The Business of Passenger Experience
The market for antennae with a proven track record of successful connections to LEO satellite constellations continues to grow. This week's news brings another Ka-band supplier into the fold.
The new A350-900 fleet for SAS will fly with the Inmarsat GX Aviation inflight wifi product when they are delivered beginning at the end of 2019. The full A350 fleet for the carrier is expected online by 2023.
Eutelsat and Inmarsat are both claiming victories this afternoon in France as the Conseil d’Etat, the country's high court, issued a ruling regarding the issuance of licenses for the European Aviation Network (EAN) inflight wifi connectivity solution. It is the latest in the ongoing legal saga over the "complimentary ground component" of the network.
The inflight connectivity community has suffered from years of disappointment as promise after promise from manufacturers failed to yield electronically steered phased array (ESAs) antennae for commercial aircraft. Phasor and others appeared poised to break that streak, with the news at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg more optimistic than not. An update from one inflight connectivity provider this week calls some of that optimism into question, however.
More passengers can spend more flight time online for free thanks to the latest inflight connectivity update from Norwegian Airlines. The carrier announced today that all of its connected aircraft now offer the service gate-to-gate rather than only above 10,000 feet.
As the network buildout enters the home stretch SmartSky’s sales efforts continue apace. Honeywell Aerospace signed on as a value-added reseller for the SmartSky air-to-ground inflight connectivity solution this week.
Spanish LCC Evelop is the latest airline to get online in the sky. The carrier officially introduced its inflight WiFi connectivity service today.
The new name – it is now officially the SpaceJet M90 – does not really matter for the future of the MRJ. But a new interior and revised scope-compliant model might just be enough to win over customers for the manufacturer.
Can Hawaiian Airlines convert an onboard datalink into real cash savings for the operation? That’s the holy grail of promises from satellite network operators and the carrier believes its recent invesment in the Pacelab Flight Profile Optimizer (FPO) solution can deliver.
Upgraded seats, inflight entertainment and free, high-speed internet service officially took flight today for all-business class airline La Compagnie. The French airline’s first A321neo aircraft now operates scheduled flights between Paris and Newark.
