Presenting: easyJet Onboard 

Working together toward a common goal of engaging passengers onboard, maximising conversions for onboard retail, and unlocking new partnership opportunities, AirFi and easyJet have successfully launched easyJet Onboard. 

easyJet Onboard leverages AirFi’s revolutionary portable streaming solution, the AirFi box, as a hardware backbone to provide streaming capabilities which allow passengers to us their personal mobile devices to connect to an engaging world of onboard shopping and entertainment. AirFi also delivers all passenger-facing aspects of easyJet Onboard, including the retail shop, moving map, magazine/menu integration and games. AirFi’s open software platform works seamlessly with easyJet’s mobile crew technology, onboard payment solution, and catering backend so that the easyJet Onboard solution can capture transactional and browsing data, allowing the airline continually optimize product offerings and system functionalities.  

This partnership signals the beginning a new era of onboard engagement and retailing at easyJet. With a total of 322 aircraft equipped in just five months, this deployment also marks the largest single rollout of AirFi’s portable IFE and retailing solutions to date.   

Fleetwide deployment was completed in three stages. First installations began in October 2022 and easyJet’s entire fleet was live by January 25, 2023. Now, easyJet passengers flying anywhere across the airline’s vast network can use their own laptops, tablets, or Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones to enter a fully branded world of digitized menus and duty-free shopping, flight information, destination content and a growing selection of games and entertainment, all free of charge.    

Why did easyJet embark on this journey? 

 “We wanted to create an engagement platform that our customers can access on board that provides them with relevant content, entertainment, and services for that journey. Another core objective for the project was to look at how we could enhance our inflight retailing capabilities and leverage digital innovation to become more agile when it comes to modifying our inflight retail offerings. There is also the element of added destination content and useful services. We have some excellent travel content available to passengers, so they can explore the best activities, things to see, places to eat and where to shop…all before they arrive.”  – William Kramer, Transformation & Continuous Improvement Lead, Inflight Retail at easyJet 

Why did easyJet select AirFi? 

 “We selected AirFi after a rigorous evaluation of the marketplace for portable wireless cabin technology. “We were impressed by AirFi’s overall capabilities, their ‘Mall in the Sky’ vision, their maturity and the flexibility of their systems and platforms. We never question safety at EasyJet and neither does AirFi. Their attention to battery safety and overall hardware production quality are exemplary.” –  Simon Cox, Director of Inflight Retail at EasyJet 

How does this technology improve ancillary revenues? 

• Enhanced Retailing Capabilities: Supports the growth of inflight retail sales and maximises conversions. 
• Increased Commercial Opportunities: Unlocks new brand partnerships and marketing opportunities, such as digital advertising, easyJet Holiday promotions, and pre-ordering for return flights.  
• Increased Inflight Retail Awareness and Engagement: Creates new touchpoints across the passenger journey to interact with inflight retail. 

What are the passenger benefits of easyJet Onboard? 

• It’s easy to use: No app download is needed. Passengers can simply scan a QR code found on the back of every seat to access the platform, or they can type onboard.easyjet.com into their preferred web browser.  
• No login or registration: passengers won’t be deterred by being asked for too much personal information. 

• More product information: No longer limited by space on a printed page, easyJet can add more detailed product descriptions, 3D product graphics, customer reviews, etc for all inflight products.  
• More destination information: Passengers can explore things to do at their destination and learn about other easyJet destinations, holiday packages and other deals.  
• Games and other entertainment help to stave off boredom!

What are the operational/environmental benefits of easyJet Onboard? 

• Menus and inflight magazine content have been digitized, meaning that a significant amount of paper could be saved. 
• Fuel savings could be achieved due to weight of magazines/menu cards removed. 
• easyJet can make overnight changes to product ranges and pricing. 
• The AirFi solution enables rapid collection and analysis of browsing data (not no mention sales data) that can help easyJet better understand the passenger and get the best mix of products for sale onboard.  
• Best mix of in-demand products onboard reduces end-of-day waste for perishable items. 

• The solution allows for the presentation of different product to different demographics, shows product catalogue according to route and adjusts currencies automatically.  
• AirFi solution is fully autonomous, using sensor technology to minimize crew interaction.  

“The use of data underpins our ability to unlock the full extent of the digital retailing capabilities easyJet Onboard provides us. The platform gives us greater insights with how our customers interact with our inflight offering allowing us to better understand their wants and needs. Data available through the platform allows us to make more informed decisions as well as make changes much quicker than we ever have before” – William Kramer, Transformation & Continuous Improvement Lead, Inflight Retail at easyJet 

 What are the next steps for this technology partnership? 

The partners are currently exploring, or plan to explore: 

• Gate-to-gate use of easyJet Onboard 
• Order-to-seat functionality. 
• Pre-ordering functionality for return flights. 
• Home delivery options for onboard retail. 
• EasyJet Holiday package promotion. 

• New forms of content and activities for passengers.  

In summary:

EasyJet Onboard is a cornerstone of the airline’s ambitious five-year plan to digitally transform its onboard retailing business and double its inflight retail revenue. By embracing innovation, easyJet is setting the LCC benchmark for digital services onboard. 

AirFi’s flexible and cost-effective technologies are a key driver in making this vision a reality. As the leading company in the portable IFE space, AirFi has the depth of experience, proven hardware, open platform software and innovative culture needed to execute this vision… and we are only at the beginning.