Travelers taking Alaska Airlines to their destination will enjoy new features on their in-flight entertainment starting this Fall.
The upgrades will include new aircraft seats that feature a personal space-enhancing design and are equipped with power outlets. The airline is also in the process of adding an upgraded entertainment system that will allow passengers to watch movies, television shows and other programming streamed to any Wi-Fi enabled device.
Alaska Airlines is expected to complete this project, which is costing the airline $100 million, by the end of 2014. The upgrades will be applied to the cabins of all of Alaska Airline's Boeing 737-800, -900 and -900ER planes.
"Passengers have responded very favorably to the innovative and comfortable Recaro seats on our 737-900ERS," Joe Sprague, the vice president of marketing for Alaska Airlines, told BreakingTravelNews.com. "Two other features we know they want the most are power for their electronic devices and enhanced in-flight entertainment.
"Upgrading our other Next Generation 737 aircraft with Recaro seats along with adding seat power and an improved in-flight entertainment system, will complement our award-winning personal service and make flying more enjoyable for our customers," Sprague said.
Alaska Airlines was the first North American carrier to adapt use of the main cabin Recaro seat in its Boeing 737-900ER in November 2012. The seat has a slimmer design and has the literature pocket at the top of the seatback, rather than the bottom as on other airlines. The new design allowed Alaska to reconfigure its cabins while maintaining passenger standards.
The new configuration with the additional features will have six additional seats on the 737-800s and nine additional seats on the 737-900s.
Alaska Airlines will be the only U.S. carrier to provide power outlets at every seat on its equipped aircraft, which includes almost 75 percent of its aircraft. The outlets will supply both 110-volt and USB power for tablets and smart phones and will be located on the seatback in front of each passenger.
This will allow in-flight entertainment programming to be streamed wirelessly from a server onboard the aircraft to any Wi-Fi enabled device, including passengers' personal devices.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
