The first American Airlines’ Boeing 787-9 aircraft equipped with Thales’ AVANT Up in-flight entertainment (IFE) system operated its inaugural flight from Chicago O’Hare to Los Angeles followed by its inaugural Flagship Suite service from Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow.
Niels Steenstrup, Chief Executive Officer, Thales InFlyt Experience, said: “For nearly 15 years, American Airlines has trusted Thales as their in-flight entertainment provider. This enduring partnership reflects our shared commitment to create extraordinary in-flight experiences, and we are thrilled to power American’s premium travel with the cutting-edge AVANT Up.”
Thales’ seatback displays feature a Bluetooth connection for passengers to pair a device and the system offers Thales’ power management solution with USB-C and USB-A fast charging that supports up to 60W of in-screen charging capacity. AVANT Up also features many digital services and applications. An interactive Watch Party, a Picture-in-Picture viewing experience and action-packed console gaming are also offered.
According to Thales, American is the first carrier in the Americas to fly with Thales’ award-winning user interface for passengers with vision assistance needs with the user interface supporting audio-cue navigation assistance, voice metadata feedback, touch and swipe gesture controls and a large selection of audio-descriptive content.
“Every aspect of our new 787-9 is designed to feel premium in nature,” said Heather Garboden, American’s Chief Customer Officer. “Everything our customers see on board was designed with customers in mind — from the design details to Bluetooth connectivity and state-of-the-art entertainment.”
