Airbus will add two additional airlines to its HBCplus inflight connectivity portfolio. The deals, announced at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024 last week in Hamburg include a couple firsts for the program.
While the airline customer is unnamed, Airbus announced that the first single-aisle order for HBCplus is now confirmed. Those planes will see SES as the service provider for Ka-band capacity, also a first for the program.
Philippine Airlines will see the system installed on its upcoming A350-1000 fleet; that aircraft order was announced in 2023. Viasat‘s GX satellites, acquired via the Inmarsat buyout, will provide the network for these planes.
PAL is a long time customer of GX, having signed its first deal in 2017. It was also an early adopter for line-fit installations of that solution, with the JetWave hardware arriving active from the factory beginning in 2018. Now the company will shift to the ThinAir Ka2517 from ThinKom, but still take the planes as online from day one. The carrier’s A330 fleet also began installation of connectivity powered by the GX constellation earlier this year.
Separately, Airbus confirmed reports from earlier in May that Hughes Networks was in the process of becoming a capacity provider in the HBCplus program. That effort will start with Ka-band, but could include Ku-band as well in the future.
More news from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2024
- Expliseat launches new economy class seat with Hop! E190 contract
- Back to basics: New business class seat designs vie for Crystal Cabin Award honors
- Upstarts get creative in economy class for 2024 Crystal Cabin Awards
- In search of sleep: innovation targets snoozers for 2024 Crystal Cabin Award
- AIX Preview: New IFE ideas set to fly
- Increased supplier option a Plus
- Anuvu validates dual-panel Ka-band antenna with in-flight testing
- IndiGo taps AirFi for on-board entertainment trial
- Condor taps Intelsat for inflight internet
- Intelsat, JAL partner on LEO/GEO connectivity
- Eclipse snags 50+ plane connectivity retrofit deal
- Thales FlytEDGE delivers a new paradigm for in-flight entertainment
- AJet to offer inflight internet via TCI
- Introducing Helix, the new single-aisle economy class seat from Collins Aerospace
- Feeling the squeeze: 10-abreast A350 moves closer to mainstream
- Dropping out of the IFE race
- Inflight Dublin snags order-to-seat deal with AirAsia
- Starlink sees Qatar Airways, airBaltic both online by end of year, architecture changes beyond
- Southwest shows off customizations for new Recaro seats
- Airbus adds to HBCplus backlog
- ThinKom sees trio of innovations driving growth
- Collins, Panasonic launch Maya: next-gen business class concept seat
- SES Open Orbits brings multi-constellation, multi-orbit Ka-band connectivity together on a global scale
- Shifting install sequencing
- AirBaltic takes Pratt to task for engine issues
- ESAs, China, and the future of inflight connectivity
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