Round Trip: Your Industry Updates for July 31–August 4

Round Trip is your weekly roundup of what’s been happening in the passenger experience and airline ancillary revenue space. Here are the top stories from this past week:

ePlay to Help Develop Next-Generation In-Flight Entertainment System

ePlay Digital’s B2B subsidiary, Mobovivo, has won a contract with an undisclosed Global Fortune 500 company to build out next-generation in-flight entertainment systems. Mobovivo has already had success with building audience engagement and video apps for brands like ESPN, Cineplex, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Austrian Airlines Introduces Profile, IFE Personalization Tool From Spafax

If you knew what entertainment would be available on the plane before you boarded, you could better plan ahead for what you needed to pack to keep yourself entertained. That’s just what Spafax’s platform, Profile, allows you to do. Profile lets passengers know what content will be available to them through in-flight entertainment prior to their boarding. Profile also goes a step beyond and gives passengers personalized recommendations of what to consume.

Recently, Austrian Airlines announced that they would be adding Profile to their flights. They are the second carrier in the Lufthansa Group to introduce the tool.

AA to Expand Basic Economy to Entire Domestic System

After launching its Basic Economy seats in February on 78 domestic and Canadian routes, American Airlines has announced that all domestic routes will be offering the seats by the end of September.

Basic Economy offers a discount to passengers who are willing to board later, sit in the back of the plane, have a non-exchangeable ticket, and only bring a carry-on that fits under the seat in front of them. The goal of the Basic Economy seat offerings is to attract passengers looking for the best deal and upsell them during the purchase process. So far, about half of passengers who originally select Basic Economy end up upgrading their seats.

Basic Economy aren’t the only seats becoming more widely available; Premium Economy, currently on 10 aircraft, will be expanded to over 60 aircraft by the end of the year. Premium Economy gives passengers plusher seats, more legroom, and enhanced cabin service and food.