The Business of Passenger Experience
Two stories should deliver a net boost for Global Eagle headed into Thursday's earnings release. They are not both good news (and one remains unconfirmed), but the positive outweighs the negative significantly.
Taqnia Space is on the cusp of launching its UON service with Saudia. The kit will go live on a pair of A320s later this month according to Mustafa Murad, the company’s Aero Program Head. In a conversation at the Aviation Festival in London this afternoon Murad also detailed some of the unique propositions for the company’s offering, including a business model bound to look attractive to airlines.
The UON inflight connectivity service from Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Space will offer service from Europe to Asia thanks to a new deal with Eutelsat to add Ku-band capacity. The deal brings Ku-band widebeam coverage spanning Europe, the Middle East and South Asia plus an additional HTS transponder with coverage flexibility. The company is scaling up strong, but will it be enough to succeed in a crowded market?
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).
There are lots of ways to improve the inflight connectivity experience. For Saudia and SITAONAIR recent efforts focused on the login portal and creating a more seamless passenger experience. And it looks pretty slick, even if still overpriced for a connection that is probably too slow to be of much use beyond texting.
