The Turkish Airlines A321 fleet is now ready for a new WiFi solution on board. The carrier and in-flight connectivity provider Anuvu announced receipt of certification for the Airconnect Global Ku inflight connectivity (IFC) system on the type from European regulators.
The joint effort of Anuvu, Profen, and our partners at Turkish Airlines and Turkish Technic is a testament to how high-performing teams can overcome obstacles. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Turkish Airlines, providing our Airconnect Global Ku IFC system for the Airbus A321 family, and in conjunction with Anuvu and Profen’s ground teleport infrastructure, they can deliver to passengers the most reliable and high-performing connectivity.
– Mike Pigott, Anuvu’s Executive Vice President Connectivity
Certification on the A321 follows similar certification on the 737 family five months ago. This STC is the first secured in-house by Anuvu for installation on single-aisle Airbus aircraft.
The STC covers installation of the Anuvu satellite connectivity kit on board in partnership with hardware from local partners Turkish Technic and Profen. Including the new partners in the STC process added complexity to the deal, signed in late 2019, but Global Eagle expects that additional opportunities could open up thanks to working with telco and technical partners on the ground in Turkey. Company CEO Josh Marks previously explained to PaxEx.Aero:
There’s growth opportunity for us, but first we have to get into and give them the best, the experience that their passengers want. And become a very, very good partner to them. And then in our discussions with them we have several avenues that we can explore together.
Some of those opportunities could come in the form of other airlines signing on for the service. Or expansion of service with Turkish.
Global Eagle’s strategy has been to find an anchor customer in a region and then layer in additional airlines and aircraft, taking advantage of contracted Ku-band satellite capacity and coverage footprints. In Europe this includes Norwegian‘s 737NG fleet, the Air France A320 family and LOT’s 737 MAX. Much of the Turkish route map extending from its Istanbul hub into Europe is already covered by the satellites in that area. For flights headed south into Africa or the Middle East Global Eagle can rely on capacity contracted for its FlyDubai contract to deliver the connections with minimal incremental cost.
Indeed, despite building out and demonstrating a Ka-band solution in recent years, Global Eagle’s success remains in the Ku-band space. And maybe that changes with the MicroGEO constellation planned for the years ahead. But, for now, expect these Ku connections to drive the company’s IFC fortunes.
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