Do We Really Need In-Seat Entertainment On a Flight?

Anyone who’s flown long-haul will know the pleasure of sitting back, plugging in their headphones, and selecting a film or TV show from the plane’s in-seat screen. But how up-to-date is this model, and does it really still offer the same value?

A recent panel discussion at MRO Europe spoke about this exact topic. Specifically focusing on future upgrade paths for aircraft interiors, in-seat screens came up. A panel member stated, “as in-flight connectivity improved, more passengers would use their mobile devices to stream.”

In turn, this will lead to the loss of in-seat screens for media consumption. So, is this the future passengers want?

Why Ditch Seat Screens?

There are numerous practical advantages to doing away with in-seat screens. First is the reduction in weight. While it’ll vary by screen, seat, and aircraft, a rough estimate for the screen and its cables is around 4kg. Multiply this by the number of seats on the aircraft, and you’ve suddenly added a lot of weight.

Removing this, therefore, will result in a major reduction. The knock-on effect should be fairly clear: reduced seat weight means reduced overall weight, which means less fuel burned and less emissions. From an operational perspective, these are all positives.

Then there’s the cost, complexity, and maintenance of the screen itself. Estimates vary, but these screens can cost as much as $10,000 each. Every screen will require an electrical load, that needs to be generated, meaning stress on the aircraft’s systems, and will kick out heat. All the panel heaters across the cabin raise the temperature, which then needs to be reduced by the onboard climate control system, leading to even more electrical load.

Finally, not having a screen reduces the aircraft’s complexity and improves reliability.  I’m sure we’ve all been on flights where individual screens aren’t working, and passengers are shuffled around, or left disappointed.  After all, a seat without a screen is just a seat. It’ll be cheaper, easier to maintain, and easier to install.

The bottom line, therefore, is that removing screens from aircraft seats is pretty much an all-round positive for airline operators.

The Case for Keeping Screens

Of course, this plan relies on people having their own devices that they can use to access content. In 2023, 87% of UK adults owned a smartphone. This is a pretty good figure, but does mean 13% of people who may be on flights won’t have entertainment (at least, not digitally).

Then there’s the logistics of using your own device. The screen is smaller and may need to be held for hours on end. Some seat trays have a groove for holding your device, but this typically only works with tablets. Whilst it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, holding your phone for the length of a film is mildly inconvenient.

We also can’t overlook the issue of charging. Viewing media on your phone is energy-intensive, and running out of battery would be a pain. To remedy this, seats could have chargers and USB ports, but this necessitates leaving some of the electrical wiring in the seats.

Finally, there’s accessing Wi-Fi. Many aircraft theoretically have Wi-Fi, but whether it works is a different issue. It can also be prohibitively expensive for the service it provides, especially if most passengers are connected to it. Again, this is a potentially minor issue but is something operators will need to consider.

Future improvements in connectivity, and data streaming rate would be the enabler, although this comes with the addition of some of the weight and complexity saved with the removal of the screens.

Is this the Death of the In-Seat Screen?

If you look this topic up online, you’ll see articles going back to 2009 discussing the death of in-flight entertainment. It’s nothing new, then, but much has changed in the last 15 years.

For now, it might be premature to entirely make this shift, as abandoning in-seat screens requires improvements in the infrastructure to provide the supplementary services that would replace them. Whether we will see people booking specific flights for their in-flight entertainment, though, is unlikely. After all, we could always read a book!