Since the day it was introduced the A220 (nee CSeries) was described as a game-changer for the industry. JetBlue is about to find out just how well it works. The aircraft entered service on Monday and is a solid offering on which the company is slated to grow in the years ahead.
Thales Inflyt
Qatar Airways upgrades 787-8 IFE to Thales AVANT
The Qatar Airways 787-8 fleet is getting an upgrade. The carrier will swap out the in-flight entertainment system on board its oldest Dreamliners to the Thales AVANT platform.
APEX Weekly Wrap: Airline CEO Shuffles and Using Data to Manage Risk Volatility
This episode of the APEX Weekly Wrap reflects on a week of senior staffing news, following announcements that both British Airways CEO Alex Cruz and Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah will step aside, and way more.
Solving the Thales Ka-band antenna conundrum
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.
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.