entertainment

David Coiley – Director of Aeronautics, Inmarsat

Posted on 24.07.11

When you meet with one of those terribly nice techie people at a trade show like APEX and they start talking about satellite communications and the fact that Ku band is better than L band but what they’re really looking forward to is Ka band, do your eyes glaze over or do you just feel horribly inadequate? Well here at PME we thought it high time to come to your rescue and shed some light on these mysterious terms and how they’re going to affect airlines and inflight entertainment in the future. Steve Harvey’s special guest today is the Director of Aeronautics at Inmarsat, David Coiley…

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Julia Lewis – BBC

Posted on 09.07.11

Combine the words in-flight entertainment and the BBC and the name instantly springs to mind is Julia Lewis. Since the mid 80’s, Julia had attended countless WAEA conferences and TV markets promoting top rated BBC shows like Top Gear and Life On Earth to airlines. Then quite suddenly earlier this year, Julia made a life changing decision to take an early retirement to spend more time with her two children, Alice & George and to catch up with friends and family. In this PME Interview Julia talks about her introduction to the BBC and to in-flight entertainment and what happened when she became trapped in an elevator with two of Britain’s top comedians!

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Tagged with: airlines • BBC • entertainment • IFE • in-flight • Julia Lewis • Life On Earth • markets • television • Top Gear • tv • WAEA

Karen Schipper – Former El Al IFE Manager and Past WAEA President

Posted on 20.05.11

For many years, the larger than life figure of Karen Schipper was a familiar face at WAEA events such as the annual conference and the TV Market. Karen worked for El Al Israel Airlines for an amazing 35 years, many of those as Manager for In-flight Entertainment. She also helped to shape the future direction of the WAEA when, in 2000, she served for a year as President. She eventually chose to retire after a serious health scare but these days is in good shape and is in regular contact with many of her former colleagues in the industry. In the latest PME Interview, Karen talks with Steve Harvey about her years at El Al and her term as President.

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Tagged with: El Al Israel Airlines • entertainment • IFE • in-flight • Karen Schipper • WAEA

Albert de Wet – Manager: IFE, Etihad Airways

Posted on 11.05.11

Our guest today on the PME Interview heads up the IFE department of one of the world’s fastest growing airlines. Formerly with South African Airways, Albert de Wet moved to Abu Dhabi in 2005 to join Etihad Airways. Steve Harvey talks to Albert about his reasons for making the move and the strategy for in-flight entertainment at Etihad…

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Tagged with: Abu Dhabi • Albert de Wet • entertainment • Etihad Airways • IFE • in-flight • South African Airways

Arn Steventon – Founder, Individual In-flight Entertainment

Posted on 11.04.11

Once upon a time in the early eighties a young man was sitting on an airplane thinking about how the inflight entertainment experience might be improved. Since we’re unable to track down the other passengers on that eventful flight there’s no way of knowing whether Arn Steventon actually shouted “Eureka” but the idea that was born that day has transformed our industry and improved the inflight experience for millions of passengers. The idea that Arn came up with was for seat back TV, made possible by the development of the LCD TV screen. At the 30th anniversary conference in Palm Springs the WAEA presented Arn Steventon with an ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’. In the latest PME Interview, Steve Harvey interviews Arn Steventon about how he set about turning his idea into a reality…

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Tagged with: APEX • Arn Steventon • entertainment • IFE • in-flight • LCD TV screen • Outstanding Achievement Award • WAEA

Geoff Underwood – Managing Director, Inflight Peripherals

Posted on 25.03.11

These days we mostly associate the word connectivity with cell phones, Wi-Fi and the internet but there’s one IFE company that claims to have been connecting passengers for years. Inflight Peripherals manufactures the little headset jacks that fit in the arm rest of the seat to enable passengers to plug in a headset and listen to the audio track of the movie or a music channel.

It’s not a particularly extravagant piece of equipment yet without it no-one would be able to enjoy the in-flight entertainment. No wonder Managing Director Geoff Underwood calls his company, The Passenger Connectivity Company.

In this PME Interview, Geoff talks to Steve Harvey about how Inflight Peripherals, based on the Isle of Wight in southern England, went from a humble start up to winning a prestigious award from Queen Elizabeth.

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Tagged with: audio track • award • cell phones • connectivity • entertainment • Geoff Underwood • headset • IFE • Inflight Peripherals • internet • Isle of Wight • movie • music channel • passengers • Queen Elizabeth • The Passenger Connectivity Company • Wi-Fi

Jim Snyder – 2007 APEX Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Posted on 10.03.11

Jim Snyder has worked in the in-flight entertainment industry for nearly 50 years kicking off his career with Sundstrand Aerospace back in the sixties then progressing via Trans Com, Sony Trans Com, Rockwell Collins and, more recently, Lumexis. Jim has served no less than 11 terms as a WAEA Board Director and was involved with and responsible for planning an incredible 16 WAEA Conferences – no wonder he was presented with a WAEA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007! As one of the most respected people in our industry, Jim can look back on a very colorful career and shares his experiences with Steve Harvey on today’s PME Interview.

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Tagged with: APEX • entertainment • in-flight • Jim Snyder • Lifetime Achievement Award • Lumexis • Rockwell Collins • Sony Trans Com • Sundstrand Aerospace • Trans Com • WAEA

Tal Kalderon – In-flight Entertainment Manager, El Al Israel Airlines

Posted on 24.02.11

Many IFE managers in our industry started with an airline background and, when appointed to the position, had to learn about the entertainment business. Our guest today came from a television background and had to spend his first few months researching the airline industry. Tal Kalderon is In-flight Entertainment Manager at El Al Israel Airlines and on the PME Interview he talks to Steve Harvey about some of the challenges he faced when he first started in the job nearly five years ago.

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Tagged with: airlines • El Al • entertainment • IFE • in-flight • Israel • Tal Kalderon

Ken Brady – Chief Engineer, Thales

Posted on 25.01.11

What will await passengers in the year 2015 when they board their 787 (hopefully in service by then) or the A350? As far as in-flight entertainment and connectivity are concerned, Ken Brady is the man with, at least, some of the answers. As Chief Engineer at Thales, Ken’s job is to look to the future, to predict what products and services airlines and their passengers will expect to find on board by the middle of the decade. On this latest PME Interview, Steve Harvey talks to Ken about how the future looks from the Thales point of view…

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Tagged with: 787 • A350 • airlines • Chief Engineer • connectivity • entertainment • IFE • in-flight • Ken Brady • passengers • Thales

Neil James: Executive Director, Corporate Sales & Product Management, Panasonic Avionics Corporation

Posted on 12.10.10

Like it or not, the current market for In-flight entertainment hardware is dominated by Panasonic Avionics Systems. It was not always the case. When the company, originally known as Matsushita, first appeared in the early 80s, it was based in New Jersey and had but a miniscule share of a market which at the time was dominated by industry giants Transcom, In-flight Motion Pictures and Hughes Avicom. How times have changed! For a view from the top, Steve Harvey interviews Panasonic’s Executive Director of Corporate Sales and Product Management, Neil James.

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