Icelandair, the flag carrier of Iceland, has taken delivery of its first Airbus A321neo LR aircraft, an event which also marks it becoming the first airline to fly with Astrova, the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system from Panasonic Avionics. Panasonic Avionics has secured 70 airline programme commitments for Astrova in just two years since the launch of the system.
The Astrova system features 4K OLED HDR10+ seatback displays with accurate colour reproduction, infinite contrast ratios and perfect blacks. The airline will offer 16-inch screens in business class, and 13-inch screens in the economy cabin. The system also sounds good, with passengers able to enjoy high-fidelity sound with Spatial Audio on any wired headset, or via their own wireless headphones using Bluetooth technology.
Other features of Astrova include 67W of USB-C power at each seat to fast-charge electronic devices, and even programmable LED lighting which can complement different phases of a flight such as meal services.
Icelandair has also selected a range of Panasonic Avionics’ digital solutions including the Arc moving map, ZeroTouch content management, and OneMedia ancillary revenue services.
The Arc moving map provides point of interest content in a 3D integrated moving map application. ZeroTouch will enable dynamic and agile content and file transfers to and from Icelandair’s aircraft, thus enabling more timely IFE content updates on board. The OneMedia service will help the airline increase ancillary revenue by delivering intelligent advertisements to promote products and partnerships as part of the entertainment experience.
The modular architecture of Astrova enables future ‘on-wing’ upgrades of system computing power and memory for airlines to keep pace with fast-changing consumer electronic trends. In addition, Astrova’s removable in-seat peripheral bar can be quickly ‘hot swapped’ to enable new capabilities in Bluetooth connectivity and personal device charging standards.
