The Business of Passenger Experience
Sticky 2Ku antennae will cost Gogo north of $25mm to repair or replace, and that's not the only challenge new CEO Oak Thorne faced as he presented his first quarterly earnings call for the inflight connectivity provider.
New seats, new screens and more live television took flight one JetBlue this week. The first of the restyled A320 planes is now in service, delivering upgraded amenities. And 12 extra seats on board.
It was only a matter of time before one of the “smart” luggage suppliers collapsed in the face of airlines banning their batteries in the baggage hold. Bluesmart was the leading contender for such and it delivered, ceasing operations this week and leaving many customers high and dry.
It has been flying for a while, but the high speed Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) service is now officially live on Qatar Airways. Some 130 777 and A350 aircraft will eventually carry the kit. And all passengers still get a free hour of connectivity on board.
The newest delivery to Alaska Airlines entered service last week with a special addition on board. Ship N927VA, an A321neo, is now flying throughout the Alaska Airlines network with Gogo’s 2Ku inflight internet service installed. This is the first Alaska Airlines aircraft to operate with the kit.
Commercial success in the inflight connectivity business is anything but easy. That isn't stopping newcomers from trying. Saudi Arabia's Taqnia Space group launched the UON offering earlier this month and it has potential. But like other offerings in the market there are questions about how well it can scale up to meet demand (both bandwidth and profits).
Qatar Airways is the latest airline to bring gate-to-gate connectivity online. Regulatory changes are now approved allowing the service to operate. The next couple years of growing passenger demand with minimal spare capacity should be interesting to watch play out.
Is Google poised to launch an inflight internet service? The company is rumored to be looking at a Nokia division to pick up the necessary hardware for such. Scratch beneath the surface, however, and more viable use cases emerge.
European charter specialist Hi Fly really is going to operate the A380. The company confirmed today that it will have the 471-seat aircraft in its fleet by mid-year. And it should be a pretty nice ride, too.
There's arguably no better way to assuage investors after roporting significant losses for 2017 than to report multiple new orders to start 2018. For Global Eagle the balance is a tough one, but the 300+ new planes added to the connectivity backlog is a nice bit of news for incoming CEO Josh Marks to announce.
