The beginnings of Project Sunrise and extra leg room for the Kiwis. Plus more wifi (maybe) coming in China and another loyalty top tier moves further away.
Get these stories and more in this week’s PaxEx Update.
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Lufthansa Technik dives in to the Chinese inflight connectivity market
Announcements related to inflight connectivity in China are hard to process. Vendors continue to sign agreements and push out releases but forward progress in terms of getting hardware on planes remains stalled. This week Lufthansa Technik (LHT) joined the field with an announcement of an offering for airlines in China. But, like the others, it is unclear what the timeline for implementation will be or where things will go from here.
New challengers at every level: PaxEx Update 2019-08-30
New cabins on the horizon for economy and business class, short-haul and long; might travel get more comfortable rather than less? Plus some good news for travelers looking to get online in the sky or earn free travel with their points.
A look inside as the MC-21 aims to compete with Airbus, Boeing
The test aircraft are flying. The order book is growing. The Irkut MC-21-300 will compete with the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo for airline customers in the next decade and beyond. And, for the first time ever, we now know what the cabin interior will look like.
Global Eagle considers maritime spin-off
Could Global Eagle benefit from divesting its cruise connectivity business? Also, what is the impact of the 737 MAX grounding and who might the big new customer announced this week be? Lots of juicy insight from the Q1 earnings out this week.
United, Aeromexico extend Viasat inflight connectivity deals
Viasat added a pair of new orders from existing customers United Airlines and Aeromexico today, continuing its growth in the inflight connectivity market.
Norwegian comes to Canada, eh!
Norwegian Airlines is once again launching its winter service between North America and the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. And this time around Canada is part of the plans. The airline will launch seasonal service from Montréal to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique in late October as it continues to seek seasonal profits in the islands.
Streaming to the Electronic Flight Bag: Norwegian, Astronics push forward with webFB
Processing more aircraft performance data faster means cost savings for airlines and a better ride for passengers. Norwegian and Astronics teamed up to deliver content to pilots’ tablets through a streaming solution that improves data processing both in real-time and over the long term. It also demonstrates a potential weakness in long-bandied plans for broader use of inflight wifi connectivity for aircraft operations data.