The fifth star on the horizon
New IFE for better Skytrax ranking

Skytrax’s conclusion about the film choice
was a clear one: Lufthansa does not offer
enough films on board and the menu
navigation is out of date. The auditors
also said that offering less entertainment
in Economy than in Business
Class was no longer in
keeping with the times.
Bernhardt Seiter is head of
cabin facilities & IFE
within Product Management.
He reveals what
Lufthansa is coming up
with to achieve the fifth star.

Different technology is required before we can offer more
film choice”, says Seiter. “We will be installing this
technology with the retrofit”. He adds that the current number
of films is simply limited by the server. The servers for “etes”,
the old IFE, can store a maximum of 30 films and 40 TV programmes.
The system on the A380 and Boeing 748, Panasonic’s
“eX2”, can already store more: around 50 films and 110
TV programmes. Once “Rave”, the new IFE, is on board,
Lufthansa will be offering 100 films and 200 TV programmes
on both systems. This is the same as the sort of entertainment
offered by British Airways or Etihad. In the future, Seiter adds,
the entertainment system will feature both Hollywood blockbusters
and timeless classics.
The first aircraft has already undergone retrofitting work and
started operating in mid-June (see page 18/19). At the end of
the retrofit project, two-thirds of all long-haul aircraft will have
Rave, and one-third will have eX2, consigning etes to the
history books. “Then we’ll have a state-of-the-art IFE system”,
he says, “that will be as user-friendly as the iPad thanks to its
touch-screen technology. This will also take pressure off the
crews, because it signals the end of “dark flights”, when the
inflight entertainment system stops working”, says Seiter.
Further advantages: Rave is only half as expensive to buy and
maintain and weighs only half as much. More films, he adds, also
mean more advertising revenue, which reduces the costs. There
are also synergy effects: Swiss is flying with eX2, while Austrian
Airlines and Brussels use Rave. “So we have more purchasing
power”, he explains. In the past, Lufthansa negotiated with the
major studios itself and Spafax clarified the rights with the
smaller studios. “It’s impossible to do this in-house with this
sort of volume; you need a large number of editors to screen and
select the films and conclude the contracts”, says Seiter. In the
future, Spafax will assume responsibility for the entire film
selection for Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swiss.
Another feature will be the option of feeding live TV directly
into the IFE monitor via FlyNet – a move that will also come
once the retrofit has been completed. The idea is that customers
should be able to watch the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil
via live TV on board as soon as all aircraft have FlyNet and eX2
or Rave.
In the continental fleet, Lufthansa is responding to the trend
among guests to bring their own device on board. “Then we
only need a server on board, no cables and no screens”, explains
Seiter. The Munich test run of the Lufthansa Systems “Board-
Connect” product on the A320 known as “Papa-Papa” went
well. The options offered by the wireless IFE were popular
among passengers. A decision on whether to roll out this sort of
technology is set to be made soon. Over the next few years, the
Internet is also to be connected to this sort of system, as with
FlyNet. “We are on the right track to achieving the fifth star”,
says Seiter.