When it comes to inflight connectivity growth opportunity China is hard to ignore. It is a massive market, but one with almost no short-haul aircraft carrying Wi-Fi hardware on board. And despite repeated promises that the online world is finally ready to imminently take flight, at least one supplier is finally backing off the hype and recognizing significant additional delays in getting its systems off the ground.
Safran Aerosystems
Breeze unveils "Ascent," a new take on premium seating
Delivering a differentiated product in a crowded and commoditized market can be challenging. Breeze Airways rebranded its premium cabin seats as Ascent, hoping to highlight how it differs from traditional first class products, both in what it does include and what it does not.
SkyFive, Safran Passenger Innovations push forward on connectivity in China
High speed inflight connectivity over China took another step forward earlier this month, as Safran Passenger Innovations (SPI) and SkyFive announced a partnership to integrate their services for airlines. The SkyFive air-to-ground networking hardware will connect to SPI’s RAVE on-board platform, with promises of incredibly high speed, low latency service to passengers.
Safran boosts SkyFive, leads Series A funding
Air-to-ground connectivity company SkyFive bolstered its bank account this week, closing a Series A funding round. The round was led by Safran Corporate Ventures. Also participating in the round was STAR Capital, a European private equity fund manager with a track record of developing emerging infrastructure businesses.
Celebrating the future of aircraft interiors with the 2021 Crystal Cabin Awards winners
A look at the finalists and winners of the 14th Crystal Cabin Awards, presented today in Hamburg, makes clear that innovation remains strong in the aircraft interiors world.
Safran’s Interspace retrofits aim to deliver more isolation on board
Privacy and isolation on board are, perhaps, more valuable than ever. With that in mind Safran Seats partnered with Universal Movement to develop concepts that can retrofit to existing economy class and premium cabin structures, delivering a new style of passenger accommodation on board under an exclusive partnership.
Gilat delivers a successful Ka-band ESA test flight with Honeywell, Telesat
Finally some good news worth celebrating in the ESA space. Gilat’s new kit went flying on Honeywell’s 757 and successfully linked with a Telesat GEO Ka-band satellite.
Air France to swap A380, A340 fleets for A350 with expanded order
Air France will add ten more A350-900 aircraft to its fleet in the coming years, supporting the retirement of its A380s and A340s. The deal will help the carrier to simplify its operations and deliver a more consistent passenger experience across its long-haul operations.
Counting Challenges: PaxEx Update 11 October 2019
How much is too much for the 737 program in a single week? And is there an end in sight for the shifting of loyalty programs away from loyalty? Plus, inflight wifi and a premium play for mid-haul travel.
Get all the details on this week’s top PaxEx stories inside.
A swanky new product for Starlux that doesn’t match the market
Upstart Taiwanese carrier Starlux plans to fly early in 2020 and finally unveiled details on its first aircraft configuration. It is a swanky offering that beats the competition, but at what cost?