Pinch-and-zoom and panning gesture controls familiar to smartphone and tablet users the world over are now availalbe to the flight deck for the first time in a commercial aircraft. Airbus and Thales delivered the first certified and equipped plane to China Eastern, kicking off a new generation of interactive experiences for pilots.
OpEd: Muilenburg finally booted from Boeing
They’re calling it a resignation for some reason, but Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was fired over the weekend. His departure, effective immediately, is the latest fallout in what has proven to be a very challenging year for the company.
ZIPAir brings a basic cabin configuration to life
Fully flat beds are coming to the Asian LCC market in mid-2020. But that’s about the only thing exciting in the new ZIPAir cabin configuration unveiled last week. And some of the finer details straddle the line between disappointing and concerning.
Evelop taps Inflight VR for premium passenger entertainment
Some passengers on Spanish leisure carrier evelop! have a new inflight entertainment option on board. The Turista Plus (premium) cabin on the carrier’s A350s is now stocked with InflightVR headsets to help entertain passengers traveling between Spain and the Caribbean.
Gilat delivers a successful Ka-band ESA test flight with Honeywell, Telesat
Finally some good news worth celebrating in the ESA space. Gilat’s new kit went flying on Honeywell’s 757 and successfully linked with a Telesat GEO Ka-band satellite.
Antenna woes derail Spirit’s WiFi installation efforts
More troubles for the Spirit Airlines inflight wifi program came to light today. Antenna issues with the Thales FlytLIVE kit will require the few existing installations to be replaced and tested anew before the full fleet deployment resumes.
Wheelchair accessibility regulations to be updated with Department of Transportation proposal
The US Department of Transportation is finally poised to take action related to wheelchair-bound passengers on single-aisle aircraft. While any progress is good news, the limited scope of this effort leaves much to be desired.
More bandwidth coming for Ka-band inflight connectivity
Gaining access to more radio spectrum for inflight wifi connectivity is a rare event. A recent agreement by the ITU that boosts the available Ka-band satellite frequency range 400% is a massive win that should begin to pay off in mid-2020.
Bamboo Airways (maybe) delivers the "value" carrier promise
Bamboo Airways (mostly) operates a fleet of single-aisle Airbus A320 family planes. It is a mishmash of configurations and arrangements. Still, it is a mostly positive experience on board, one that makes flying with Bamboo pleasurable.
Nigeria reported to cut off Turkish Airlines
Delayed baggage is a fact of life in the airline world. But forr Turkish Airlines it also may mean getting cut off from Nigeria as passengers, and now the national regulator, are not too happy with recent performance.