The organisers of Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) have released the CabinSpace Live 2024 seminar programme. CabinSpace Live provides a platform for industry experts to share experiences and insights and help attendees discover solutions to elevate the future of air travel.
Free-to-attend for exhibitors and registered visitors, the sessions will cover influential trends ranging from IFEC to accessibility onboard, sustainable interior design and retrofit cabin refurbishments. The two-day programme this year includes experts from Airbus, Lufthansa Technik, Iberia, Hughes, TAP Airlines, Recaro Aircraft Seating and more. For 2024, a particular focus is how to create and navigate a seamless experience.
Day One: Tuesday 28 May
On day one, attendees at the ‘Cabin Environment: Achieving the Ultimate Ambience and Wellbeing for Passengers’ seminar can delve into the world of creating natural environments on board, leveraging features from lighting hues to optimum airflow, with speakers including Dan Rust, head of design at IFPL Group. Continuing the conversation on revolutionising the cabin’s physical environment, Markus Höllerer, head of strategy and products at Recaro Aircraft Seating, will discuss the evolving preferences needed to find the perfect cabin configuration that balances revenue and comfort in the session titled ‘Seating: Finding the Perfect Balance’.
Shifting the focus to additional inflight amenities, Seth Miller, founder of PaxEx.Aero, will host an expert panel discussion titled, ‘Connectivity: Perfect Partnerships.’ He will be joined by Ben Griffin, VP for mobility and AMEA regions at Eutelsat OneWeb; Reza Rasoulian, VP, aviation business unit at Hughes; Melanie Berry, director of customer experience at Iberia; and Elias Zaccack, EVP, mobility at SES. Collectively, they will review some of the current industry partnerships that are delivering seamless passenger connectivity through low-earth orbit, middle-earth orbit, and ground-earth orbit satellites.
David Whelan, senior analyst at Valour Consultancy, will host a midday session titled ‘Connectivity: The Big Switch’, with Reza Rasoulian of Hughes; Mary Rogozinski, business development director at Netforcast; and Sean Reilly, VP of air transport management and digital solutions at SmartSky. Together, they will explore how airlines can best transition to free connectivity for passengers.
As free wi-fi on aircraft remains a topical issue for carriers with airlines increasingly adopting ‘freemium’ business models over the last six months, Corinne Streichert, founder and CEO of IFECtiv, will raise the importance of data capture on board to curate personalised entertainment, at ‘In-Flight Entertainment: A Captive Audience’.
Fuelling excitement for the future of air travel, ‘A New Era: The Fascinating Future of the Aircraft Cabin’ will leverage CabinSpace Live’s platform to showcase cabin innovations from creative industry suppliers and designers. This panel discussion will be hosted by Maryann Simson, director of Jetway Communications. Joining Simson is Ralph Wagner, co-founder and CEO of Axinom; and Dave Pook, VP of customer experience at Burrana.
In the closing session on day one, ‘Cabin Refurbishment: Investing to Impress’, attendees will hear from speakers at airlines that have recently completed or are currently undergoing major refurbishment programmes, including David Rice, managing director of Optimum Aero; Melanie Berry, director of customer experience at Iberia; Jacobo Mesta, CEO of Soisa Aircraft Interiors; and Daniel Kerrison, SVP of inflight operations for flydubai.
Day Two: Wednesday 29 May
Kicking off day two will be Max Kingsley Jones, senior consultant at Cirium Ascend Consultancy with ‘A Commercial Aviation and Interiors Market Outlook’ to share an overview of the latest fleet and market developments.
Building on discussions from the first day, representatives from Airbus, Air France, Lufthansa Technik and AIRE will join the session titled ‘An MRO Perspective on Elevating Aircraft Cabin Interiors’ to address regulatory challenges, certification requirements, and the integration of emerging technologies. The discussion will highlight the MRO industry’s role in improving cabin comfort, safety and operational efficiency, while meeting evolving passenger demands and industry competition.
Following this, David Marty, head of digital solutions marketing at Airbus, will explore, ‘The Use and Impact of Predictive Maintenance on Aircraft Cabin Refurbishment’. This session will explore how predictive maintenance is currently reshaping the industry’s approach to cabin refurbishment and how the industry can address barriers faced by the MRO sector to maximise safety, cost-effectiveness and customer experience.
In partnership with Hamburg Aviation, the Crystal Cabin Award 2024 winners will take centre stage from 14:00 on Wednesday 29 May. These winners, having received accolades at the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening, will showcase their products and services.
Closing the 2024 CabinSpace Live agenda on Wednesday afternoon will be sessions designed to give audiences a snapshot of the future passenger experience. Weighing in on ‘Leveraging Connectivity and IoT to Enhance In-Flight Experience’ will be Clarence Eymery, chief marketing officer at Moment. Eymery will be followed by William Henn, VP of sales and business development at Airfree, who will discuss ‘Reinventing Inflight Retailing’; and Cyril Jean, CEO of PX Com, who will share insights on how to ‘Leverage AI for a Digital In-Flight Personalised Experience’.
Polly Magraw, event director of AIX, commented: “CabinSpace Live is the forum where professionals can celebrate achievements, share actionable insights, and collectively address evolving passenger demands. This year the agenda brings together industry voices from different corners of the supply chain with a number of prestigious carriers to provide a deeper understanding of challenges faced and growing opportunities to overcome barriers. We look forward to welcoming audiences to the theatre and see what initiatives spark from this year’s discussions.”
CabinSpace Live will take place in Hall B1 Lower at the Hamburg Messe during Aircraft Interiors Expo on 28-29 May 2024. Visitors can register to attend on the website here.
