Passenger service units in an aircraft are equipped with a passenger interface and supply adapter (10). Each adapter includes an individual processor (14) which is programmable independently of the aircraft central control through a programming input. The programmable interface (10) permits controlling passenger service components in the passenger cabin such as lamps in a cabin lighting system, a public address system, and so forth, directly by the interface (10) independently of the aircraft central control. The interface (10) with its own individual processor (14) and memory (15) is connected through a databus (11) to the aircraft central control (12), for example, for remote programming of the interface and for reporting the module's activities to the aircraft central control. The interface (10) reduces the memory capacity requirements for the aircraft central control and permits the individual programming of each passenger service unit also independently of any other passenger service unit thereby avoiding retesting of the entire cabin system when for example only one passenger service unit is reprogrammed.