In-flight entertainment has come a long way since the first in-flight movie was shown on Aeromarine Airways in 1921, in the 92 intervening years we have seen the technology evolve to the interactive personal devices embedded into the back of the seat in front that are common today.
Aerospace is a key growth sector for SIC and as an industry where reliability and performance is paramount, our approach of producing wiring looms, cable assemblies and panel wiring to the highest levels of manufacturing excellence is essential.
Not surprisingly, these technological advances have cost implications to the airlines to install or upgrade the hardware and in an industry that has razor slim margins the upgrading of entertainment technology in the economy section of the aircraft is not as fast as may be expected. The Business and First class section of an aircraft is often the exception to this, as airlines try to improve the ‘higher-end’ experience, electronic entertainment is increasingly being integrated to enhance the experience of those people purchasing higher value tickets.
In some first class areas, each personal suite is separated by sliding privacy doors, and once inside, the entire design is shaped around having everything at your fingertips. Electrical seat controls that can often convert the chair into a fully flat bed, interactive touch screen remote controls that look more like a tablet computer than your usual TV remote and all headed up with a large screen embedded monitor, up to 23” on some airlines ensure that however long your flight is, entertainment and comfort are very much taken care of.
While entertainment during travel is of the utmost importance for these types of seating class, not all passengers are traveling for pleasure and the technology must be in place to support people who need to be in constant contact and be able to carry out business whilst on the flight. Power points built into the seats and dedicated charging cables are also provided enabling busy passengers to keep laptops, tablets and smart phone batteries topped up on the go.
SIC have a reputation built on manufacturing and supplying the highest quality products into the most demanding sectors and the aerospace industry is no different with our products being used at the centre of first class entertainment and connectivity systems by prominent names within this sector.