APEX FTE EXPO 2026 Agenda Overview

Modern IFEC has evolved from static catalogues into intelligent digital ecosystems, leveraging AI recommendation engines and hybrid streaming to provide real-time, context-aware engagement. By partnering with studios like Netflix and Disney, airlines are rethinking their strategies, using data analytics to curate content and integrate targeted e-commerce. This in turn is creating a continuous, personalised connection that drives ancillary revenue and passenger loyalty. This two-part session showcases how some of these successes are shaping the next-gen passenger experience – the sky really is the limit.

Viasat, speaker tbc

In this insightful session, discover how to successfully implement strategic frameworks for scalable AI adoption across live operations.

The moderator will showcase real-world deployment blueprints, examining how governance, data protection, and operational frameworks must evolve to safely integrate AI. This scene-setting presentation will then lead into a dynamic panel discussion that explores its implementation.

Gain actionable insights into managing risk, maintaining system resilience, and preparing frontline teams for tech-driven change. You’ll leave with a practical roadmap for aligning operating models, securing data workflows, and unlocking measurable efficiency gains that significantly improve the passenger experience.

Moderator’s scene-setting presentation on the frameworks, regulation etc for AI.

Best practice-led panel discussion 

As passenger expectations evolve, the intersection of technology and compliance defines the future of onboard hospitality. This two-part IFSA session, beginning with a scene-setting presentation before moving into a panel discussion, explores how leading airlines translate data analytics and AI into highly personalised, wellness-focused inflight hospitality, while maintaining rigorous operational safety across Asia. This two-part session seeks to challenge conventional thinking by exploring the role of hospitality as a strategic business asset rather than simply a service function, and raise critical questions that every airline leader should be asking.

A special scene-setting presentation from IFSA will ponder the question: What business are airlines really in? Is it transportation, hospitality, or both? Through comparisons with other industries faced with similar conundrums, we ask: what do we do well at and where do we need to improve? Monetising brand experience is more than just picking the right destinations, reducing prices, or successfully upselling ancillaries. Airlines struggle to translate hospitality into measurable commercial value. Why? And does it make a difference?

The presenter will also explore how the value of hospitality has evolved, why it has become increasingly difficult to quantify, and what that means for revenue. The challenges of investment decisions and long-term brand performance are addressed, presenting a case for executives to understand the true value of better F&B and service, and defining concerns should this be ignored.

Our expert panel of industry executives will then discuss practical approaches, share diverse perspectives, and explore how airlines can address one of the industry’s most important strategic challenges.

Panel discussion: Practical solutions to airline hospitality challenges (40 mins)

With so much attention focused on the game-changing role of AI, autonomous vehicles and advanced robotics – have we lost sight of one of the most important aspects of effective digitisation: winning employee buy-in for change? What is the performance enhancing power of properly engaging our staff in the selection and deployment of exciting new technologies? How do we overcome resistance to change and reshape mindsets to see technologies as friend not foe in future job security and satisfaction? And, most fundamentally of all, what more needs to be done to create a better gender balance?

Our all-female airline Power Panel encompassing on the ground and in the air operations unpicks these crucial topics.

With air transport passenger numbers in the region set to rise at pace over the next few years, discover how some of APAC’s most innovative and inspiring airport expansion strategies are scaling up their operations to meet future challenges – and bringing air transport passengers with them. This case study-led session will start with an exclusive presentation and scene-setter about Changi’s Terminal X – for anyone unable to join yesterday’s tour.

As Changi expands its physical footprint, physical infrastructure alone cannot handle tomorrow’s traffic. Jeffrey Loke reveals how Changi’s innovative response to this challenge, via its newly launched “Terminal X” innovation hub and digital campus, is creating a blueprint for next-gen airport expansion; a place where the airport and its partners work together under one roof. Is this the future of physical airport expansion?

Satellite strategy has shifted from being a supplementary amenity to a mission-critical digital backbone. By orchestrating next-generation multi-network and multi-orbit architectures, airlines are working alongside an ecosystem of low-latency LEO satellites, high-throughput GEO and MEO constellations, enterprise network integrators, and flat-panel antenna manufacturers to deliver fibre-like connectivity in the air.

Airlines like Delta and Qatar Airways are leveraging this diverse supplier web for seamless gate-to-gate streaming and real-time operational intelligence, including AI diagnostics and crew communication. This infrastructure is driving ancillary revenue through sponsored tiers and digital marketplaces while maintaining rigorous data governance.

Reliable connectivity – once the preserve of premium travellers – is now an essential part of the passenger experience. By integrating advanced satellite constellations with managed ground networks, the modern aviation industry is rapidly transforming the cabin into a high-performance environment, fostering deeper passenger loyalty and sustainable economic value at altitude.

Attendees will gain a clear blueprint for navigating multi-vendor IFC contracts, optimizing cross-network switching, and maximizing ancillary revenue from the cabin-connected ecosystem.

Asia is consistently bucking the global airline startup investment trend. In this quickfire discussion, our panel will investigate what is driving this and why, how AI and fintech are changing the dynamic, the risks and opportunities across the region, and where the proven successes and collaborative potential lie. What can other parts of the world learn from this?

Hear about some of the latest baggage innovations shaping future travel, and gain an update on the pioneering BOOST initiative.

Accessible design is rapidly transitioning from a regulatory requirement to a key differentiator of premium travel, aligning with APEX World Class principles. Airlines are transforming inflight entertainment and connectivity by integrating features like voice navigation, screen readers, and customisable interfaces to empower passengers and promote independent usage. This is being driven by global regulatory momentum, while data-driven insights and personal device integration is increasing passenger satisfaction and loyalty. Ultimately, accessibility is becoming a fundamental part of airline IFEC strategy and a key strategic driver towards a more seamless passenger experience – with airlines in APAC leading the way towards a smarter cabin.

In this session, hear from some of the region’s trailblazers in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at 35,000 feet.

More speakers and details to be announced

Leading Asian full-service airlines are treating seating as a critical competitive advantage by adopting modular cabin platforms that integrate privacy, digital connectivity, and passenger comfort. These next-generation designs prioritise four key areas – passenger experience, digital integration, industrial scalability, and regional manufacturing – to balance luxury with efficiency.

This session reviews the top three seating programmes that will influence the Asian full-service airline fleet from 2026 to 2030, and the five seat manufacturers with established Asian presence through either their own manufacturing and/or assembly and/or support capabilities in the region. Furthermore, this session will highlight how current cabin architectures can provide both passenger experience excellence and dependable industrial execution at scale.

Expliseat, speaker TBC

A series of 5-minute quick-fire pitches

Details to follow

Today’s airline catering leaders must navigate increasingly complex operational challenges – from food safety and regulatory compliance to waste reduction, sustainability, and cost management.

This two-part session explores how the industry’s evolving World Food Safety Guidelines can serve as more than a compliance tool, helping airlines build more efficient, resilient, and commercially successful catering operations.

Following a presentation update on the Guidelines, the panel discussion that follows invites expert perspectives from airlines and catering providers to examine how operational excellence can reduce waste, improve consistency, strengthen sustainability initiatives, and ultimately enhance both the passenger experience and airline performance.

Scene-setting presentation: Update on the World Food Safety Guidelines (20 mins)

Panel discussion (40 mins)