Fife company's new product puts movies and games in the hands of airline passengers.
DUNFERMLINE software specialist Avi-IT is flying high with its new inflight entertainment product. Based on tablet devices like the iPad, the software, which allows passengers to access a massive range of movies, television programmes and games, has been developed over the last three years.
A couple of thousand were first supplied as a Windows-based tablet but the advent of the iPad has seen interest take-off, with 1000 units heading for a trial with one of the world's major international airlines and a further 3000 ordered by Australian airline Jetstar.
"We're the only company in the UK that designs, builds and supplies this type of product," said managing director David Brown. The units are attractive to the airlines as an additional revenue stream from an extra service that passengers can buy during the flight. Three hundred are currently in use with the low-cost airline Jet2.
Avi-IT, which has been going for just over six years after a management buy-out, employs around 20 people, mostly in Dunfermline but also in the USA and England. And David Brown is confident about the future."We're on a real roll at the moment," he said. "There's a lot of interest in our products and we are recruiting steadily."
Avi-IT specialises in the aviation industry and its two other main products are software that enables aircraft engineers to access vital maintenance information and Archimedes, a product that collects data about an aircraft's performance and reduces costs for the airline.
Avi-IT's latest success has come as a direct result of support from Business Gateway Fife.
In order to show potential customers how the inflight entertainment product would work in practice, the specialist company needed additional funding to supply demonstration models.
"A grant from Business Gateway allowed us to buy a number of tablet devices as demonstration equipment and being able to show them working led directly to airlines committing to buy them," said managing director David Brown.
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