IFE | Up in the Air // Oct 2026
- Stellar Entertainment has expanded its partnership with Azerbaijan Airlines through 2029, adding creative concept design, editorial production and inflight advertising sales to its existing content services.
- The new “At the Heart of the World” concept will showcase Azerbaijan’s landscapes, culture and identity through a year-round programme of creative themes.
- Azerbaijan Airlines is the first airline to use Panasonic MI Studio to deliver a full passenger-facing interface, enabling digital content and visual treatments to be refreshed between content loads.
Stellar Entertainment – an exhibitor at APEX FTE EXPO, Singapore, 18-19 November 2026 – has announced the expansion of its partnership with Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), extending its role beyond content provision to include creative concept design, editorial production and inflight advertising sales through to 2029.
The expanded partnership builds on Stellar’s appointment as Azerbaijan Airlines’ exclusive Content Service Provider in 2025 and will introduce a new creative concept for the airline’s inflight entertainment experience: “At the Heart of the World”.
The concept is designed to reflect Azerbaijan’s position at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, using the inflight entertainment interface to showcase the country’s landscapes, culture, identity and modern ambitions.
A year-round programme of creative themes will allow the experience to evolve around seasons, national celebrations, major events and destinations, creating an inflight environment that remains connected to Azerbaijan throughout the passenger journey.
The concept is initially launching on Panasonic Astrova, which entered commercial service with Azerbaijan Airlines earlier this year alongside Panasonic’s Modular Interactive platform.
Stellar is the first content service provider to design and deliver a full passenger-facing interface through Panasonic MI Studio. The platform enables layouts, visual treatments, landing pages and featured collections to be refreshed between content loads, allowing campaigns, new routes and seasonal promotions to be brought onto passengers’ screens more quickly.
The creative concept will also be adapted across Azerbaijan Airlines’ wider inflight entertainment systems, providing a more consistent digital passenger experience across the fleet.
“When we started working with AZAL last year, the ambition was always bigger than a content catalogue. This next step lets us shape the whole experience, the look, the feel, the story it tells,” said Sam Allen, Chief Executive Officer at Stellar Entertainment. “Being first to build a passenger interface through MI Studio means we can keep that experience alive and evolving, flight after flight.”
Jonathan DeOliveira, Director of Customer Experience at Azerbaijan Airlines, added: “Our inflight entertainment is more than part of the onboard experience. For many passengers, it is also their first introduction to Azerbaijan. Together with Stellar, we are creating an experience that brings Azerbaijan’s landscapes, culture and identity to life throughout the year.”
The expanded partnership reflects a wider ambition to make inflight entertainment a more dynamic component of the passenger experience, combining content, digital flexibility and Azerbaijani identity across every flight and route.
