March 6, 2007 – ALAN Pellegrini has taken up his new responsibilities as general manager of Thales Avionics’ inflight entertainment business in Irvine, California (Inflight Online, February 16).

The former CEO of Californian-based handheld specialist IMS, Pellegrini succeeds Brad Foreman, who has been promoted to chief executive of Thales’ aerospace business in the United States. “I have known Alan for several years and believe that he will be a true asset,” says Foreman.” I look forward to working with him on continuing  the growth of the  company.”

Pellegrini is arriving at Thales at a good time. The company is now one of the world’s top two IFE system suppliers, with positions on the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 and equipment selected by more than 30 airlines and operational in more than 600 aircraft. Its TopSeries i-5000 has emerged with flying colours from intensive flight trials aboard aircraft MSN002 as part of the A380 early long flight and technical route-proving programmes.

The system is also due to feature on the first route-proving flights to the west coast of the USA, following this month’s planned series of Lufthansa-sponsored flights to the east coast by aircraft MSN007, which is equipped with Panasonic Avionics’ eX2 IFE hardware. Mounting a challenge to Panasonic for the No 1 position in the embedded IFE market is sure to be among Alan Pellegrini’s top priorities as he settles in at Thales.