“You can’t research the future,” says Jeremy White, Head of Transport at design and innovation consultancy Seymourpowell. “But you can research emergent behaviour. If you watch carefully you can begin to prepare for the consumers of tomorrow and predict their expectations.” Mr White will be kicking off Aircraft Interiors Expo’s Cabin Innovation & Strategies for the Future Conference with insights into some of the trends that will influence tomorrow’s passengers. The conference takes place on Monday 26 March at the Hamburg Messe.
A more personalised experience is on the cards for passengers, according to Raymond Kollau, Founder and Trend Analyst at Airlinetrends.com. Mr Kollau will be talking about what airlines can learn from other business sectors as well as how the cabin experience is likely to evolve. "The combination of passengers wanting a more tailored experience and the need for airlines to increase their ancillary revenues is leading to a decline of traditional cabin classes – especially on short-haul flights. Air New Zealand has already turned its short-haul aircraft into a single-class configuration but offer four service options instead – ranging from the ability to take a bag into the cabin to the ‘full works’ service complete with catering and inflight entertainment,” he says. “Furthermore airlines such as Emirates, British Airways and KLM have equipped their flight attendants with digital devices to access the latest passenger information such as food preferences and prior service issues, so they can offer a more customised service."
Inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) is an area that is expected to be hotly debated during the conference. Matthew Towers, Founder & CEO of IMS Research will be examining the future of traditional IFE systems during his session. He explains: “The advent of wireless IFE is starting to revolutionise the way that airlines think about the delivery of entertainment and other content of services to their passengers. This will provide huge opportunities for suppliers to the industry, but it also threatens those players who fail to react to the changing market dynamics.”
Reflecting Aircraft Interiors Expo’s co-location with World Travel Catering & Onboard Services Expo this year, the latest expectations for onboard hospitality and service will also be discussed. Sarah Klatt-Walsh, Director of Inflight Product & Services at Swiss International Airlines will be looking at this issue as well as how airlines can tackle different cultural and generational expectations in the same aircraft.
John Hyde, Exhibition Director of Aircraft Interiors Expo, said: “We are delighted with the interest that this year’s conference is already generating. Representatives of more than 60 airlines have already signed up to attend and one of the afternoon breakout sessions is already full. We feel the event is really demonstrating the need that today’s travel operators have to identify, understand and meet rising passenger expectations.”
The conference is being held in the A Halls (central entrance) at the Hamburg Messe. It is free to attend for all airline and media delegates. For other delegates there is a flat €100 rate. For more information on the topics that will be covered and to register your interest, visit www.aircraftinteriorsexpo.com/conference
In co-operation with: Hamburg Messe
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For further information please contact Victoria Bailey or Carol Seath at CMS Strategic on Tel: +44 (0)20 8748 9797 or email info@cmsstrategic.com
About the organiser:
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 440 events in 36 countries. In 2009 Reed brought together over six million active event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organised by 35 fully staffed offices.
Reed organises a wide range of events, including trade and consumer exhibitions, conferences and meetings. Its portfolio of over 440 events serves 44 industry sectors, including: aerospace & aviation, automobiles, beauty & cosmetics, broadcasting, building & construction, electronics, energy, oil & gas, engineering & manufacturing, food service & hospitality, gifts, healthcare, interior design, IT & telecoms, jewellery, life science & pharmaceuticals, machinery, marketing, business services & training, medical education, printing & graphics, security & safety, sports & recreation, and travel. Working closely with professional bodies, trade associations and government departments
Reed ensures that each and every event is targeted and relevant to industry needs. As a result, many Reed events are market leaders in their field. Reed Exhibitions is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a FTSE-100 company and world-leading publisher and information provider. In 2008, Reed Elsevier made an adjusted profit before taxation of £1,205 million on turnover of £5,334 million.
About the Aviation Cluster Hamburg Metropolitan Region:
In 2001, the “Joint Initiative Hamburg – The place for aviation” was established by Hamburg aviation companies, trade associations, institutions, universities, and authorities. A network of partners with a combined workforce of more than 39,000 people developed out of the initiative. It has now been formalised with the establishment of the “Aviation Cluster Hamburg Metropolitan Region Association”. The largest employers in this technology-driven network are Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and Hamburg Airport. A further 300 small and medium-sized enterprises are also actively involved in the industry as suppliers and service providers; some of these are represented by the Hanse-Aerospace and HECAS associations. The integrated strategy of making aviation more economical, more ecological, more comfortable, more reliable, and more flexible helped the Aviation Cluster Hamburg Metropolitan Region to win the non-industry specific Leading-Edge Cluster competition, organised by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in September 2008. The Ministry has provided a sustainable basis for the development of the cluster to a competency centre for “a new kind of aviation” by investing around 40 million euros in forward-looking northern German aviation projects.