Last week we covered how the US Air Force is utilizing virtual reality flight simulators to recruit the next crop of service men. This week we get a glimpse of a different type of flight simulator, one that is a bit more business class.

At the ITB Travel Trade Show in Berlin earlier this year, Lufthansa partnered up with technology company 3Spin to create the world’s first interactive 360-degree virtual reality movie filmed on a commercial Boeing 747 aircraft.

Visitors who visited the Lufthansa booth at the trade show were ushered into a round chair, made to look like part of a jet engine on the plane. Donning an Oculus Rift DK2 headset and holding a Sony Move Motion controller, attendees found themselves virtually sitting in a business class seat on a Lufthansa flight. Flight attendants greeted them, served them food, and users were able to utilize the motion controllers to use virtual objects within the experience.

The virtual experience ends with attendees sitting on a San Francisco beach where they could see a virtual post card in their hand. Once attendees took of the headset they were given an actual printed San Francisco postcard that they could then mail to friends or family.

With over 2,000 attendees able to experience the Lufthansa virtual reality flight at the show, not only did this look like an engaging experience for users, it was able to highlight Lufthansa service and travel destinations as key objectives.

We have reported quite frequently on how basically every automotive show now has some manufacturer showing off their models in virtual reality. It now appears the travel industry is catching on and we expect quite more of these experiences to come out of development. The immersive nature of virtual reality pairs quite nicely with the tourism industry where consumers want to be inspired to travel to new destinations around the world by sight, sounds, and even touch in this case.

Image Credit: 3Spin