GEC Plc’s GEC-Marconi InFlight Systems Inc, the company set up to complete development of and to market the Plessey In-flight Entertainment System, has finally announced that elusive first contract it has been promising for a year or two now – and it is a monster. Customer, as expected, is UAL Corp’s United Airlines, and the contract, the largest in the airline’s history apart from those for engines and airframes, is valued at $100m. The order was won by the UK company’s US arm in Bellevue, Washington, which will provide United’s fleet of international Boeing Co aircraft with interactive video systems with liquid crystal displays in each seat-back. It was described in CI No 1,510.
