An additional 550+ aircraft now have live television on board. The Gogo TV product activated across three airlines in recent weeks, quickly adding live content to the company’s offerings. And more planes are coming online soon.
Southwest Airlines
Growing against flat rate contracts: Global Eagle’s plan
Growth is all but assured in the inflight connectivity market. Global Eagle is among the operators seeking the upside potential in its its revenue base and margins. But the company takes a slightly different approach to generating service revenue compared to others.
Content is part of the plan. Premium services are part of the plan. Convergence of the entire passenger experience matters greatly. And Chief Commercial Officer Per Norén is confident that the approach can save the company money on the bandwidth side, deliver a better and more profitable offering for airlines and give passengers the content they really want.
Revenue per aircraft is flat right now, but the Norén has big ideas on how to change that. Everyone wins, assuming it all works.
Counting connections and commitments
Connectivity installations slow slightly over the summer, allowing an opportunity to take a big picture look at the industry and where the various players sit in terms of connected aircraft and future commitments. Compared to a year ago some players have shifted positions, even as the total committed count increases. The latter is definitely good news for all involved while the former is better for some than others.
Connectivity milestones aplenty
Just how many aircraft carry inflight connectivity hardware? And which kit?? A pair of announcements this week gives greater insight into which kit is where and how the market is shifting, rapidly in some cases. Not that installation number 1000 matters more than number 999, of course. Yet somehow it does. Just a little.
Southwest teases further network growth, including Canada
Southwest Airlines’ plans to grow in to the Hawaiian islands are no secret, but they’re also not the only destinations further afield the company is considering. Among the possibilities: Canada!
Interisland service, mainland gateways announced for Southwest’s Hawaii service
Interisland service in Hawaii? You betcha! Mainland gateway details? We’ve got that, too. Southwest Airlines’ plans for island service continue to trickle out and the carrier is clearly not afraid to pick a fight.
JetBlue’s west coast push: More cities, daytime transcons
The west coast will soon see more JetBlue love. The carrier announced significant route and operational changes today, adding Blue cities and frequencies. The moves follow JetBlue’s launching a codeshare with JetSuiteX for some shorter west coast hops, also announced this week.
JetBlue goes semi-private, adds codeshare with JetSuiteX
How to grow in a highly competitive west coast market while limiting risk, staying small, and maintaining the better than average inflight product a company is known for? JetBlue tapped into the JetSuiteX offering to add west coast routes starting in May.
Alaska Airlines dumps Dallas-Washington, DC/New York City routes
Alaska Airlines is pulling the plug on Virgin America’s mid-continent hub at Dallas’s Love Field; routes to NYC’s LaGuardia and Wasington, DC’s Reagan National are being slashed later this year.
Aeromexico brings diversity to 737 connectivity
Aeromexico's first 737 MAX rolled off the assembly line at Renton last week and all indications are that, unlike the company's 737-800s, it will not be flying with the Gogo 2Ku solution.