June 9, 2007 – THE news that Virgin Atlantic is planning a transatlantic premium-only operations comes as a further fillip for the handheld IFE providers, following as it does on a similar decision by British Airways (Inflight Online, May 30). 

Chairman Sir Richard Branson said at the recent launch of Virgin Atlantic services to Kenya that the operation would initially link mainland Europe with New York and other US cities, with a UK airport following within the next 18 months. No decision has yet been made on the choice of airport for operations out of London.

Existing premium-only carriers such as the UK-originating Eos, MAXjet and Silverjet and Paris-based L'Avion all offer handheld IFE players to their passengers. Stansted-USA operators Eos and MAXjet provide players from IMS and digEcor respectively. L’Avion hands out digEcor digEplayer XTs on its Paris Orly-New York Newark all-business service. And Luton-based Silverjet features the Mezzo turnkey service, which includes eVU handhelds from e.Digital.

Besides the planned Virgin and BA ventures, at least two other full-service carriers also have all-premium operations, and they both include handheld IFE. Lufthansa has selected eVU for its transatlantic services, while All Nippon will offer Panasonic’s eXpress on its all-business Boeing 737-700ER service from Tokyo to Mumbai from the beginning of September.

Business class on UK carrier bmi’s new Heathrow-Moscow A320 service features the Bluebox Lite handheld from Phantom Media. The player forms part of a product that is designed to be highly competitive with those of incumbents British Airways and Aeroflot.

Sketching the plan for his new operation, Branson said it would not cannibalise Virgin Atlantic’s existing Upper Class premium offering, but would feature “the usual Virgin innovation”. This has been seen most recently in Virgin America, the San Francisco-based low-cost/high-quality carrier that is due to enter service this summer. It will offer ambitious in-seat IFE based on Panasonic hardware, plus several other novel features designed to make it stand out from the low-cost crowd.

Branson said that negotiations for aircraft were under way with Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer. “We will operate initially out of Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Zurich to New York, but clearly not with an aircraft in our current fleet,” he said.