French aerospace company Thales has demonstrated its new Digital Sky 21” in-flight entertainment (IFE) system designed to fit within the width parameters of an airline seat.

Art Berman, writing in Display Daily, says the demo took place at the Aircraft Interiors Expo, held recently in Hamburg, Germany.

The choice of entertainment on offer is left to the buying airline, and might be as little as an interactive journey map, but also potentially including the usual full range of movies but also expanding to satellite-delivered live TV channels, games and on-board shopping as well as email and Internet access.

Thales were keen to suggest that a Digital Sky installation had the added advantage of generating extra revenue for the operating airline. Another benefit of the super-large immersive screen was suggested to be that the passenger was less inclined to complain about the tighter space available for passengers’ legs.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite