Japan Airlines was an early adopter of inflight Wi-Fi internet service on board. It was also an early convert to the idea of delivering that service for free to domestic passengers. And now the airline is ready to upgrade the offering. The company will upgrade approximately 50 aircraft in its “domestic” 737 and 767 fleet to the 2Ku solution from Intelsat.
JAL was Intelsat’s first non-U.S. commercial aviation customer, and we look forward to continuing to support JAL’s market-leading inflight connectivity service in Japan where their guests enjoy free service. – Dave Bijur, SVP Commercial for Intelsat Commercial Aviation
The two companies announced the deal last week at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2023 in Hamburg. It comes on the heels of the companies’ plans to install the 2Ku solution on the E190 fleet of its J-Air subsidiary, confirmed in January.
“We are proud to have been among the first airlines in the world to offer free service for all passengers flying on our domestic routes starting in 2017 and look forward to the greater speed and reliability benefits the new 2Ku terminals will bring,” noted Mitsuko Tottori, senior vice president of Customer Experience at Japan Airlines.
Stretching their legs
The JAL fleet will take advantage of improved performance on the 2Ku terminal, powered by ThinKom‘s ThinAir Ku3030 antenna. It will also benefit from a boost in available Ku-band capacity, thanks to JSAT-1C’s increased capacity in the region. That JSAT coverage could pay further dividends in the years ahead for these planes. Intelsat’s Dave Bijur suggested that, while the planes are focused on domestic operations today, “we’re going to start to see some more overwater operations, to Korea and other regional international markets,” in the future.
More news from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2023
- Crystal Cabin Awards short list: 80+ designs that will change the way you fly
- Finalists for 2023 Crystal Cabin Awards represent the future of passenger comfort
- ThinKom, Kontron partner for multi-constellation, multi-orbit, multi-modem IFC terminal
- Stellar Blu secures Boeing line-fit agreement
- Seamless finalizes QoE metrics, certifies first partner
- Recaro introduces PL3810, next generation of premium economy
- Jazeera saves weight, increases cabin capacity with Expliseat TiSeat E2
- Hughes signs on as OneWeb partner, launches new IFC options for airlines
- Recaro’s Xtend option allows exit row legroom shrink
- Aurora single-aisle lie-flat business class seats unveiled by Collins Aerospace
- Air Canada plans more free Wi-Fi with regional jet upgrades
- Unum Two launches as forward-facing business class option
- Collins brings galley inserts online with low-cost retrofit option
- Airbus HBCplus Ku-band providers selected
- ThinKom Plus launches, with hybrid LEO/GEO offering
- Air4All, Delta Flight Products team for wheelchair seating on board
- Testing the next step for LEO-based IFC
- JAL plans boost for inflight Wi-Fi service
- Airspace coming to A220 family
- InteliSence aims to boost premium cabin service with seat monitoring, analysis
- Seeking understanding in the IFC world
A favor to ask while you're here...
Did you enjoy the content? Or learn something useful? Or generally just think this is the type of story you'd like to see more of? Consider supporting the site through a donation (any amount helps). It helps keep me independent and avoiding the credit card schlock.
Leave a Reply