March 3, 2007 – SCOTTISH-based low-cost carrier Flyglobespan has selected the Mezzo turnkey handheld IFE service for its Boeing 737 and 767 flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow to the Mediterranean, the Canaries, the USA, Canada and South Africa.

Formed in 2004 as Mezzo Movies by three former executives of supermarket giant Tesco to bring proven retail best practice to inflight entertainment, Mezzo serves Leeds-based low-cost Jet2 and British transatlantic premium-only carrier Silverjet as well as Flyglobespan. Hardware for the Mezzo service is San Diego-based e.Digital’s eVU.

The Mezzo offering brings to Flyglobespan’s existing service package - which includes a premium cabin, seat selection and meal options - over 36 hours of BBC and US television comedy and dramas, world sport, children’s TV, music videos and a music CD library. Mezzo is supplying the carrier with provision and management of hardware, content, daily onboard operations, crew and customer communications, and back-office support.

“The Mezzo IFE service is another way to differentiate ourselves,” says a Flyglobespan spokesman. “But it was also important to us as a low-fares airline to select a partner that could give us the confidence that new ancillary profits could be generated from the service.”

Another three undisclosed airlines are offering the Mezzo service in pre-rollout form, according to executive director Martin Cunnison. “Airlines like the way we take away the headache of managing a complex supply chain to provide first-class portable IFE services,” he says. “We work on building strong relationships with partners such as the IFE Alliance and other major content distributors, and our sensible pricing approach of a single fixed cost per unit or user lets the airlines calculate their economic returns without the worry of any nasty surprises.”

Cunnison puts the total number of handheld IFE units currently in circulation at 12-16,000 from all manufacturers and expects to see this grow 400-500 per cent in the next few years: “We’re targeting a significant share of that market.”