Entertainment in flight: a brief history and development

With the winter holidays approaching, many people are already booking flights to see friends and family or vacation in warm countries. Nowadays, air travel is synonymous with some form of in-flight entertainment, covering everything from the welcome offered by the crew to food choices and digital content.

All of these services add to the customer experience. Nowadays, passengers are so familiar with in-flight entertainment that it is impossible to travel without it. This is stated in the article by theconversation.com.

As of 2019, the in-flight entertainment and communications market has grown to $5.9 billion, indicating its economic impact on both airlines and the GDP of countries with airlines.

In-flight entertainment is so widespread that even if all other airline services are offered, the airline guarantees a refund to the affected passenger if TV content is not available.

A bit of history

Before the advent of in-flight media entertainment, passengers were entertained by reading books or eating and drinking. The initial goal of introducing in-flight entertainment was to attract more customers by drawing inspiration from different sources.

In-flight entertainment began as an experiment in 1921 when 11 Aeromarine Airways passengers were shown the movie "Hello, Chicago!" on a screen in the cabin during a flight. Four years later, in 1925, another experiment was conducted when 12 passengers on board an Imperial Airlines flight from London were shown the movie The Lost World.

It was only in the 1960s that in-flight movies became mainstream for airlines. Trans World Airlines was the first carrier to regularly offer feature films during flights using a unique cinema system.

Starting in 1964, in-flight entertainment evolved to include different types of media, such as 16mm film, closed-circuit television, live television broadcasts, and magnetic tape. In the 1970s, for example, airplanes might have a large screen with a 16mm projector in one part of the plane while small screens hung overhead in another part.

Seatback screens were introduced in 1988 when Airvision installed 6.9-centimeter screens on the seatbacks of Northwest Airlines. Since then, they have evolved into the larger screens we are familiar with today.

In-flight entertainment today

Most modern airlines have personal TVs for each passenger on long-haul flights. On-demand streaming and internet access have also become the norm. In-flight entertainment now includes movies, music, radio talk shows, television talk shows, documentaries, magazines, stand-up comedy, cooking shows, sports shows, and children's shows.

However, the rise of personal devices such as tablets and smartphones may mean the end of seatback screens. A number of US airlines, including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Air, have removed seatback screens on domestic airplanes.

Now that most air travelers are carrying electronic devices, fewer airlines are installing screens on seatbacks. From an economic standpoint, this makes sense for airlines: removing seatback screens reduces fuel costs and allows airlines to install thinner seats, allowing them to carry more passengers.

More than just entertainment

Entertainment is now also a competitive advertising tool for airlines and a form of cultural production. In-flight entertainment has become an economic platform for investors, businesspeople, entertainment producers, and suppliers, especially for Hollywood.

However, the evolution of in-flight entertainment has not been without its challenges. As a form of cultural production, it often reflects the interests of advertisers, governments, and business entities. It also implies that certain ideas, products, and culture are sold to passengers through in-flight entertainment.

The lucrative practice of capturing and selling passengers' attention to advertisers has not been limited to screens either. In-flight magazines have always been filled with advertisements, and in the late 1980s, these advertisements expanded to napkins and audio channels.

Despite its shortcomings and uncertain future, in-flight entertainment still offers passengers a sense of comfort, reducing the anxiety of being stranded at 30,000 feet above sea level. If you're flying on vacation, remember that your comfort is partly due to this innovation.