Drama at 33,000 Feet: How Innovators, Risk-Takers and Policymakers Created A Market for In-Flight Entertainment

Abstract

In-flight entertainment (IFE), a familiar amenity on long-haul flights, evolved from novel experiments in the early 20^th century to a sophisticated 21^st-century electronic media service. Its development was neither an economic inevitability nor, as some claim, an exercise in cultural imperialism. Rather, as the present study argues, stakeholders developed a market for in-flight entertainment by responding to economic opportunities and challenges; IFE survives because its socioeconomic benefits outweigh its costs.

Key Words:

• in-flight entertainment
• customer service
• airline economics
• airline history