Bluebox Aviation Systems and Dnata Catering Australia have signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) to develop and market offerings based on the deployment of Bluebox wireless IFE (W-IFE) systems across Australia, New Zealand and ‘a number of’ other Pacific Ocean territories. The agreement will see the companies support each other in terms of product customisation and processes for delivering joint solutions to customers in the region.
“Covid-19 has changed the landscape for in-flight catering and logistics, and by partnering with Bluebox we’ll be able to help our customers mitigate some of the restrictions required in this new touch-free world,” explained Duncan Greeney, general manager for retail at Dnata Catering.
“This means allowing airlines to minimise contact and dialogue between passengers and cabin crew, but still delivering an excellent service and a full range of food, drinks and retail goods that are such an essential part of the ancillary revenue income for many airlines,” he added.
According to Greeney, creating a seamless passenger experience that integrates complex IFE and catering logistics systems is quite a complex technical task, but the use of Bluebox’s rapidly deployable W-IFE systems will make it a little easier.
“IFE as we knew it was already evolving to deliver so much more than in-flight entertainment, and Covid-19 expedited our delivery of touch-free payments for onboard retail and the digitisation of materials that support ancillary revenue generation, such as digital menus and magazines which provide significant advertising revenue for airlines,” stated David Brown, business development director at Bluebox.
“Now, though we have the expertise in the passenger interface, content integration, secure payments and the wireless technology to deliver it all, by partnering with Dnata Catering we can expand the platform further into the on-board logistics systems, integrating the catering and retail elements they provide. So we’re really delivering an in-flight engagement platform for enhancing the passenger experience on board – still ‘IFE’, but well beyond entertainment,” added Brown.
