Bluebox Aviation Systems has received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the aircraft-powered version of its wireless in-flight entertainment (W-IFE) system, Bluebox Wow. Issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to Design Organisation Approval (DOA) holder Aerospace Engineering Solutions, the STC applies to all Airbus A320 Family aircraft. The STC was approved after testing was completed with a soon-to-be-announced customer in the Asia-Pacific region.
Recently issued by EASA, this latest STC (No. 10076801) applies to all Airbus A320 Variants with an added feature of an automatic Pause on PA functionality that pauses playback in the event of announcements from the flight deck or cabin crew.
“The granting of this STC is an exciting and major milestone for us as we continue to sign up new airline customers eager to return to the business of delivering exceptional digital in-flight experiences to their passengers,” said James Macrae, CTO, Bluebox. “Our original version of Bluebox Wow, with its swappable battery system, has been a game-changer in the IFE market, introducing a cost-effective way to deploy IFE to airlines that might never have considered it before due to the high costs involved with installing fully embedded systems. But as the demand for W-IFE has grown – in conjunction with the development of our more powerful digital platforms that our customers can use for engaging their passengers and earning ancillary revenue – we’re attracting the interest of airlines with larger fleets. By utilising aircraft power, Bluebox Wow devices can deliver the same digital IFE services without a battery present, eliminating the need for logistics management of batteries, and still offering a considerably lighter and lower-cost system than fully fitted W-IFE.”
AES believes this certification will open opportunities to provide aircraft operators of single-aisle, and wide-body aircraft in the future, with Bluebox’s aircraft-powered W-IFE units. The installation is simple with wiring to the W-IFE units easily accessible via the panels in the aircraft cabin. Utilising aircraft power eliminates the need for the logistical management of batteries and still offer a considerably lighter and lower-cost system than fully fitted W-IFE.
The Bluebox Wow units are delivered with Part 21G Form 1 approval and can be supplied with the associated installation kit as a total package.
Andrew Dolby, Director of Aerospace Engineering Solutions, said: “I would like to thank our dedicated and highly experienced engineering and design team here at AES for achieving this ‘game changing’ STC for the installation of Bluebox’s aircraft-powered version of Bluebox Wow on the Airbus A320 Variants, especially during these challenging times for the aviation industry. We are actively working on solutions for other models including single and wide-body aircraft.”
