Why keep obsolete IFE boxes?

[tdimdad]

On another QF 737 again the plane had been upgraded to Qantas entertainment but the old IFE boxes were still bolted on. The same seem to apply to their 330's with iPad's. Why would they still keep them as the seat back screens are long gone? Instead, the few extra centimetres of space for your feet would be nicer...

 

[mannej]

I don’t believe any QF 737 have had seat back screens removed to upgrade to the BYO Q-Streaming Ipad IFE

 

[Archipelago]

Good post really. From another perspective besides legroom - the aggregate weight must be substantial and add considerably to the operating costs from a fuel consideration surely?

 

[jb747]

Probably because they would cost substantial money to safely remove, and somewhere along the way the cost/benefit model doesn’t add up.

 

[tdimdad]

Probably because they would cost substantial money to safely remove, and somewhere along the way the cost/benefit model doesn’t add up.

Are you saying the bean counters have concluded that lugging them along for e.g. five years, increasing the fuel burn flight after flight (as Archipelago aptly noted), is more economical than having had them removed as part of the other refurbishment work? They have their models and we have to trust them (or at least the airline management does) but it'd be interesting to see the numbers just out of curiosity.

 

[offshore171]

Are you saying the bean counters have concluded that lugging them along for e.g. five years, increasing the fuel burn flight after flight (as Archipelago aptly noted), is more economical than having had them removed as part of the other refurbishment work? They have their models and we have to trust them (or at least the airline management does) but it'd be interesting to see the numbers just out of curiosity.

Guessing here, but it's possible that the removal could somehow affect the certification or compliance of the aircraft, and it may be more costly than you might expect.

There would be thousands of metres of wiring involved.

 

[mannej]

I will comment again, but apart from EBG/EBL, no A330 or 737 have had seatback IFE screens removed as a part of the installation of Q-Streaming. Whatever the requirement of the boxes may be, they have been flying around for a number of years without any seatback screens.

 

[RooFlyer]

Guessing here, but it's possible that the removal could somehow affect the certification or compliance of the aircraft, and it may be more costly than you might expect.

There would be thousands of metres of wiring involved.

Maybe re the certification, but you wouldn't think that would a deal breaker. The wiring is an interesting point though. While I wouldn't expect then to go pulling out all the wiring, maybe there is a rule somewhere that you can't have redundant wiring in the aircraft (because risk of later cross-use??? @jb747 ?? ), and removing the wiring would be a major task, so overall not worth it.

I will comment again, but apart from EBG/EBL, no A330 or 737 have had seatback IFE screens removed as a part of the installation of Q-Streaming. Whatever the requirement of the boxes may be, they have been flying around for a number of years without any seatback screens.

Not understanding what you are saying. The IFE screens are (mostly) still there .... but planes have been flying around without any seatback screens? In any event, is the IFE units that are at issue - redundant, beneath the seat taking up room and a weight burden.

Would be interested to know the real answer - just the cost of removal is too much, or removing them leads to other issues which then make it impractical/uneconomic.

 

[jb747]

To give you an idea... When QF was buying the 380, they didn’t leave the video screens in the crew rest because they were being nice to us. The quoted price for their removal was in the order of $10k per screen. Everything needs to be approved by Airbus/Boeing, etc, and EVERYTHING comes at a cost.

The Airbus flight displays are ‘heading up’, whilst the Boeing ones are ‘track up’. It is apparently simply the flick of a switch...but it comes with a price of thousands of dollars.

 

[mannej]

Not understanding what you are saying. The IFE screens are (mostly) still there .... but planes have been flying around without any seatback screens? In any event, is the IFE units that are at issue - redundant, beneath the seat taking up room and a weight burden.

Would be interested to know the real answer - just the cost of removal is too much, or removing them leads to other issues which then make it impractical/uneconomic.

The OP alludes to the seat back screens being long gone when in actual fact they were never actually there in the first place...

The point I make is the boxes were in place without the aircraft having seat back screens, there must be a reason for them to be there.

On another QF 737 again the plane had been upgraded to Qantas entertainment but the old IFE boxes were still bolted on. The same seem to apply to their 330's with iPad's. Why would they still keep them as the seat back screens are long gone? Instead, the few extra centimetres of space for your feet would be nicer...

 

[moa999]

Not sure if the OP is seeing a WiFi bubble on a Seatback IFE aircraft and thinking the IFE has been replaced.

It hasn't. Two separate systems.

 

[Hvr]

The point I make is the boxes were in place without the aircraft having seat back screens, there must be a reason for them to be there.

If they're empty then maybe they are storage for the passenger in that seat. A bit like the little window boxes.

 

[RooFlyer]

The point I make is the boxes were in place without the aircraft having seat back screens, there must be a reason for them to be there.

OK, understand your meaning now.

And yes, the reason is what we are trying to find . JB747s last post seems to give the most likely answer.