Rip-and-replace is rarely good news for an on-aircraft hardware system. But there’s at least one big winner with the latest revision to the Thales Ka-band in-flight connectivity offering. The Thinkom ThinAir Ka2517 has been confirmed on an Spirit Airlines A321 headed towards certification.
Thales Inflyt
Clearing the air
On Monday STS Aero Mod announced a big push to fit the Thales inflight wifi connectivity system on aircraft over the next 12 months. It now appears, unfortunately, that some of the details shared by the company and analyzed for PaxEx Premium readers were not accurate. Hopefully the update below helps to clarify some of that information.
Thales Wi-Fi installations begin at STS Mod Center in Florida
The next generation of Thales in-flight wifi service installations are underway. The work is being handled by STS Mod Center, a division of STS Aviation Group, at its facility in Melbourne, Florida. STS indicated plans to fit more than 100 aircraft in the coming year for an unnamed customer. Figuring out who it is was not too difficult, though.
Delta seeks Gogo alternatives as it renegotiates connectivity contract
Has North America truly run out of Ku-band capacity? That’s one of the arguments being made by Delta Air Lines as it renegotiated its inflight connectivity contract with Gogo. The company announced the new deal this week, and the potential market shift is massive.
Don’t change the channel: Live TV grounded as airlines cut costs
Survey data and inflight behavior both suggest strong demand for live television on board. But a couple airlines are cutting the service, at least temporarily. And it is not just about saving money on the subscription costs.
Eutelsat KONNECT successfully launched
More Ka-band capacity should be online soon. Eutelsat’s KONNECT satellite successfuly launched last week and is now raising to its geostationary orbit location to serve Europe and North Africa. ANd that could be good news for Viasat as well.
Antenna woes derail Spirit’s WiFi installation efforts
More troubles for the Spirit Airlines inflight wifi program came to light today. Antenna issues with the Thales FlytLIVE kit will require the few existing installations to be replaced and tested anew before the full fleet deployment resumes.
Vueling gets online with Inmarsat’s EAN connectivity
Flying an LCC in Europe no longer means being disconnected while in the sky. IAG’s Vueling operation soft-launched inflight wifi connectivity delivered via the European Aviation Network (EAN), powered by Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom, on five of its aircraft earlier this month. Vueling is the third EAN airline and the first LCC with the service.
Live from the CRJ550: PaxEx Update 25 Oct 2019
United’s newest aircraft type takes flight this week and the CRJ550 interior really is as special as the company has been hyping. Airbus orders and Boeing delays plus some fancy new wifi and upgraded airports on the horizon. Another busy PaxEx week.
SES, Thales, Thinkom raise the bar on inflight connectivity performance with GEO/MEO blend
Blending GEO and MEO satellites delivers a hybrid of coverage, performance, and cost that is hard to beat. SES, Thales, HughesNet, and Thinkom are on the cusp of delivering a commercially-viable solution in this space.