Rockwell Collins is consolidating and expanding its cabin management and entertainment system capabilities, thanks to the acquisitions of ArincDirect, which adds new connectivity solutions, and Pacific Avionics, a provider of wireless inflight entertainment and connectivity equipment. “I see us continuing to grow in the cabin,” said Greg Irmen, vice president and general manager Flight Information Solutions.

Here at EBACE, Rockwell Collins (Booth I073) announced it had been chosen by two major airframe OEMs for its Venue cabin management system (CMS). The first is Dassault for the new Falcon 5X and 8X business jets. “We’ve been a mainstay for Dassault for some time,” Irmen said, with Venue the standard CMS for the Falcon Cabin Management System installed on new Falcon 900, 2000 and 7X models. Another OEM selected Rockwell Collins as its preferred aftermarket supplier, but this OEM had yet to be announced as the EBACE show got underway. Irmen said that Rockwell Collins should be able to identify the other OEM shortly.

More than 500 aircraft now have the Venue CMS installed. “If you look at our performance in the aftermarket, it’s outstanding,” he said. “The aftermarket is going gangbusters, and a lot of upgrades have been done on Globals, Gulfstreams and Falcons.” Typically the Venue upgrade is performed during heavy-maintenance checks. “Venue is a fairly quick upgrade and very low cost relative to what’s available,” he said. Venue offers both high-definition capability and a fiber-optic backbone that makes it easy to add future technologies.

There are about 20 Rockwell Collins dealers around the world qualified to install Venue systems. Jet Aviation Basel, Comlux America, AMAC Aerospace, PATS Aircraft Systems and Associated Air Center are all qualified to install Venue in VIP and VVIP aircraft. AMAC is currently performing the first Venue installation on an Airbus ACJ, and other Venue systems have been installed in Boeing 737s and 747s and Airbus A320s and A330s. “That scalability has proven to be very effective for our customers,” Irmen said.

Rockwell Collins is preparing for the launch of Inmarsat’s high-speed broadband Ka-band Global Xpress satcom network later this year. Passengers increasingly expect a similar experience to their home Internet services while flying, Irmen explained, “but connectivity has been the one lagging piece. Venue provides ease of use and the same type of experience with personal devices, but connectivity is the bottleneck. We see that changing [with Global Xpress]. People are going to get the same experience on the airplane as they do at home and will do more work online. The sky is the limit for all these extra services that [Global Xpress] can provide.”

Rockwell Collins will offer products from Pacific Avionics for the business aircraft market, which fits well with its Skybox streaming content-delivery system and network access point. “We think there is potential there for operators who want a simple low-cost solution for Internet and inflight entertainment,” Irmen said.

Venue is on display at the Rockwell Collins EBACE booth along with the company’s Airshow moving-map system and Skybox. A new Airshow feature being demonstrated is an app that allows passengers to view Airshow on their Android devices. o