For many people, travelling by air is not a pleasant experience. It is often cramped, crowded and uncomfortable. As a result, the use of virtual reality (VR) to escape from the pressurised environment inside the aircraft cabin is on the rise. A trend that Alaska Airlines has picked up on, as they are beginning to roll out VR to some of its passengers.
Passengers on the Seattle to Boston and Boston to San Diego routes will soon be able to try out the SkyLights Allosky Cinematic VR headset, which will provide access to a range of forward-facing 3D and 360-degree films.
The SkyLights VR headset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and is said to provide HD resolution for each eye, while offering films from the company’s partner studios, including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros and EIM.
As well as full-length movies such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Ready Player One in 3D and Ferdinand, passengers will also be able to explore a collection of VR short films, which cover subjects such as freediving, classical music and acrobatics.
According to the SkyLights website, the headset is also capable of allowing users to watch saved content that they have previously paid for on services such as YouTube, Netflix and Hulu, though at this point it is not known if this feature will be available to Alska Airlines passengers.
SkyLights is beginning to become known as a provider of VR in-flight entertainment, just last month the company announced a new VR system called Skykids, which was designed to entertain children aged 6-12 on long-haul flights, with the system being tested on French airlines XL Airways.
A number of airlines have been experimenting with offering VR entertainment to customers, and it seems that SkyLights is angling to be a leader in this specialised field. For future coverage of VR and airlines, keep checking back with VRFocus.