The Business of Passenger Experience
When senior airline executives are willing to trash their vendors in public that's usually bad news for everyone involved. Welcome to the inflight connectivity world, where airlines are almost as unhappy as the passengers struggling to stay online in the sky. Alas, only part of that frustration is grounded in reality.
One lucky 737 MAX 8 BBJ customer will soon be flying with the newest triband connectivity radome available in the business aviation market. The sleek tailmount kit is the latest from Technik’s in-house innovation team, part of a transition the company is making towards developing more cool systems rather than just installing those designed by other companies.
Looking for some quality misinformation about the current state of the inflight connectivity market? A recent marketing video from Inmarsat is a great place to start, assuming you don’t mind a whole lot of misleading details and partial truths.
It worked, exactly as advertised. That was the main takeaway from last week’s media demo flight of the new SAS high-speed inflight internet service on the carrier’s single-aisle fleet. The part where it is free for many passengers is great news, too.
Spirit Airlines will add inflight wifi as it seeks to improve the onboard passenger experience. The carrier's full fleet will carry Thales FlytLIVE hardware by the end of Summer 2019.
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.
A spike in aviation-related revenue is good news for Inmarsat but not all revenue is created equally. There's more to this story than just the raw numbers.
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.
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.
