Hawaiian to provide video on demand

HAWAIIAN Airlines will start providing video on demand for Australian customers next month, but it will not be spending millions of dollars installing heavy, heat-producing amusement systems on its aircraft.
The financially strapped carrier is buying 1500 “personal entertainment systems”, portable units that sit on a tray table and provide 10 to 15 full-length movies.
They can also access eight to 10 shorter programs, 20 music videos and 100 audio tracks.
The “digEplayer5500” weighs less than 2kg and uses a 40-gigabyte hard drive to store content from producers such as 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and Buena Vista.
Hawaiian tested the units on routes including Australia for about two months.
Hawaiian senior vice-president of marketing and sales Gordon Locke described the response to the trials as phenomenal. “The units were an immediate hit and sold out on every flight we tested them on.”
Business class will get them free but economy class will have to rent one for $US10 ($14).
“Customers raved about having their own personal entertainment system and the freedom to pick and choose movies, TV shows and music that matched their interest.
“Parents especially liked how the systems kept their children entertained during the flight.”
Those who decide against the option will be able to watch free entertainment on cabin screens. The units run on batteries with enough charge for the Sydney-Honolulu hop.
They were introduced by Alaska Airlines but Hawaiian is the first to use them in wide-body aircraft.
Hawaiian began flying to Sydney in May and was the first main US airline to start scheduled services to a major city for a decade. Hawaiian, United and Continental Micronesia (Guam) are the only US airlines to fly to Australia.