Airbus has been announced as the winner of the Best Customer Journey Experience category of the Crystal Cabin Awards. This is a special supplemental category to the main Hamburg awards, which focused on holistic and integral innovations relating to passengers and is presented in Los Angeles at APEX Expo.
Airbus won with its Connected Experience, a system which networks passengers and crew with the aircraft cabin, providing opportunities for improving airlines’ ancillary revenues and operational efficiencies. The platform is designed to link interconnected core cabin components in real-time, including galleys, meal trolleys, seats, overhead bins and other cabin elements and enables a personalised travel experience.
The system is controlled using an app, which enables functions such as passengers ordering food or communicating with flight attendants. Members of the cabin crew also benefit, as they can receive important information from the networked cabin, for example the status of overhead lockers or the need to clean a lavatory, and they can also use their devices to regulate factors such as temperature, lighting and music for passengers.
Soeren Scholz, Airbus’ SVP of cabin & cargo programmes said, “This seamless inter- connectivity within the cabin will be of tremendous benefit to passengers, who will be able to enjoy individually tailored, personalised and high-quality inflight service.”
The Connected Experience prevailed over a strong shortlist, which included a voice-controlled aircraft lavatory from Diehl and a concept for light-based data transfer (li-fi) from Latécoère.
About the Awards
The Crystal Cabin Award is the world’s leading accolade for aircraft cabins and products, with 27 jurors from across the spectrum of civil aviation and all its segments deciding the winners.
The Best Customer Journey Experience category relates to products that enrich and enhance the passenger experience, whether hardware or software solutions, throughout the entire air journey, from planning and booking to beginning the journey, to the flight itself and post-flight care. Submissions may be targeted at passengers, airlines, manufacturers and/or suppliers. The aim of the category, with the winner announced to coincide with the North American APEX Expo and Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas trade shows, is to provide inspiring examples of how new products and services can be developed for personalised passenger experiences.
The awards ceremony in the USA also ushers in the new submission phase for the eight main categories of the Crystal Cabin Awards, to be presented in Hamburg on 31 March 2020. Between now and 18 October, the Crystal Cabin Award Association and the 27 expert jurors will search for 2020’s top innovations in aviation. Innovative companies can APPLY HERE.
