Flydubai, the launch customer of Lumexis’s new lightweight fiber-to-the-screen (FTTS) inflight entertainment system, now has three aircraft successfully operating with the new system, and a fourth due to be delivered next week. In total, the IFE system will be rolled out across 45 Flydubai Boeing 737-800s equipped with the new Sky Interior fleet.
The lightweight system, weighing in at 2.3kg per seat, is a third the weight of comparable systems, which can weigh up to 6.4kg, making the Lumexis offering much more financially feasible for low-cost carriers, according to Doug Cline, CEO of Lumexis.
While it is too early to judge how reliable the product is, Flydubai so far is happy with its decision. The airline’s in-flight product manager, Dan Kerrison, told Aviation Week that the weight saving offered by the Lumexis system is no less important for short- to medium-haul operators than it is for longer haul operators. “We have a lot more cycles on our airplanes, around 14-16 per day. Any additional weight will displace our payload on those cycles.”
The Lumexis system allows more legroom as the individual underseat power supply units have been replaced by one box that is fitted into a side panel. Each unit powers 15 passenger control units. If a power unit fails, it would affect all 15 screens. However Kerrison says that the unit can easily be swapped out during a night-stop operation. “It only takes an hour and we just need to remove a row of three seats to swap it out”, he said.
“We have now established that we can bring a product to the low-cost market,” said Cline. “Traditionally, low-cost carriers just don’t put IFE on board aircraft. It is expensive to install and expensive to maintain.” Cline said. ”The hardware is simple in the Lumexis system. It’s super durable and the parts count is lower. The simplicity of the design makes it more cost-effective to both install and maintain.”
The Lumexis system is not currently available directly off Boeing’s production line. Instead, new aircraft from Boeing are ferried to Seattle-based installation partner Aviation Technical Services (ATS), where the system is installed.
Cline says Flydubai specified that the first four aircraft must be fitted with IFE within five weeks post delivery from Boeing. “The typical timeframe for first installation of an IFE system is usually a couple of months, but with ATS, Lumexis has successfully installed it onto three aircraft in just 23 days,” he said. ATS has reduced retrofit time to just three days per aircraft.
The prospect of having the Lumexis system available off the production line is important to Flydubai. The airline’s chief operating officer, Kenneth Gile, told Aviation Week that when the system is eventually line-fitted, it will allow the airline to generate three days revenue that otherwise would have been lost during retrofit.
Gile says that Flydubai is not entertaining the idea of sending its existing fleet of nine 737-800NGs, which are not fitted with the Sky Interior, back to Seattle for a retrofit of the Lumexis system. Instead, it plans to swap those aircraft to shorter-haul routes when the rest of the Lumexis-installed Sky Interior fleet is delivered.
“It’s important to recognize just how big a risk Flydubai took. Imagine the devastation to Flydubai if we didn’t deliver on time,” said Cline. “They’ve shown an immense amount of confidence in us. When they signed up with us last November, we had an undeveloped, unproven technology. In less than a year, we’ve gone from a first generation Lumexis product, to developing, certifying and installing the system onto three aircraft.”
“A lot of airlines and manufacturers will ride with Flydubai to see how this system works,” said Cline. US Airways, he says, might be revisiting their contract with Lumexis after other issues prevented them from going ahead with the system after successful tests on board an Airbus A320 last year.
As for Lumexis’ prospects, Cline said: “I think it will be line offerable on wide- and narrowbody aircraft sooner than you expect.
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