The PME Interview - Thoughts and Insights from the World of Inflight Entertainment

Freddie Laker Junior

thePMEinterview — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:21:42 +0000

During the 1970s, Sir Freddie Laker pioneered the launch of low cost flights between the UK and USA with his ambitious and revolutionary concept – Skytrain. Although other airlines conspired to put him out of business in the recession of the early ’80s, his legacy lives on through a whole host of no frills low cost carriers operating today including airlines like Air Asia, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic. Sir Freddie died in 2006 but his son, Freddie Laker Junior, is continuing in his father’s entrepreneurial footsteps although not in aviation.

Steve Harvey met up with Freddie Laker during his visit to APEX in Seattle last September to chat about what life was like as growing up as the son of an aviation pioneer.

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Jonathan Norris – Executive Director for Trade Media and Events, Ink

thePMEinterview — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:02:54 +0000

Eyebrows were raised last year when the publishers of the new Airline Passenger Experience magazine announced that the man in charge of the launch was to be Jonathan Norris, formerly with Airbus. So a definite change of career for Jon but one that seems to have paid off. The new magazine is an impressive publication which this week gained further kudos with the news that the APEX Media Platform, which includes the magazine, blog, weekly newsletter and various social media channels has been shortlisted for the new British Media Awards in the Business 2 Business Innovator of the Year category. (The winner will be announced on April 26th). So what promoted the move from manufacturing aircraft to publishing a magazine. Find out as Steve Harvey talks to Ink’s Executive Director for Trade Media and Events, Jonathan Norris.

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Anthony Lilleyman – Vice President Commercial, CNBC

thePMEinterview — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:29:27 +0000

It’s TV Market time and in the next few days airlines, TV distributors and content service providers will be packing their bags and heading off to the English seaside resort of Brighton. A record 50 distributors will be showcasing their latest TV programs, amongst them a team from the London office of CNBC. In this latest PME Interview, Steve Harvey talks to CNBC’s Anthony Lilleyman, Vice President Commercial for Europe, the Middle East and Africa about their plans to launch a live broadcast service for airlines.

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John Hyde – Event Director, Aircraft Interiors

thePMEinterview — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:13:15 +0000

All aviation eyes will be on Hamburg next week when airlines, aircraft manufacturers and a myriad of suppliers get together for the annual bean fest known as Aircraft Interiors. Despite an air of gloom in the industry due to the relentless rise in the price of fuel, aircraft orders are running at record levels and new aircraft need galleys, seats, carpets and inflight entertainment systems. All music to the ears of John Hyde, Event Director of Aircraft Interiors, our special guest this week on the PME Interview.

In January we celebrated the 50th PME Interview with a competition to win an iPad and I’m delighted to tell you that the winner, drawn at random from dozens of correct entries, was Ahmed Busmait from Gulf Air. Well done Ahmed – your iPad is on its way.

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Dave Sampson – CEO, Mezzo

thePMEinterview — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:18:26 +0000

A few years back low cost carriers wanting to offer passengers some form of inflight entertainment only had one real option, to acquire portable media players and distribute them to passengers. Recently the market has changed somewhat with several companies now offering low cost, lightweight embedded systems together and wi-fi solutions that stream content direct to passengers own media devices will shortly become a reality. So do these developments spell the end of the road for portable media players? Far from it, says Dave Sampson, CEO of Mezzo. Portable players are here to stay and will capture an ever increasing share of the market. Dave talks to Steve Harvey about the issues facing the industry and who will win the battle of the portables vs embedded systems vs wi-fi distributed IFE.

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Adam Williams – Marketing Director, digEcor

thePMEinterview — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:01:43 +0000

Most new inflight entertainment products are evolutionary, an improved version of an existing device. But every once in a while a company launches a revolutionary new product on to the market that begs the question, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Back in 2003 one such company was digEcor who became the first in the industry to launch a purpose built portable media player designed to allow airlines with an IFE system to offer their passengers entertainment without the expense of installing a hard wired system.

Since the launch other companies have followed the digEcor route, some with domestic players repurposed for use on aircraft, others have persevered with the iPad. So what’s happening at digEcor these days, have they expanded their product line, are they looking to develop an embedded system? To answer these and many other questions, please welcome Adam Williams, Marketing Director at digEcor.

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Manoj Kurup – Senior Manager, IFE, Qatar Airways

thePMEinterview — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:28:02 +0000

In 2011 Qatar Airways was awarded the coveted Skytrax Airline of the Year Award, a remarkable achievement for an airline that only began flying less than twenty years ago. Like many other Gulf carriers, Qatar Airways continues to experience rapid growth from its Doha hub and now serves more than 100 destinations. It can boast a burgeoning fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft and is the launch customer for the new Airbus A350 with an order for 80 aircraft. It seems there’s never a dull moment at Qatar Airways which is why we’re delighted to have as our guest today on the PME Interview, Manoj Kurup, Senior Manager, IFE.

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Rick Warren – Managing Partner/CFO, Post Modern Group

thePMEinterview — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:50:14 +0000

January 2012 was a rather special month at the Post Modern Group featuring not just one but three notable anniversaries. Co-founders Amir Samnani and Rick Warren both turned 50 and The PME Interview notched up its 50th edition. It seemed therefore a fitting occasion to invite Managing Partner/CFO Rick Warren into the CNBC Studios in London to debate the future for traditional labs as airlines move more and more to a pure digital product.

In a remarkably candid interview, Rick discusses the threat from major hardware manufacturers who want to bypass traditional labs by setting up an iTunes style service for airlines and reveals the true cost to PME of launching a content service provider.

To celebrate the 50th PME Interview, PME is giving away an iPad 2 so keep watching to find out how you can win this gorgeous piece of kit.

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Cindy Phillips – Managing Director, IFE Content & Client Service, Pace Communications

thePMEinterview — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 08:05:07 +0000

The development of inflight entertainment has been the backdrop to the life of our special guest today here on The PME Interview. Cindy Phillips has worked in the industry for more than 20 years, first for a hardware company, then a movie distributor, then various content service providers including Interact, Spafax and Pace. One of Cindy’s more recent projects involved helping to integrate the inflight entertainment offerings of Delta and Northwest Airlines, following their recent merger. Cindy talks to Steve Harvey about life at Sony Transcom back in the early days and brings us right up to date with what’s happening today at Pace Communications.

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Michael Reilly – Chief Operating Officer, Stellar

thePMEinterview — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:03:27 +0000

It’s taken a while but finally the in-flight iPad is a reality. At least two airlines, Air Baltic and Jetstar are now handing out iPads to business passengers and renting them to economy and coach passengers. Also British Airways recently announced that they would be making iPads available to First Class passengers to supplement the existing in-flight entertainment system. All this must be music to the ears of Content Service Provider, Stellar, who’ve been championing the iPad for some time now and is supplying content for iPads on Jetstar. Michael Reilly, Chief Operating Officer at Stellar, is Steve Harvey’s special guest on today’s PME Interview.

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