Airlines turn to new technologies to improve IFE accessibility
A new onboard entertainment interface, considered to be the most accessible airline entertainment system yet, brought United Airlines to the forefront of inflight entertainment (IFE) accessibility. The airline was awarded the Crystal Cabin Award 2019 for Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity for its inclusive Entertainment for All solution, which recently debuted on the airline’s 787-10 Dreamliner fleet.
The system offers an extensive suite of accessibility features for seatback entertainment, which accommodates any level of vision, as well as provides support for customers with hearing and mobility issues. Some of the features include: text-to-speech with reading granularity options; customisable voice volume, speed and pitch; touch features including screen magnification, customisable text size, high contrast text options, colour correction options and colour inversion options; custom messaging tailored for customers with hearing disabilities; and additional navigation options for mobility impaired passengers who are unable to swipe or use handset features.
Back in 2017, Virgin Atlantic launched an accessible IFE (aIFE) platform to provide inflight entertainment for passengers with visual impairments aboard flights serving destinations across North America, the Caribbean, Africa, China, India and the Middle East. This made Virgin Atlantic the first global airline to make IFE accessible for passengers with sight loss across its entire fleet, and winner of the FTE Accessibility Leadership Award in 2018. The portable IFE platform was developed by Bluebox Aviation Systems with significant input from Virgin Atlantic and representatives from The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. The result is an iPad-based IFE solution that includes controls and menus that are easy to detect and navigate, support in multiple languages, closed captions and audio-described content.
Since then, Etihad Airways has also followed suit to upgrade its Bluebox Ai iPads to include Bluebox aIFE.