Panasonic equips Turkish Airlines with IFE live TV
April 12, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Panasonic Avionics and Turkish Airlines says they are making a major commitment for inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) solutions to be installed on 50 wide-bodied Turkish Airlines aircraft and with options for a further 10 aircraft to be equipped.
Panasonic’s X-Series IFEC system includes inflight Wi-Fi, mobile phone use, and global live television, and will be fitted on 25 Boeing 787-9s and 25 Airbus A350-900s, with the first aircraft due to be delivered to Turkish Airlines in June 2019.
Turkish Airlines’ aircraft also will be fitted with Panasonic’s new satellite modem which offers bandwidth up to twenty times greater than previously available, enabling a host of next generation inflight connectivity benefits from high quality live television programming to fast Internet, video streaming, inflight mobile phone service and greater bandwidth for crew applications.
This will also include seamless delivery of live TV channels including Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra, which offer live coverage of the world’s most popular sporting events; CNN International; Euronews; CNBC; NHK; Sky News Arabia and BBC World News. The television service will also feature TRT World Turkish News Channel – a new channel from Turkey’s national public broadcaster, TRT.
This system will further enhance Turkish Airlines’ passenger experience with a personalised home theatre experience that includes HD screens for each passenger, audio and video entertainment on demand, capacitive multi-touch screens, inflight shopping and hospitality features, route-based inflight entertainment, passenger survey functions and USB charging facilities.
Hideo Nakano, Chief Executive Officer of Panasonic Avionics Corporation, said: “Turkish Airlines has been a highly valued customer for many years, and we are very honoured to be working with them on this long-term partnership. We believe that our inflight entertainment and connectivity solutions for Turkish Airlines’ future wide-body fleet will enhance passenger engagement and loyalty, and deliver greater revenue and brand value.”