With comfort in the sky: United Airlines presents New Accessible Inflight Entertainment System

At the beginning of April, the annual Aircraft Interiors EXPO 2019 took place in Hamburg (Germany). Airlines from all over the world demonstrated the latest solutions for aircraft equipment, among others the United Airlines presented its new accessible inflight entertainment system.

United Airlines, one of the largest in the United States and in the world, is one of the founders of the Star Alliance aviation association, which includes the most representative air carriers of the planet.

According to United Airlines, their new onboard entertainment interface, developed in conjunction with Panasonic Avionics and installed on Dreamliner 787-10 aircraft, is the most accessible airline entertainment system in the world. 

 "Accessible and relevant inflight entertainment plays a major role in customers enjoying their flying experience and we wanted to create a system that all United customers could enjoy, including customers who have varying vision, hearing or mobility requirements," said Toby Enqvist, senior vice president of customers at United. "Together with Panasonic, we spent three years building a system that is truly inclusive, and we look forward to adding it to more aircraft soon."

This new system offers the world's most extensive suite of accessibility features on seatback entertainment, which accommodates any level of vision, as well as provides support for customers with hearing and mobility issues. These features include:

• Text-to-speech with reading granularity options
• Customizable voice volume, speed, and pitch
• Explore by touch features including screen magnification, customizable text size, high contrast text options, color correction options, and color inversion options
• Custom messaging tailored for customers with hearing disabilities
• Additional navigation options for mobility impaired passengers who are unable to swipe or use handset features.

The system also provides the following enhancements that improve the overall experience for all customers:

• Split screen capabilities that allow customers to watch a movie and view the flight map simultaneously
• A relax mode that lets customers customize a selection of soothing videos and relaxing audio playlists
• Movie and television recommendations based on remaining flight time, previously watched content and movies and shows that have been added to a customer's favorites list. 

At this year's annual Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, United Airlines was awarded the Crystal Cabin Award for Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity. “The highly coveted award, which is the standard by which airlines, manufacturers, suppliers and design and engineering firms are judged, recognized the efforts of United and its partners at Panasonic Avionics to provide customers with what is the most accessible airline entertainment system in the world” – said in the United’ statement.