中国民航报/2011 年/6 月/28 日/第 T06 版

中国航空客舱商务娱乐发展论坛 2011

机上娱乐及通信系统(IFEC)经济前瞻
Walé Adepoju IMDC 公司首席执行官

引言
成功地运营一个航空公司是不容易的。众所周知，整个航空业的竞争激烈，作为独立的航空
公司，运作就可能更难了。每一个航空公司在任何地区都面临着各自的巨大挑战。此外，整个航
空行业也经常面临着各种外来的威胁。
随着时间的推移，航空公司们已经证明自己是非常有韧性的，大家都明白适者生存。过去十
年来，IMDC 已协助航空公司改善乘客服务，我们目睹了其卓越的贡献，不仅帮助航空公司生存，
而且不断提高他们的乘客服务质量。
当然，航空公司需要与时俱进才能保持其韧性，现在的情形和过去任何时候都没有什么不一
样。航空公司必须保持灵活性和拥有一个清晰的战略目标。这里没有“完美的战略”能确保任何
航空公司的成功，但我们可以看到，在中期成功的航空公司有一些共同点。我们认为在 2012 年，
多数成功的航空公司将考虑以下诸战略以继续取得成功。
如果市场需求情况合适，航空公司必须抓住时机，快速部署机队和发展网络。为了不被失控
的成本和收益率及收入下降的压力而损耗，所有航空公司还必须相机行事，并准备改变自己的商
业模式。
乘客一般不会愿意接受更高的价格或被收取额外费用，特别是当他们知道每个公司都不愿意
被其他航空公司抢走他们的业务时。考虑到这一点，航空公司必须努力创新，引进新的产品和服
务。经验证明只有当他们认为物有所值时，乘客才愿意为额外的服务付费。
众多的航空公司，如果他们不是各自为战，会经营得更好。合并或跨边界合作和合资企业在
适当的时候可能更有利，特别是在开放的市场，和那些有潜力的经济体的规模和范围打开的时候。
中国的航空公司已经经历了一些强烈的挑战。中国的航空公司在最近市场低迷的困境中率先
体验了困难。但在一种典型的反弹模式中，中国的航空公司已在全球率先复苏。据报道，在该地
区的航空公司从 2009 年中期到现在有可观的增长率。
在 IMDC，基于对市场趋势的研究和分析，我们力求提供一个对客舱娱乐供应链趋向的独立
评估。用我们的知识和经验，来协助航空公司和他们的供应商去优化客舱乘客技术方面的投资回
报。我们要讨论的主要有三方面内容:客舱娱乐设备，客舱娱乐内容和客舱通讯服务。我们下面将
依次讨论。当然，这三者间是相互联系、有机结合的，构成了一个乘客体验的关键环节。
客舱娱乐设备
客舱娱乐设备是一个采用客舱高科技、有巨大意义的投资，它提供一个高层次的乘客乘机体
验。相对成本较高，安装后很少做出设备改造，使得客舱娱乐设备投资成为一种非常慎重的决定。
航空公司对客舱娱乐的态度也很不一样，有些人认为它不需要，另外一些人认为这是一种必要的
娱乐设施，一些领先的航空公司则使用它作为他们良好声誉的支撑点。
最近有一种趋势，一些新进入者进入了长期以来只由 2 个或 3 个供应商主导的市场。这些实
际和潜在的新进入者，当他们发现，相对于消费类电子产品应该具有的优点来说，现有的客舱娱
乐系统比它应该能做到的更加昂贵笨重时，他们倍受鼓舞。
在许多新进入者看来，客舱娱乐能更有效地利用以座位为中心的体系结构。简单地说，所有
的处理和存储系统是重复的安装于每个座位，而不是从中央服务器获得。直观看来，这种新的重
复安装设备的方法似乎更昂贵，但这样的系统通常能更好地利用基于现有市场消费电子产品的技

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术，所以这种重复安装设备的办法实际上节约了成本。
有意思的是，这种以座位为中心的构架被认为比以服务器为中心的更先进。其实在航空界外，
“云”服务和不间断连接的概念是当前的主题。以服务器为中心的构架，尤其是用在飞机以外的
地方，更加符合“云”连接的理念。两种系统各具优势，当选择客舱娱乐时，航空公司必须考虑
什么是最重要和最适合自己的。也许航空公司理想的解决方案是一种混合的模式，把一些存储和
处理安装于座位，但同时又把它们连接于一个“活”的网络。
无论如何，新的供应商及技术进入客舱娱乐业只会有利于航空公司，尽管要跟上最新发展的
步伐是很不容易的。一些新供应商已经赢得一些航空公司的合同，一些现任供应商已经发布了他
们最新的系统，这些系统都提供了大量的、各不相同的优良功能。
最近有很多关于乘客自己携带设备影响的讨论。自从有了便携式 DVD 播放机等乘客自己的
设备，乘客设备已被看成是对客舱娱乐设备的威胁，最终将使其不必要。现在，乘客更可能会携
带智能手机和平板电脑，这些设备被视为潜在的客舱娱乐供应链的一部分。这是一个令人感兴趣
的变化:乘客携带的设备和客舱娱乐设备被看做是互补的，现在两种设备互相连接的可能性，比以
往任何时候都大。
客舱娱乐设备变得既便宜又轻便的最终结果使得航空公司安装基于座位的 AVOD 客舱娱乐
设备变得更加可行，而在以前，其费用昂贵令人望而却步。
对于航空公司而言，客舱娱乐战略不仅仅是在飞机上安装设备，毕竟，有许多乘客都被一个
空白屏幕招待过，不管它有多高的分辨率。航空公司还必须考虑通过这些设备播放内容的问题，
另外，近来如何进行通讯也将是乘客体验的一部分。
客舱娱乐内容
娱乐内容和媒体产业目前正处于变化的状态。不仅是技术在变化，而且运作模式也在发生变
化。这对非戏剧类内容公众演出市场的影响是巨大的。
客舱娱乐内容的供应链受多种外部因素影响。客舱娱乐内容供应商是多方面的。有电影制片
厂、电视制作公司、短片制作商、游戏、应用和电子阅读产品制作商。重要的是要记住，这些内
容提供商受一般消费者消费趋势的影响比客舱设备工业更大。
高清乃至 3D 的娱乐内容，不断发展的智能手机功能和最近的平板电脑如 iPad 使人们可以用
各种方式消费更多的内容。这些在消费内容领域的变化和发展，最终会左右乘客对客舱娱乐的期
望。
从来自于娱乐内容供应商到客舱娱乐内容消费者的变化，使管理过程既复杂又具有挑战性。
而对整个航空业的压力，以及对安装在航空公司机队上客舱科技的技术能力的需求，放大了这种
挑战。
在娱乐内容选择的过程中要具有创造性，这事关航空公司的利益。虽然电影仍是主要吸引乘
客的重要内容，但考虑下列两个因素是很重要的。
首先，对其他内容的需求和供应在不断增长，最明显的例子是在视频网站和互联网上看到的
很短的视频。
其次，应该认识到，客舱市场对整个电影界总收入而言是非常小的贡献，制片商给予客舱早
期播出特权。虽然制片商没有这样表示过，但这种特权可能某天会受到供应商的审查，并也可能
会受到家庭下载内容的威胁。
近期以来，IMDC 推荐了一些供航空公司采用的、管理客舱播放内容的策略。
从经营角度来说:应探讨如购买整个电视系列片，以节约费用并增加乘客的满意度；航空公司
应挑战供应商的定价模式，并尽可能寻求更多的统一费率优惠，如果这样做适合他们的情况；对
于新的，低成本的，或包机航线，客舱娱乐设备的每次使用每次付费的创收方法也是可以考虑的。
航空公司也可以考虑用新的方法来改进他们的产品。这可以包括提供一些有关乘客和旅行经
验的内容，也可考虑使用链接到地面上的娱乐设备，选择“最好的网上内容”，并直接向乘客的

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设备提供娱乐内容，可以在飞行后观看。
通讯
乘客的通讯是一个相对来说新的服务，它给了航空公司一种直截了当的选择，尽管近年来数
百架飞机已经装备了用于乘客的无线网络通讯连接设备。航空公司这样做是希望获得与对手竞争
的优势，并对乘客提供积极的体验。通讯连接也可以用来吸引更多旅客参与并提高客舱门户网站
和它提供的频道的销售收入。
在飞行中，很多航空公司似乎觉得互联网访问本身就足够了，但在地面上，数字娱乐(视频、
电子书籍、游戏、音乐)继续以迅猛的速度增长。消费者越来越期望访问各种在线内容和服务。在
这个领域里激烈竞争的供应商们不断寻找新的渠道，提高市场占有率，如果航空公司与这些供应
商结成伙伴关系，客舱娱乐服务可成为提高市场占有率的渠道之一。
航空旅客一直是图书、报刊、音乐、电影和游戏(甚至填字游戏)的高消费者。如果运作得当，
航空公司应该成为媒体和互联网搜索的有吸引力的伙伴。
然而目前客舱互联网服务的使用率对于大多数机上的乘客来说还很低，这限制了对客舱娱乐
服务市场潜在的合作伙伴的吸引力。一旦更多的航空公司能够做到完全的整机乘客通讯连接服
务，那么航空公司就可以更有效地进行飞行前的市场策划。这不仅会增加设备使用率，而且会打
开乘客在飞行之前、期间和之后的互动的可能性。
随着时间的推移，预计飞机上乘客无线上网的费用会有所下降，但在短期内，重要的是推动
市场，然后才是建立伙伴关系以至蓬勃长期的发展。
总结
尽管过去全球经济发展的放缓，对航空业提出了独有的挑战，但现在是规划和实施航空运输
业最令人兴奋的新项目和新技术的时候了。
中国是目前世界上最大的航空市场，正在超越日本和其他亚洲国家的国内航空市场。在 2012
年年底前的总飞机订货在全球排名前 50 家航空公司中，中国有 9 家，超过其他任何国家。美国
第二，只有 5 家。
为对抗燃油价格上涨和经济衰退所带来的挑战，所有航空公司现在必须寻求低成本运营，即
使他们是为乘客提供完整系列的服务。
每个航空公司在未来都有很大的增长机会。虽然在行业内的竞争将无疑使这个增长的任务变
得困难，这需要有创造性，有时要勇敢创新才能确保成功。在过去的低迷中，航空公司努力生存
了下来，现在还必须继续努力工作，以确保能享受自己在未来市场机遇中的份额。
IMDC 自 1999 年以来协助航空公司及其伙伴优化他们在机舱和通讯技术的投资。IMDC 的顾
问是在媒体、内容、技术、连通性和航空公司运营的专家。该公司在市场研究、管理人员培训、
产品评估、自主发展战略和项目管理方面是业内公认的领先机构。
Introduction
It’s not easy to run an airline suc-cessfully.The fortunes of the airlineindustry as a whole are
notoriouslychallenging，and for individual airlinesthings can be even harder.Individualairlines in any
region are confrontedby massive challenges，each of themunique to the airline concerned.Ad-ditionally，
the industry overall remainsconstantly at risk from any number ofexternal threats.
Over time，airlines have proven them-selves to be remarkably resilient，it iswell recognised that
there is a need toadapt in order to survive.Over theten years IMDC have been assistingairlines with their
passenger experiencestrategy we have witnessed a remark-able dedication to not only surviving,but
providing a constantly improvingexperience for their passengers.Or course ， such resilience
requiresconstant adaptation from airlines andthe situation now is no different toany time in the
past.Airlines must re-main flexible and have a clear idea oftheir strategy.There is no‘perfectstrategy’that
will ensure success forany airline,but there are trends wecan expect to see amongst successfulairlines in

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the medium term.We thinkthe most successful airlines in 2012will draw on any number of the
fol-lowing strategies in order to succeedIf demand conditions are suitable，air-lines must take full
advantage of op-portunities opening up to them bybeing prepared to deploy rapid fleetand network
development.In orderto not be consumed by uncontrolledcosts and downward pressure onyields and
revenues all airlines mustalso look closely at ， and be preparedto change ， their own business
model.Passengers will not happily accepthigher prices or additional charges，especially when
they will more likelythan not have an alternative airlinehappy to take their business. Withthis in
mind，airlines must strive tointroduce innovative and creativeproducts and services.Passengers
haveshown that they are happy to provideadditional revenue when they can seethe additional value in
what they arebeing asked to pay for.Many airlines would be better off nottrying to deal with the
challengesthey face alone. Consolidation orcross-border partnerships and jointventures can be
beneficial in the rightcircumstances，especially as markets arederegulated and potential economiesof
scale and scope open up.
China specifically has had somestrong challenges. China's airlineswere the first to
experience diffficul-ties during the recent downturn.Butin typically resilient fashion China’sairlines
have been amongst the firstin the wodd to recover.Airlines inthe region have reported spectaculargrowth
rates from mid-2009 to thepresent day.
At IMDC we seek to provide an in-dependent assessment of IFE supplychain trends based on
market researchand analysis.We use our knowledgeand experienceto assist airlines andtheir suppliers to
optimize their returnon investment on Inflight PassengerTechnologies.These tend to fall in tothree main
categories；IFE Hardware，IFE Content，and Passenger Connec-tivity services.Each are addressed inturn
below ， but of course the threeare interrelated and combine to deliv-er an key aspect of the
overallpas-senger experience.
IFE Hardware
IFE Hardware is a significant invest-ment for airlines employing inflighttechnology to provide a
high-levelpassenger experience.The relativelyhigh costs and infrequent retrofitsmake investing in IFE
Hardware adecision to be made with great care.Airline attitudes to IFE also varygreatly with some
seeing it as some-thing to be avoided whenever possi-ble，others consider it a necessary eviland leading
airlines using IFE as a keyaspect of their premium reputation.Recently，there has been a trend ofnew
entrants in to a market longdominated by only 2 or 3 suppliers.These actual and potential new en-trants
have been encouraged by aperception that‘traditional’IFE sys-temms are more expensive and
heavierthan is possible with advantages inconsumer electronics.Many of the recent new entranshave
taken the view that IFE is moreefficiently enabled by utilising a seat-centric architecture.Put simply，
allprocessing and storage is duplicated atevery seat，rather than being broadcastfrom a central
server.Instinctively，theduplication of hardware in this newapproach might seem to be morecostly but
such systems typically makegood use of consumer based technol-ogy where the costs savings over
cus-tom built hardware justify the duph-cation.It is interesting that a seat-centric ar-chitecture is often
talked of as beingmore advanced than server centric.Away from aviation，the concept of‘cloud’
services and a being con-stantly connected are current themes.A server-centric architecture，especial-ly
when connected beyond the air-craft，more closely matched the ideaof a connected ‘cloud’
experience.There are advantages to both types ofsystem and airlines must considerwhat is most
important and suitableto their own circumstances when se-lecting IFE.Perhaps the ideal solutionfor
airlines is a hybrid medel，withsome storage and processing at theseat but within a connected‘live’
network.In any case，all the recent activityand new suppliers and technology en-tering IFE can only

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benefit airlines，even if it can be confusing keepingup with the latest developments.Some of the new
suppliers are alreadywinning contracts with airlines andthe incumbent suppliers have an-nounced their
latest systems，both of-fer numerous，if not identical，advan-tages to airlines.Much has been said
recently aboutthe impact of passenger own devices.Since the days of portable DVDplayers，passenger
devices have beenviewed as a threat to IFE that willeventually render it unnecessary.Now，with
passengers more likely tobe carrying Smartphones and tablets，passenger devices are viewed as a
po-tential part of the IFE supply chain.This is an interesting developmentwhere IFE and passenger
devices arenow seen as complementary，with thepossibility to engage with passengersmore than ever
before.The end result of IFE hardware be-coming both cheaper and lighter isthat it becomes more
feasible for air-lines to introduce in-seat AVOD in-flight entertainment in to aircraftwhere previously the
costs of owner-ship would be considered prohibitive.For an airline though，IFE strategy isabout much
more than the hardwareonboard，after all，how many passen-gers were ever entertained by a
blankscreen，no matter how high it’reso-ludon?Airlines also have to addressthe issues of the content
availablethrough their hardware，and recently，whether and how connectivity will bea part of the
passenger experience.
Content
The entertainment，content and mediaindustries today are in a state ofchange.It is not just the
technologiesbut the business models that arechanging.The implications fornontheatrical
public performance mar-kets are significant.
The IFE Content supply chain issubject to numerous external influ-ences.Content providers that
feed into IFE are numerous. There aremovie studios， television productioncompanies，
shoft content producers，developers of games and applications，and written content.It is importantto
remember that many of these con-tent providers are llkely to be fargreater influenced by general
con-sumer trends than by the inflight in-dustry.
HD and even 3D content，the in-creasing capabilities of smart phones，and more recently tablets
such as theiPad enable people to consume morecontent，in increasingly different ways.These changes
and developments inthe consumer content wodd then goon to change passenger expectationsof IFE.
Changes from both the suppliers andconsumers of inflight content makemanaging the
processchalleging andcomplex.The challenge is magnifiedby pressures on the airline industry asa whole
and by the technical capabil-ities of inflight techn0logies installedon the airlline’s fleet.It is in airline’
s interests ’ to be cre-ative in their content selection pro-cess. While movies remmain a
majorattraction to passenngers it is importantto consider two factors.Firstly，there is an increasing
demandand supply of alternative content，most clearly demonstrated by the e-mergence of very shoft
content seenon video sharing websites and aroundthe internet.
Secondly,it should be realised that theinflight market is a very smallcontributor to total movie
revenuesand that the early window granted bystudios for inflight broadcast isprivileged While
studios have notindicated as such it is plausible that theearly window for inflight sector mayone day
come under scrutiny fromthe providers，and could be threat-ened by an alternative sector such
aspremiurn home downloads.In the short term ， IMDC recommenda number of strategies for
airlineswhen managing their inflight content.
On the commercial side: the potentialsavings and increased passenger satis-faction from purchasing
whole TVseries should be explored； airlinesshould challenge the pricing modelsfrom their
content suppliers and pos-sibly seek more flat rates deals if itsuits their operation；for new，low-cost，
or charter airlines revenue gen-eration through pay-per-access forIFE could be considered.Airlines can

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also consider new waysto enhance their product.These caninclude implementing applications rel-evant
to the passennger and travel ex-perience，considering making use of alink to ground based tool，a‘best
ofthe web’content selection，and de-livering content directly to passengerdevices where such content
can beviewed during and after the flight.
Connectivity
Passenger connectivity is a relativenew service that is yet to provideairlines with a
straightrorward choicedespite hundreds of aircraft being e-quipped with either cellular or WiFibased
connectivity for passenger useover recent years.Airlines doing sohope to gain advantage over
theircompetitors and deliver a positive ex-perience. Connectivity can also beused to drive more
passenger engage-ment and merchandising revenue withthe use of inflight portals and deliverychannels.
In-flight，it seems many airlines feelinternet access itselfis enough，but onthe ground，digital
entertainmentgrowth(video，eBooks，gaming，mu-sic) continues to grow at a rapid rate.Consumers are
increasingly expectingto access a variety of online contentand services.Providers in this spaceare fierce
competitors who constantlylook・for new channels to increasemarket share，inflight could be one ofthese
channels if airlines work inpartnership with these providers.Air travellers have always been highimpulse
consumers for books，printmedia， music， movies， and games(even crosswords).If packaged
appro-priately，airlines should be an attrac-tive partner for media and internetsearch parrners.However
current usage of inflight in-ternet services is way below the ma-jority of passengers onboard，limitingthe
appeal to potential partners of theinflignt market.Once more airlineshave achieved full-fleet installations
ofpassenger connectivity services thenairlines can more effectively marketthe service in advance of the
flight.This will not only increase usage ratesbut open up the interaction withpassenger before，during，
and poten-tially after the flight.
Over time it is expected that preva-lence of passenger fees for WiFi willdecline，but in the short
term it isimportant to enable the market todevelop before beginning to build thepartnerships needed to
thrive in thelonger term.
Wrap-up
Although the global economic slow-down presented unique challenges tothe airline industry，it is
now plan-ning and implementing some of themost exciting new projects and tech-nologies in the
transport industry.
China is now the largest internationalmarket，overtaking Japan，and domes-tic aviation market in
Asia.Chineseairlines occupy nine of the top 50spots globally for total aircraft sched-uled for delivery by
the end of 2012-more than any other country.TheUS is second with just five carrierson the list.
To combat the effects of rising fuelprices and the recession all airlinesnow must aspire to be low
cost op-erators even if they are offering a fullservice to their passengers.
Individual airlines than，have a greatopportunity to grown in the future.Competition in the industry
will nodoubt make this a difficult task re-quiring creative and sometimes braveinnovations to secure
success.Overthe last downturn airlines workedhard to survive，now the work mustcontinue in order for
any airline toenjoy their share of future opportuni-ty.
IMDC assists airlines and theirpartners in optimising their invest-ment in cabin and
communicationstechnologies since 1999. IMDC’sconsultants are experts in Media，Content，
Technolooy， Connectivityand Airline Operations.The comm-pany is widely recognised as theleading
oraanisation in this sectorfor Market Research，ExecutiveTraining，Product Evaluation，lnde-pendent
Strategy development andProject Management.

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