A history of in-flight entertainment

The range of entertainment options on a modern airliner is nothing short of staggering. Whether one is in Economy or First Class, there is bound to be something for every passenger to help the hours to your destination ‘fly’ by, from the latest blockbuster movies to international art films, cartoons, documentaries, sitcom series, moving map and live flight tracking to music, podcasts, games and internet…modern In Flight Entertainment (IFE) has something for everyone and is a major selling point for the airlines. But it hasn’t always been that way. In this article we take a look at In Flight Entertainment through the years and dive into a fascinating part of airline history…

THE EARLY DAYS

The world’s first scheduled airline flight, which took place on 1 January 1914 and linked the cities of St Petersburg, Florida and Tampa involved a 15 minute hop in a Curtiss “Flying Boat”. No doubt the only entertainment that the passengers had was the view out of the windows. In those early years, flying was still a novelty and the preserve of the very wealthy – passengers dressed up in their best formal attire, the airline staff and crew wore maritime uniforms and the genteel atmosphere on board resembled the drawing room of a stately mansion rather than an aircraft cabin, with passengers conducting restrained conversations while admiring the passing views.

The birth of IFE can be attributed to an American carrier, Aeromarine Airways which, in 1921, played a promotional film on board their Felixstowe F.5 flying boats, called “Howdy Chicago!”.

As the August 1921 issue of Aerial Age describes: “A screen was hung in the forecabin of the machine; a DeVry suit-case projection machine fastened firmly in position and connected As the August 1921 issue of Aerial Age describes: “A screen was hung in the forecabin of the machine; a DeVry suit-case projection machine fastened firmly in position and connected with an electric light socket. The projectionist pressed the button, and the audience beheld cinema views of Chicago while flying over Chicago.”

The first commercial film was shown in 1925 on board an Imperial Airways (an early predecessor of British Airways) flight from London Croydon airport to Paris. It was a silent adaptation of the film The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but was accompanied by radio reception of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra which was played through a single speaker in the cabin. As the 1920s progressed and as flights got longer, airlines began to offer more and more in flight movies.

In 1932, the first in flight television was offered to passengers in the form of a news show called Media Event which was played on board Western Air Express Fokker F.10s. Around this time, the great transatlantic airships were in their heyday and on board the Hindenburg, in flight entertainment options resembled those available at a fine hotel: there was a piano lounge, a dining room, a smoking room and a bar. The flight across the Atlantic took 36 hours so these amenities were undoubtedly very welcome.

In 1941, live in flight entertainment was offered by some airlines in the form of actors and singers on board, however this trend never really caught on and the limited projection of films and newsreels remained the primary type of IFE.

Some in flight entertainment crossed over from merely being something to keep the passengers entertained to being a publicity stunt: In 1948 Pan American Airways, which was showing films on its transatlantic Boeing Stratocruiser aircraft, debuted the movie Stagecoach by having a coach and horses deliver the original film reel to the door of the New York to London flight on the film’s first day of screening.

Movies were still the only real form of IFE into the 1950s, when air travel began to increase in popularity and affordability. With this came attempts to try to make IFE less gimmicky and more appealing as part of the in flight experience.

THE BEGINNING OF THE MODERN AGE

We have one man to thank for the in flight entertainment experience as we know it today: a movie house projection specialist named David Flexer. He invented a system by which 16mm film could be housed on a 25 inch reel, allowing an entire film to fit on one reel while also pioneering a projector that was able to fit into the confined space of an airliner cabin’s ceiling. Part of his innovation also included the ability for the entire process to be automated: a stewardess (as they were called then) need only switch it on and the movie would play and switch itself off once it was finished. Roll-down screens were installed on the bulkheads of each cabin onto which the movies were projected.

He was granted Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for the system and Trans World Airways (TWA) immediately installed the system on their aircraft, with other American airlines following suit. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was the first foreign airline to show movies on board using Flexer’s system.

While picture quality was relatively good albeit black and white, sound was a problem. Passengers were issued with earphones that bizarrely consisted of hollow rubber tubes which transferred sound from speakers in the seat armrest. This was the standard until the 1980s!  Sound quality was poor however, over the noise of the jet engines.

In 1965 another innovation occurred when the FAA certified small television screens for installation at various points within the cabin, allowing a more intimate viewing experience.

Games were until now not a feature of IFE, however in 1975 Braniff Airlines introduced Pong on board its aircraft, making this the first game offered in flight.

The 1980s saw another innovation: in-ceiling monitors. These small screens retracted into the cabin ceiling roughly every three rows. While passengers still did not have a choice as to what they watched, they did not have numerous rows of heads blocking their view. These were the first IFE to be introduced on short-haul aircraft too, IFE until that time being the preserve of longer haul routes only.

One advantage of the in-ceiling screens is the ability to play the mandatory safety briefing in video form, which was done for the first time in the mid-1980s.

TODAY

With the introduction in 1988 of seat back screens, IFE as we know it today was born. Initially, seat-back screens were tiny – only 3.5 inches – and were actually developed to provide in flight games, with Warner Brothers and Phillips investing in the technology which was made possible thanks to the advent of LCD display technology. In 1988 a trial was conducted with Northwest Airlines and British Airways in which a limited number of films and videos were offered via the seat-back screens – for the first time passengers could choose what they watched.

These initially small screens rapidly grew and within a few years, 4.3 inch screens were the standard.

Analogue gave way to digital in 1996 and with it, a far greater choice of channels could be offered. Also becoming available was touchscreen technology, enabling more immersive games. Pay-per-view was also introduced, creating another revenue stream for airlines, the system working by passengers swiping their credit card to gain access to a greater selection of movies as well as in flight gambling games and later even offering the ability to make calls from the air.

Internet was first offered in 2001, with the first email being sent from an Air Canada flight in this year,

Today, premium airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways offer up to 6500 channels of in flight entertainment, including live TV and sports events, Spotify, internet and interactive games. It is hard to imagine in flight entertainment getting any better, but airliner manufacturers and airlines are constantly working to enhance and expand their offerings to the travelling public.