Vistara is making a bid to be the first Indian airline with inflight connectivity installed. The carrier is reportedly partnering with Nelco, a local satellite services provider, to bring the service online. Neither party is confirming the deal, though Indian regulators confirmed that applications were processed and permits issued.
PremCat
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.
Panasonic Avionics confirms Eutelsat 10B as second XTS satellite partner
Panasonic Avionics (PAC) plans a significant boost to its Ku-band satellite capacity from 2022. The company confirmed a contract for multiple gigahertz of capacity on both multi-beam payloads of the Eutelsat 10B satellite slated for launch in three years.
A new player in the race for inflight WiFi over India
The race to bring the first aircraft online in India took an interesting turn in recent weeks. While SpiceJet has talked about its plans to add the GX Aviation system from Inmarsat to its new 737 MAX aircraft other players have been less public about their efforts. But installations are underway to deliver a fleet-wide solution, potentially within a year.
Global Eagle signs with Turkish Airlines for inflight connectivity
Adding more than 100 Turkish Airlines planes to its inflight connectivity backlog is good news for Global Eagle. Perhaps more significant, however, is the potential for additional program growth that come from the partnerships it established to secure this Turkish Airlines deal.
Gogo talking Ka as growth opportunities abound
For a company that is now mostly known for its Ku-band inflight connectivity offering the idea of bringing Ka-band services online in parallel may appear somewhat incongruous. But for Gogo, the news out this morning that it is pitching Ka-band solutions to potential customers is, according to CEO Oakleigh Thorne, more about holding fast to its plans.
United Airlines’ 50-seat RJ refresh will not include IFE/C…Yet!
With the United Express ERJ-145 slated for a full interiors refresh starting in early 2020 is now time for entertainment and wifi to also take flight on the company’s smallest jets? It seems likely, even if that bit was not supposed to be public just yet.
Premiums poised to skyrocket as Eutelsat investigates anomaly in new 5B satellite
Eutelsat‘s recently launched 5B satellite suffered an incident related to one of its two solar panels. The company issued a brief statement on Thursday indicating it “is working to assess the potential impact on the performance of the satellite and will communicate on it as quickly as possible.” The satellite is slated to replace Eutelsat […]
Hawaiian pushes off inflight WiFi decision
Hawaiian Airlines will add inflight wifi to its fleet. Eventually. But not particularly soon. CEO Peter Ingram does not believe the technology is sufficiently mature to serve his airline’s customers, but has he missed out on viable solutions already on the market?