AirFi lands in North America with dual success and new subsidiary

By September 5, 2018 May 19th, 2020 Featured, IFEC

Sun Country Airlines has become AirFi’s first North American customer and global launch partner of its latest fully autonomous, semi-embedded Wireless IFE variant, based on its Venus Box.

“Sun Country has begun an exciting new chapter in its history. With fresh investment and a new management team led by Jude Bricker, we are transforming the airline into a leaner, low cost carrier. Our challenge for this project was to elevate the on-board passenger experience without impacting our cost base, alongside our seat densification program to increase passenger load across the network.” commented Brian Davis, CMO Sun Country Airlines.

“Our search began in September 2017 with a thorough assessment of the broad range of IFE offerings in the market. Sun Country wished to phase out the deployment of its portable tablets across its network, offered as a pay-to-access and complimentary IFE service. Passengers have come to expect a digital on-board entertainment offering as part of our inflight experience and so a fully-managed Wireless IFE service suited our future needs best.

“We had a number of key decision criteria to evaluate. The system must require only minimal or preferably zero-touch operation from cabin crew, ground handlers, catering or cleaning partners. The system must be capable of delivering a premium digital user experience to every seat in the aircraft. The provider must have a proven track record of providing a fully outsourced, fully-managed service including content servicing, data management and advertising/ancillary revenue generation; and overall must be able to demonstrate a clear return on investment for the airline,” continues Davis.

“With the delivery program now in full flow, there is already a clear and unified focus across engineering, operations, content and ancillary revenue, to deliver the system fleet-wide into live passenger service by January 2019.”

Just three AirFi Venus Boxes are required per aircraft to allow each passenger to have gate-to-gate access of the new Wireless IFE system on Sun Country. Rolling out to the initial fleet of 25 higher density seating Boeing 737s, Sun Country plan to expand the service as they double the fleet over the next five years.

AirFi also inked a deal with Bahamasair, the national carrier of the Bahamas, initially to equip its four Boeing 737 fleet with the Venus Box battery-powered platform.

“Our team is already on the ground overseeing the rapid deployment of our first Caribbean-based operations for Bahamasair. I’m also delighted to announce the formation of AirFi America, operating from state-of-the-art facilities in Irvine, California, at the heart of the in-flight entertainment industry. There is a fantastic opportunity for AirFi America to really accelerate our footprint in this hugely significant market, both in aviation and other mass transit industries,” said Eli Atiya, COO AirFi.

The new US subsidiary will take charge of AirFi’s day-to-day client-facing operations, sales and business development activities in the US and Canada.


Written by: Alexander Preston

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