National carrier South African Airways (SAA) and technology giant Samsung Electronics South Africa have partnered to launch new in-flight entertainment for business class passengers on its regional flights of less than four hours.

The entertainment, which would be made available on Samsung HF10.1 tablets, would include movies, series, documentaries, magazines and newspapers.

SAA’s flights to Mauritius was the first route chosen to introduce the new in-flight entertainment and would start on September 22.

“We have quite a few routes that are under three hours and this particular route had many flights during the week – sometimes more than twice a day,” SAA global marketing and product development head Kim Thipe told Engineering News Online, adding that the offering would be rolled out on other routes t in the near future.

This would include flights to Nairobi, Kenya, and Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The two companies had started a product development partnership two years ago, with trials carried out over nine months.

Samsung Electronics South Africa corporate marketing and communications director Dr Michelle Potgieter added that the company was pleased to partner with the leading African airline for the past 13 years.

Potgieter pointed out that the partners had initially planned for the initiative to be rolled out on all SAA’s African flights within six months after forming the partnership; however, that had proved more challenging than anticipated.

“There are lots of difficulties, several stakeholders to consider, from content development to the crew,” she noted, adding that the cabin crew on these flights needed additional training.

Further, she explained that, in terms of choosing the content, the companies realised that “passengers today are quite picky.”

Potgieter added that Samsung first launched the tablets with just movies, but the trials proved that more content would be needed.