Today, Alaska Airlines becomes the first carrier to bring SkyLights’ new Allosky Cinematic VR entertainment to North American airspace. The end-to-end solution, which enables passengers to escape to another world and enjoy 2D, 3D and forward-facing 360° films on a Full HD cinema screen, will be piloted as a First Class amenity onboard Alaska Airlines’ Seattle-Boston and Boston-San Diego routes.
“Alaska Airlines is excited to be the first airline in North America to trial virtual reality headsets as an inflight entertainment device,” said Brett Catlin, Alaska Airlines’ managing director of guest products. “We’re thrilled to partner with innovative companies like Skylights that share our desire to enhance the guest experience.”
SkyLights is an American-French company specializing in immersive in-flight entertainment. It first showcased the Allosky device, which offers Full HD resolution (1080p per eye), a sleek, lightweight design, Bluetooth and WiFi at the Airline Passenger Experience (APEX) Expo in September 2017. Having since commercially deployed the new solution in Europe, SkyLights is now focusing on securing deployments around the globe.
“The Allosky is now ready to deploy and we are delighted to see it take flight with an airline renowned for its customer experience. We strongly believe the Allosky marks a new age in in-flight entertainment and we aim to validate this in North America with the help of Alaska’s First Class passengers,” said David Dicko, SkyLights’ CEO.
The Allosky headset is powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ platform, to deliver enhanced performance and power to inflight entertainment for passengers.
“SkyLight’s product design is a great example of a VR device that is easy to use, without cables, that provides an awesome user experience to passengers who can sit back and relax with a cinema view powered by our Snapdragon solution. We look forward to more airlines providing mobile XR experiences to passengers” said Hugo Swart, head of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
In terms of content, passengers onboard the pilot flights will be able to choose from a selection of 2D and 3D blockbusters provided by SkyLights’ partners 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and EIM. Noteworthy titles include Academy Award winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Spielberg’s Ready Player One in 3D, and Ferdinand for the kids. The Allosky will also be preloaded with forward-facing 360° films to further differentiate the passenger journey. Especially selected for their suitability to view inflight, the short VR films cover subjects including freediving, classical music and acrobatics.
About SkyLights
SkyLights is an American-French company that leverages cinematic VR as premium passenger entertainment. It has a signature immersive-IFE solution that transports passengers to their own, private, in-flight movie theater, where they can enjoy 2D and 3D blockbusters and forward-facing 360° content on a wide-angle cinema screen. Working with airline customer experience managers, the end-to-end solution (content, hardware, software & operations-setup) is tailored to upgrade and differentiate the business class experience. The company was founded in February 2015 and has offices in San Francisco, Paris and Toulouse.
Qualcomm and Snapdragon
Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.
Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.
