smartphone while more than 40% carried a laptop or tablet. In addition, 18% of the passengers carried all three devices. 

At about the same time the survey was conducted, the airline industry was feeling the first rumblings of a revolution of its own, brought on by an expanding offering of IFEC solutions. Fixed and portable boxes were joining embedded IFE among the offerings and satellite companies were beginning to weave constellations of orbiting technology that now are on the verge of linking airlines around the world with high-speed digital content. About that time, the term BYOD (bring your own device) began to take on an important meaning and shape airline decisions. With these changes came new opportunities for airlines to 

A six-month rollout put ACES in the hands of all passengers on Scandinavian Airlines www.pax-intl.com | PAX INTERNATIONAL | 27 

learn about their passengers by following the digital footprints of everything they watched, read and purchased on board. 

This summer, PAX International caught up with Adaptive’s CEO, Laurent Safar, who was in the midst of several projects, among them improvements to the company’s ACES digital press product which delivers curated content previously found only in print to a number of airline customers and in multiple languages. The company had recently signed with a large Asian airport interested in providing media to passengers at the gate and in transit. Adaptive cemented its relationship with Air Cara?bes and its new spinoff carrier French Bee, which provides low-cost long-haul service to five destinations. Safar said the company was also on the verge of announcing two more new customers. 

Adaptive has also made changes to the ACES product to improve the passenger experience on several types of devices. 

The past year was important in terms of evolution in the digital press, said Safar. Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways both moved away from distributing print media. Other airlines like Finnair have also indicated a phase-out of print media. 

“In both cases, these are very significant players and I’m sure that has an impact on other players in terms of maturity,” said Safar of the move by Singapore and Qatar. With pace-setting airlines now moving to digital distribution of magazines and newspapers, Adaptive organizers set about improving the capabilities of the ACES system, a project that has now been completed. 

Several important changes have been made to the ways passengers can access media on ACES. One change occurs at the passengers’ fingertips, allowing them to “dig into” the details of a magazine or newspaper article and view the content in a greater variety of ways. Safar said the company sought to get away from the “PDF experience,” which is essentially flat viewing of a page. With the new technology, Safar says users have a more fluid and convenient experience, particularly if they are viewing material on a smart phone. 

The other improvements took place in the back end of the system. With the ACES viewer, whether it is standalone or combined with an airline’s app, knowledge of the passenger’s viewing habits and preferences can be passed on to the airline. The other improvement makes ACES similar to an airline’s inflight music system. Like selecting music to suit a certain mood or experience, passengers can use ACES to select news topics and stories using certain access words. 

And Adaptive has a massive selection of available press titles. While first-tier titles such as The New York Times, Financial Times and The Economist are among the most sought out by readers, Adaptive can offer airline customers a selection of more than 10,000 titles. In addition to journals from around the world, the company has an inventory of city guides, movies, games, sports news, music, and lifestyle and shopping publications. 

Even though the company has grown since its founding in 2009 to more than 30 airline customers, Safar said one of the challenges to selling digital content is tackling misconceptions of potential customers. 

“It is perceived as complex by airlines because it involves many people,” he said. “Inflight entertainment and operations. Lots of people in different departments.” 

However, several airlines are clearing the perception hurdles when they consider the costs of providing printed material, which adds weight to the aircraft and additional cleaning time after reaching the destination. And with news delivery moving at breakneck speed, a passenger with a newspaper in hand is getting a story that could likely change by the time he or she lands. 

“[With print] half the time you’re serving what they want and half the time the passengers don’t get what they want,” Safar added, pointing to another benefit of their system — happier, more well-informed passengers for their airline clientele.