Saudia, NSG (Finally) Confirm Inflight Internet Partnership

Saudia officially has a new inflight internet offering, six months after launching its pilot program. The program brings free wi-fi to passengers, powered by Neo Space Group, Saudi Arabia’s leading commercial space services company.

This partnership allows us to elevate the onboard experience while reinforcing our broader digital ecosystem, supporting our long-term competitiveness and sustained growth in an increasingly connected aviation landscape.

– H.E. Eng. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group

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The program is understood to be the culmination of a deal announced in mid-2024, where Saudia was rumored to be the launch customer for the SES Open Orbits offering. It is unclear if the scope has expanded since that announcement to move beyond the single-aisle fleet, though that appears unlikely at this time.

The NSG Skywaves IFC platform blends technologies from several partners to deliver a seamless, high-performance network for airlines. The company purchased Display Interactive outright to further enhance the passenger-facing user interface and portal management. Beyond that, Eclipse Global Connectivity will lead equipment integration and certification for retrofitted aircraft. This includes ThinKom‘s ThinAir Ka2517 antenna.

Skywaves relies on the SES Open Orbits GEO and MEO constellations to deliver satellite capacity on a global scale (in addition to its own Ka-band satellite covering the Kingdom and some surrounding areas.

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Try, Try Again

Saudia has not been shy about its IFC desires. But the carrier has also never quite pulled it off, despite a few high-profile prior false starts.

A relatively broad deployment of the SITAONAIR solution in the mid-teens offered services, though nothing particularly impressive performance-wise.

From there the carrier was the first (and only) customer for Taqnia Space’s UON inflight internet service. It got to the point of fitting an A320 in November 2018, but never moved past that short-lived trial. Taqnia bailed on the market in 2021.

That was followed by an Inmarsat GX commitment for some of the A321neo family planes. Time passed, however, and now NSG is in the driver’s seat.

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Next up was a trial with SkyFive’s ATG service as it was installed in the Kingdom. That, too, made it on to aircraft but never to a full deployment.

Given the significant deployment already achieved with the NSG platform, this one appears to be real.

All in the Family

Speaking to the deal, new NSG CEO Eng. Haithem Alfaraj added, “This partnership embodies the spirit of Saudi progress. As a PIF company, we take pride in delivering advanced, sovereign connectivity at scale. Aviation is a strategic priority for NSG, and this milestone brings outstanding high-speed connectivity to passengers across the Kingdom and around the world.”

This is the second contract announced by NSG for a “cousin” company to operate with its services on board. NSG is owned by Saudi’s PIF, as are both Saudia and Riyadh Air. The latter signed for service on its A321XLR fleet earlier this year.

Which is not to say simply being a PIF company guarantees the cooperation. Riyadh Air will launch long-haul service with Viasat, for example. And there are rumors of other deals being made at the airline group level outside the PIF connections. But, it is also easy to see how that relationship helps influence some deals.

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