Fresh from winning an APEX/IFSA Innovation Award in Long Beach, California, aviation moving map specialist FlightPath3D plans to “revolutionize” the passenger experience by rolling out a travel companion powered by AI.

“It is your pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight companion to help communicate where you are in-flight, things to do, loyalty programs, and help inspire you to take the next trip,” FlightPath3D president Duncan Jackson told Runway Girl Network at last week’s APEX/IFSA Global EXPO.

“The airline can customize it for their own channels,” he said of the AI flight feed’s ability to be integrated into IFE systems, mobile apps and websites, “and it has the intelligence to know the context of where you are in-flight, your origin, destination, and the context of every flight available and destination from the airline. And that’s what makes it unique. It can push offers and information that is real-time.”

But how exactly does it work on board aircraft? Jackson confided: “We take an input of the ARINC data, so it just tells me heading, distance to go, origin destination, also the location of the aircraft. We take your flight schedule; that’s not normally done. So we know how many flights you’re flying to every destination, what your most popular destinations are, what your hubs are. So we take that feed information in as well. It doesn’t need the Internet; I can just load it once a month and keep it in cadence with the movies [and other content]… We feed in the aircraft type and model, which is really important because then I can give you things like the range of the aircraft, and how far it can fly, while it’s giving you interesting information.”

Because FlightPath3D is pushing information to the passenger via an AI flight feed, and making suggestions based on a set of categories — which it calls “channels” — it has key context about the flight. So in addition to providing flight progress updates, and points of interest (POI) information as the aircraft flies over tourist spots, it can share details about what’s happening at the passenger’s destination, suggesting that they attend a baseball game after they arrive, for instance, or it can promote trip ideas and provide special offers to loyalty members. “We know you are a loyalty member so for 20,000 points you could take a flight from Los Angeles to Cancun and we have got a vacation package right now,” Jackson explained, as an example.

The AI flight feed is a widget that sits over the inflight moving map, but it could sit anywhere in the IFE. So it doesn’t have to be on the map. Image: FlightPath3D/Betria Interactive, LLC

The data gleaned from this software could be seen as invaluable, helping airlines to better understand human behavior and inform their route planning initiatives, even as they enhance PaxEx for their guests. Together with integrated advertising opportunities, the solution also aids airlines in improving their bottom line, according to FlightPath3D.

The AI flight feed is a natural extension to what FlightPath3D already brings to the aviation market. The company has long provided an immersive 3D inflight moving map experience for passengers, complete with detailed aircraft renderings, multiple views, and informative POI content. More recently, in partnership with Southwest Airlines, it introduced an inflight Destination Reels application that delivers comprehensive travel guides packed with bite-sized videos tailored for mobile use, covering over 100 Southwest destinations.

This so-called ‘flight tracker with Destination Reels’ has become the most popular channel on Southwest’s wireless entertainment solution, and led to FlightPath3D’s win of the APEX/IFSA Innovation Award for best inflight entertainment. “The best way to predict the future is to create it. In partnership with Southwest Airlines, we redefined inflight entertainment by harnessing the power of augmented reality and social-media style video guides akin to Instagram Reels,” said Jackson following the company’s win in California.

Having already partnered with airports — Houston, London Heathrow and recently Philadelphia International — to better showcase their destinations, FlightPath3D is ready to take things up a serious notch on the ground and in the air with its AI travel companion. The solution is “fully working and operational”, Jackson confirmed to RGN. “And that same widget”, the AI flight feed, can “live on the airport’s website” in addition to airlines’ portals, seatbacks, apps and websites.