The Monocle Minute

More than a century since 11 passengers on an Aeromarine Airways plane excitedly watched the first in-flight movie – a short promotional film called Howdy Chicago – are we witnessing the end of this travel tradition? The introduction of wi-fi on planes has made staying connected easier than ever, albeit with pesky outages depending on your route (for some reason, the signal always drops over the Bay of Biscay, off the west coast of France). Today most people board clutching their mobile device, onto which they have downloaded their favourite films and TV shows.

There’s a cost factor for airlines to consider. Onboard monitors are expensive to maintain and are often so unreliable that they periodically need to be reset by cabin crew. Turkish Airlines will soon provide free wi-fi to all passengers on every flight. Finnair, British Airways and Singapore Airlines now offer free messaging for travellers if they sign up for their respective loyalty schemes. This encourages those onboard to use their own devices for the duration of the flight, rather than rely on the larger screens installed on the plane.

In the race to be as sustainable as possible, companies are also seeking to reduce aircraft weight. By shrinking the size of in-flight monitors or removing them entirely, airlines can ensure that their planes weigh less and don’t need as much fuel. As in years gone by, the aircraft of the future might have tiny monitors overhead, used to display cabin safety messages or maps showing where you are and at what height.

Cutting onboard entertainment might be better for trimming overheads but what do airlines – and passengers – stand to lose? There’s an art to curating a great line-up of onboard films, music or documentaries that speak to the brand and destination, and sometimes lead passengers to fresh discoveries. And there’s a joy in knowing that what you watch or listen to has been curated on your behalf. But it seems that, sadly, in the future you’ll have to provide your own in-flight entertainment. As a passenger, you’ll be left to your own devices.

Paul Charles is the CEO of luxury travel consultancy The PC Agency and a former director of Virgin Atlantic. For more stories on aviation and transport, pick up a copy of Monocle’s mobility-themedSeptember issue, which is out now. Orsubscribeso you never miss an issue.

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) kicks off today in Beijing. At least 50 African heads of state and government will take part in China’s largest diplomatic event in years. As Western curbs loom on exports of electric vehicles and solar panels, this will be the country’s opportunity to urge African nations to take more of its goods.

However, incomplete Chinese-funded infrastructure projects and an unfulfilled pledge from the previous summit in 2021 to buy $300bn of African goods has weakened Beijing’s position. China also faces competition from rival nations stepping up their efforts to woo the continent, including the US, UK, Italy, Russia and South Korea, all of which are eyeing resources and influence in the region. With Africa’s huge geopolitical importance increasingly apparent, the continent should leverage this in its negotiations with China.

For more on the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation tune in to“The Globalist”, on Monocle Radio from 07.00am London time.

Maison & Objet, one of the world’s premier furniture fairs, kicks off at the Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre in Paris tomorrow. But the 80,000-strong crowd expected for the September edition of the biannual fair will have far more than just the wares at the trade hall to take in, as Paris Design Week will be running concurrently. The 10-day fringe event also starts tomorrow and features design-focused exhibitions in addition to vernissages taking place across the city’s galleries and showrooms.

Maison & Objet will provide shuttle buses between the fair and city, and has produced comprehensive Paris Design Week guides. This partnership is significant given that many trade fairs seek to separate themselves from fringe events – the Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone’s partnership, for example, is a famously disorganised affair. But in marrying up the fair in the trade hall and the events beyond it, the French capital will transform itself into a global design capital. Other trade hall-focused design fairs might want to consider such partnerships too.

We discuss the art of the film poster with Tony Nourmand, editor and publisher of ‘1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times’. We also check in with film critic Karen Krizanovich about how the press is paying close attention to the Venice Film Festival this year and celebrate Stockholm and Vilnius-based ‘Playground’ magazine.