Cathay Pacific Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350 XWB, becoming the sixth airline to place the new widebody in its fleet. The aircraft was delivered to the Hong Kong-based airline May 28 and will begin service June 1.

Japanese full-service carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) will introduce two new services to help avoid language barriers and ensure rapid emergency medical attention on flights.

Irish budget carrier Ryanair is likely to opt for “walled garden” onboard connectivity in the mid-term, rather than full-blown Wi-Fi.

Passenger Experience-May 25, 2016

Travel technology provider SITA is exploring the use of blockchain technology as a platform for generating secure single travel “tokens” that could potentially streamline a passenger’s progress through all airport processes involving the scanning of personal documentation.

A clear message from the 2016 SITA Passenger IT Trends Survey is that passengers prefer technology-delivered over people-delivered service.

The future of passenger engagement is all about making technology invisible. “It’s about removing the friction from technology interactions, keeping it simple. As soon as technology gets in the way, it’s failed,” Google partner development manager Max Coppin told delegates at the Future Travel Experience (FTE) Europe conference in Amsterdam.