Aircraft Cabin Management

Bluebox and dnata catering announce Pacific partnership

Bluebox dnata

Bluebox Aviation Systems and dnata catering Australia have partnered up to develop and market offerings of IFE systems across the Pacific.

The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the deployment of Bluebox wireless in-flight entertainment (IFE) solutions across Australia, New Zealand and a number of other Pacific Ocean territories.

The companies will support each other in product customisation and processes for delivering joint solutions to customers in the region.

dnata catering’s general manager of retail, Duncan Greeney, said: “Covid-19 has changed the landscape for in-flight catering and logistics, and by partnering with Bluebox we’ll be able to help our customers mitigate some of the restrictions required in this new touch-free world.

“This means allowing airlines to minimise contact and dialogue between passengers and cabin crew but still delivering an excellent service and a full range of food, drinks and retail goods that are such an essential part of the ancillary revenue income for many airlines.”

“Aiming to appear seamless to passengers, integrating complex systems – in this case an IFE platform and catering logistics – can actually be quite complex technically, and in the present climate our customers need solutions that are simple and quick to deploy. By establishing this formal partnership with Bluebox – with its award-winning and rapidly deployable W-IFE systems – we’re positioning ourselves to resolve current constraints and keep our customers’ on-board services running smoothly and safely.”

Bluebox business development director, David Brown added: “IFE as we knew it was already evolving to deliver so much more than in-flight entertainment, and COVID-19 expedited our delivery of touch-free payments for on-board retail and the digitisation of materials that support ancillary revenue generation, such as digital menus and magazines which provide significant advertising revenue for airlines.

“Now, though we have the expertise in the passenger interface, content integration, secure payments and the wireless technology to deliver it all, by partnering with dnata catering we can expand the platform further into the on-board logistics systems, integrating the catering and retail elements they provide. So we’re really delivering an in-flight engagement platform for enhancing the passenger experience on board – still ‘IFE’, but well beyond entertainment.”

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