Passengers flying across the Pacific Ocean are set for a major upgrade in inflight connectivity performance. Panasonic Avionics and Eutelsat announced this week that Eutelsat 172b is now in service, delivering a massive increase in…
Inmarsat GX officially live on Qatar Airways
After months of flying in a testing state Qatar Airways and Inmarsat formally placed the Global Xpress ("GX") inflight wifi connectivity solution into service. The system, branded "Super Wi-Fi" by the airline, is rolling out on…
Eutelsat goes big on Ka-band, dumps ViaSat-3
Eutelsat is investing big in Ka-band capacity over Europe. The satellite operator announced KONNECT VHTS today, a 500 gigabit/second satellite to be built by Thales Alenia Space and which is expected to enter service in…
JetBlue’s A320 retrofit finally underway
The long awaited JetBlue A320 retrofit or "cabin restyling" program is now underway. The project – a gut rebuild of the aircraft interior for more than 100 airplanes – began this week with the first…
Thales, HNA Group deal, but will it really…
A couple dozen more Chinese wide-body aircraft are set to receive the Thales AVANT IFE system and high-speed inflight internet systems. HNA Group and Thales recently announced that a mix of 42 A330s and 17…
Air Canada’s new radome suggests shifting inflight connectivity…
Air Canada's 737 MAX 8 is sporting some new bling. The first of the company's MAX deliveries, ship C-FTJV, spent a few weeks in the shop at Kelowna between 8 November and 20 December 2017.…
Emirates Takes Inmarsat GX for 777X Connectivity
When Thales won the contract to provide the inflight entertainment system on Emirates' new Boeing 777X fleet it was something of a coup, displacing Panasonic Avionics from that role. That displacement trend will continue to…
ViaSat, JetBlue tighten ties, push Thales out on…
Late last week we were able to report that JetBlue would be updating its Airbus fleet to support the ViaSat-2 satellite with on board hardware upgrades. This week, as part of ViaSat's quarterly earnings report,…
JetBlue confirms AVANT, ViaSat-2 for A320 retrofits
Chalk up another customer for the ViaSat-2 network. JetBlue confirmed upgrades for all of its Airbus aircraft in a recent internal company memo. Those upgrades allow the planes to talk to the new satellite. The…