Here Are the Winners of the 2017 APEX Awards
And the winner of the Best Inflight Connectivity Innovation award is... definitely the kind of topic that AvGeeks will appreciate. This and a dozen other awards were presented on Monday night at the Airline Passenger Experience Association APEX Awards in Long Beach, California.
For those not familiar with it, APEX is the only non-profit trade organization in the airline industry. It comprises some of the world's top airlines, industry suppliers, major media groups and aviation industry leaders. Its aim: to elevate the passenger experience while moving the industry forward with new initiatives and regulations.
How do the awards work? Each category was judged by nearly 30 APEX members in the first round in order to select three finalists. Then, a final round of judging was completed with a live judging panel composed of industry media experts. And the host at the event this year? None other than TPG himself.
Here are the winners of the 2017 APEX Awards:
Best Cabin Innovation — Airbus Operations, ReTrolley
Best Inflight Connectivity Innovation — Inmarsat Aviation & Deutsche Telekom AG, European Aviation Network
Best Inflight Entertainment Innovation — IAG, Black Swan & Massive, LEVEL Portal
Best Original Audio — Air New Zealand
Best Original Video — Emirates Product Video
Best Passenger Comfort Innovation — Airspace Single Aisle Interior
Best Personalization Innovation — SITAONAIR
Best Video Curation — Virgin Australia's IFE
In addition to the APEX Award winners above, APEX also honored a few other categories with its Passenger Choice Awards — tallied from passenger-submitted data on the Tripit app. APEX awards these awards in five categories.

Here are the winners of the 2017 Passenger Choice Awards:
Best Wi-Fi — JetBlue
Best Entertainment — Emirates
Best Cabin Service — Qatar Airways
Best Seat Comfort — Virgin America
Best Food & Beverage — Qatar Airways
Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 APEX Awards.
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