July 19, 2008 – THERE could be more to recent reports that US Airways is to strip the IFE equipment from 196 aircraft in its domestic fleet – much more.

The US major has said that it will stop offering in-flight movies on domestic flights from this autumn as a weight and cost-saving measure. Beginning on November 1, the airline will start removing the IFE hardware from its Airbus A319s and A320s, while the new A321s that it expects to begin receiving soon will be delivered without IFE fitted.

The equipment will be removed during overnight stops and there is at present no timetable for completion of the work. The affected aircraft are used on routes within the USA and to Mexico and the Caribbean. US Airways’ long-haul aircraft, operating across the Atlantic and to Hawaii, will keep their IFE, while its 100 domestic Boeing 737s have never been equipped.

“IFE systems weigh about 500 pounds each and every pound of weight is critical with steeply rising fuel costs,” says Travis Christ, the carrier’s marketing VP. This declaration squares with persistent indications that US Airways is the airline that will in October carry out first flight trials of Lumexis’ potentially revolutionary fibreoptic-based FTTS (Fibre-to-the-Seat) system, which promises significant weight reductions as well as a huge increase in bandwidth.

The US Airways announcement coincides with a surge in activity at Orange County, California-based Lumexis. The company plans to display FTTS at the World Airline Entertainment Association show this September, presenting a fully functional 136-screen AVOD shipset. Content – including e-commerce applications as well as entertainment – will be delivered via four 52in high-definition TV screens as well as the 8.9in in-seat units.

The company is also beefing up its personnel. Last month it promoted operations VP Lou Sharkey to the newly created post of chief operating officer to allow chief executive Doug Cline to focus on growing Lumexis’ sales and marketing functions.

Last week saw the appointment of Lee Casey as director of content services. Her credentials include spells as general manager at Emphasis, director of entertainment services at Sony Trans Com and, most recently, general manager of Stellar Entertainment US. She will be responsible for liaison with studios, distributors and airline, and for structuring and overseeing content integration, security and delivery.

Cline emphasises that Lumexis is a manufacturer of IFE platforms and operating systems, not a content service provider. “But our network can deliver an unprecedented diversity of entertainment and information file formats,” he says. “So we must assure flawless content integration before aircraft upload so that we never fail to meet the highest expectations.”