Intro: Airlines are personalizing, targeting so much on the ground. They know their customers so well — all around booking, loyalty, data. This is all there, but they stop at the door of the cabin. These task forces are not there yet. But they are coming. I like that some airlines are building these task forces. When you ask what LEO Satcom is changing — it's of course also how you can update the software, so that you can basically sync content of any kind: be it inventory for shopping, entertainment, maps, destinations, connecting flights, or whatever you have. So as an airline — that all sounds nice, right? Own your software. Think about tons of new use cases. How to get started?

Stefanie Schuster: I'm Stefanie Schuster. This is Ralph Wagner, and you're listening to Loaded — Setting the software agenda for connected aircraft. So let's get started. Why is it so complicated? What is happening with hardware and software?

Ralph Wagner: Maybe we have a look at the history. Historically, everybody knows hardware was bought, software was an add-on. Hardware was the complicated part — getting it certified, getting it into the cabin, getting the screens into the cabin, getting the cooling right. All of that. It was all hardware-driven and a lot of hardware challenges had to be solved. So the software was always an add-on, always something that was kind of shipped with the hardware. And this lasted quite a long time. Even if you had passenger devices joining the cabin — like wireless IFE systems, or electronic flight bags on iPads, or crew panels on personal devices — still the infrastructure around it stayed proprietary. So it took quite a long time to see that there needs to be a standard, something where airlines could really look at a multi-purpose use. And this is even today an outlier that you really get that working.

Ralph Wagner: This history also set the stage for the current situation — companies provided what airlines needed back then, centralising the responsibility for everything and making a product out of that. The product has been hardware and software and certification and maintenance — content loading, everything bundled into one. That drives contracts, technical setups, and roles inside the airline. When we looked at the early workflows, everything was super digitalised — and then you need to go on a hard drive and send it somewhere, then get to the aircraft and load it. About ten years ago it was a surprise how this worked. It was complicated because the connectivity to the aircraft simply was not there. So there was a real value in that bundled model — it was needed, it was valuable. Everybody became used to it.

Stefanie Schuster: But the situation has changed. Connectivity — that changes a lot. Especially LEO coming up now with Starlink. The Starlink contracts that are signed every day — it feels really disruptive. And it's not about one vendor. It's about how connectivity is perceived. From a software standpoint, it changes a lot: how you think about software, how you connect software. The question is also what it is used for. In the past you were connecting somehow, doing your work, getting your emails synchronised. But with basically unlimited bandwidth and latency, it's not only about what passengers want and use — it's about what the airline wants. Airlines are personalising, targeting so much on the ground. They know their customers so well — all around booking, loyalty, data. This is all there. But they stop at the door of the cabin. And they should not want to stop there. Their product is used inside the cabin — it is the product. They should see it as one digital ecosystem. What do you think is the problem that they don't do that?

Ralph Wagner: I think they are not used to seeing the cabin as part of their software infrastructure. The cabin has product teams for IFE, and product teams for the galley and interior. But they are not so much on the software side — it's not one team, it's several. For IFE, it's still a lot driven by IFE vendors, not so much IT teams of the airline really taking control and connecting it with other services and use cases. We see in conversations with airlines that IT teams try to get there at some airlines — they start getting on board. They used to build the apps, the website, booking systems. But they want to get on board as well. Software for the cabin should be thought of as one, not as many. From a software perspective it makes no sense to separate it — a service running that interacts with the user, the crew, the smart seat cushion, or the lavatory. From a software perspective there is no difference.

Stefanie Schuster: The look at airline IT and how it could integrate into this ecosystem — that is a really critical thing. Maybe these task forces are not there yet.

Ralph Wagner: But they are coming. I like that some airlines are building these task forces. What do you think does LEO change in that? If the connectivity comes and you get permanently connected to the aircraft?

Stefanie Schuster: That finally allows you to see this one digital ecosystem. Some years ago we were talking about software for the aircraft always in the disconnected environment — that was the buzzword. And it's not disconnected anymore. It does not need to be so different just because it's on board of the aircraft.

Ralph Wagner: It's flying, it's a closed environment, but it's connected and can be driven by software the same as what you do on the ground. But you still have something to consider — you need to deploy software on this node. One aircraft is not connected to the other, so this node is special from the cloud view. You can see it as a deployment pipeline and receive data from it. But you still need something in place that controls this environment and understands its specifics. Though the specifics are not as many as when you heard ten years ago: “This is 30,000ft, everything's different.” It's not completely different.

Ralph Wagner: The airlines will go there and utilise that, but they have to spread their knowledge — build applications and integrations with their passengers and customers also within the cabin. That is absolutely crucial, and cross-team. And when you ask what LEO Satcom is changing — it's also how you can update the software, which is a big factor in why we can now even split hardware and software, because they will run in so different cycles.

Stefanie Schuster: Yes, absolutely. You essentially have three cycles: the hardware cycle, the software cycle, and the content cycle. Even the content cycle was always the big discussion — monthly updates were already the wow factor. But going really to real-time content synchronisation — the possibility to do that is linked to an aircraft that is permanently connected. Content of any kind: be it log files from onboard that you ship to the cloud, or the other way around, syncing inventory for shopping, entertainment, maps, destinations, connecting flights, whatever you have. Being able to do this in real time and all the time does change the software landscape. It does change the whole infrastructure. And the airlines are not the only ones who need to move here.

Ralph Wagner: Definitely not the only ones who need to move, but the ones who need to drive it and own it. Let's talk about the other players in the game — not only the airlines. There are a lot of specialised software vendors and startups out there. You could open the doors, lower the entry barrier, to get applications for kids, for medical use cases, for accessibility, for whatever, on board of the aircraft. Cloud services that could translate their offerings also to the cabin.

Ralph Wagner: Right now we are dealing with IFE and IFC infrastructure — mainly from IFC and IFE providers. We do see movements from other parties bringing servers on board, but not a true multi-purpose environment. It's usually dedicated to something. This multi-purpose thinking is quite new — and it will probably enter the aircraft with the connectivity we have right now. But the infrastructure needs to get more open, especially from a software standpoint.

Stefanie Schuster: Multi-purpose server — how does it differentiate from IFE servers? Is it a technical limitation? Is it more of a business strategy?

Ralph Wagner: In the past, the servers were made for IFE and IFC. It always needs a close interaction to actually enhance them and give them a multi-purpose aspect. It is possible and it happens. But it is not really an open design. Looking at the new ones on the market — from the communication side it looks like an open infrastructure, but there are still a lot of pieces missing. How do you actually deploy stuff? How do you get your software running there? Who is responsible for which layer? That is still open. IFE and IFC vendors need to think that through — because otherwise they will get a niche offer. Cloud services will enter the cabin directly. If you do not offer a server infrastructure with an open mindset, nobody will use your servers for caching. Edge-caching is a big buzzword, but caching needs an open architecture, not a proprietary way. And we know what happens: airlines bypass it. They just go to the cloud.

Stefanie Schuster: You take your personal device, go to the cloud, and are shopping in the cloud. That's it — leaving the server side. Even airlines are deciding to build their applications for passenger devices to go directly to the cloud. You build your app with the mindset that somebody is using it while flying, that you can send them notifications while flying. You can design it without even considering that there is a hardware infrastructure on board where you could notify on the screen. To really do this well is to mix it.

Ralph Wagner: Exactly. Right now you see those tendencies because it's so hard in the cabin to see hardware and software separate and just get whatever software you want on board. So — just go to the cloud. Which is one way, and right now nice to see because it's new. It wasn't possible before. But even apart from streaming — it's interesting to see airlines leverage LEO Satcom to connect to cloud services. The next step should be how to connect that. You don't want only the cloud. You want to leverage the infrastructure you have on board and make a smart combination. Cloud services are not an abstract cloud — your Netflix streaming comes from a data centre as near as possible to your home, not from Netflix headquarters. So it makes sense to utilise an infrastructure on board, to run hybrid models, do caching, and have services running fully on board in case of a disconnection. It needs to be with a multi-purpose mindset. Otherwise you'll consume your content out of the cloud, and you will run into limitations — if all your smart cabin or avionics data is running over a connection, that is a ton of data. It does make sense to utilise the server on board and have a multi-purpose architecture.

Stefanie Schuster: So as an airline — own your software, think about tons of new use cases. How to get started? What are the critical things an airline should care for?

Ralph Wagner: I think you first need the teams — software teams in a way that they are truly cooperating with each other. The teams are distributed among different departments. You need to get them together: those who develop your app, those who develop your connectivity portal, those who develop your seatback application. You need a common understanding of what possibilities you have in the future. And also the IoT people. Maybe that is the first step, even without doing something right away — what applications do you think will come to the cabin first? Answer that. Then go step by step and introduce application after application, verifying the infrastructure with the team from different aspects: those who run surveillance cameras, those who run the smart trolley, those who handle ordering, advertising, passenger interaction, entertainment. It needs to be a common understanding — what is the architecture we want to have?

Stefanie Schuster: There are airlines pulling together people from different departments trying to solve it. I don't think I have seen airlines who truly establish a structure meant for making such decisions. But at least already pulling together people and understanding what the critical topics are and where they should work together and make one joint decision instead of having two or three teams fighting for their own purpose. That is already a good start. And maybe it's also a topic of searching for common factors — we have a lot of discussions around how to collect data, how to store data. From an IoT perspective, you had the tendency where every IoT device started to integrate its own cellular network. You do need a concept of how you connect the aircraft — one concept, not hundreds of concepts. Some airlines are doing this.

Ralph Wagner: Yes — it is really cool to see. Some airlines are starting to do that. I'm looking forward to the AIX in Hamburg to see which departments appear there. You see it changing over the years — more IT people are coming, teams appear together. You can already see how they start addressing the topic.

Stefanie Schuster: So what is your takeaway from software in the cabin?

Ralph Wagner: For me, this airline topic is super critical. The first topic is always the vendors — the vendors need to open up, which is completely true. But the airlines can be stronger if they think internally about how to work and how to address the topics. Also how they appear when they talk with vendors, which people they even bring to the table. That is a crucial topic when we talk about how to get into a truly more software-driven environment.

Stefanie Schuster: Absolutely. And a key takeaway would be to think about airlines that do not have the power or big IT teams. This is not depending on the size of the airline — we saw very small airlines with super agile IT teams, and midsize airlines that do not have their focus on IT. Big ones as well. It is crucial to look at how you can build up the team, how deep you can go, and be at least aware of your software capabilities — your strengths and weaknesses — to connect your cabin. The connectivity that is right now being used and signed will change the landscape and give a great push for the software side.