Lufthansa expands inflight entertainment

Lufthansa has increased the number of films available on long-haul flights by almost a third in time for the busy summer holiday period. Passengers have a choice of around 180 films in all travel classes — about 30 percent more than previously — with a strong focus on Hollywood productions. The airline said the decision to focus on US films was due to strong feedback from passengers. It includes a new section “Hollywood Recent Hits”  featuring movies from the last 12 to 24 months. But there will also be more productions from Europe, China, India, Japan and Korea. The German carrier is also capitalizing on the popularity of binging on TV series with a significant boost to the number of productions. It’s inflight entertainment system now features more than 270 broadcasts with an emphasis on documentaries, drama series and sitcoms. For families, there are 22 films suitable for children and 31 TV programmes. The IFE caters up for 10 languages with dubbed versions in eight and many films broadcast with subtitles in Chinese and Arabic. READ: Inflight entertainment in the golden age of flying. “To make the selection of the desired program on the screen as easy as possible, you can navigate in ten languages,’’ the airline said. Lufthansa passengers can view programs online from six weeks before departure by entering the date and the flight number or the flight destination at the airline’s website. Inflight entertainment has become an essential part of flying and is likely to become more so as new aircraft allow carriers to operate longer lights. Trendsetters such as Singapore Airlines and Emirates offer several thousand options on their IFE systems in recognition of the high value passengers place on being entertained. New satellite systems are also allowing internet streaming to become available on flights and some airlines are looking at virtual reality technology as a potential next step in the field.