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Thales Inflyt

PaxEx Premium: Digging into the Thales lawsuit claims

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With billions of dollars in contracts at stake perhaps it makes sense that Thales would seek extra help in securing new deals. That it stands accused of failing to pay its partner for that help is less good. That it now also likely faces scrutiny from US and international regulators related to suspicious payment schemes and efforts to influence leaders of foreign airlines is even worse. Welcome to the fun and exciting world of supplier deals in the Middle East.

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Thales faces RICO lawsuit around IFEC deals in the Middle East

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Is it possible for inflight entertainment and connectivity vendors to do business in the Middle East without suspicion of bribery and fraud? Just a couple years after securing multiple major contracts Thales stands accused of failing to pay a partner it used to facilitate those deals. More than a billion dollars in damages are on the line in the case.

Seeking ThinAir: The search continues

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A couple weeks ago hopes were high for a new antenna system in flight testing. That dream appears to have come back down to earth as Spirit Airlines’ first A321 with the Thales FlytLive kit installed reentered flight services this week.

Digging in to Global Connectivity Revenues

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A pair of recent earnings reports left open questions about just how many aircraft are generating how much inflight connectivity revenue. Both Gogo and Inmarsat clarified those positions, providing better context around their numbers.

PaxEx Premium: Digging in to Global Connectivity Revenues

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A pair of earnings reports last week left open questions about just how many aircraft are generating how much inflight connectivity revenue. Both Gogo and Inmarsat clarified those positions, providing better context around their numbers.

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An end to cheap* WiFi for airlines?

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Maybe it has never truly been cheap for passengers, but airlines historically took advantage of great deals from suppliers to secure inflight wifi connectivity solutions relatively inexpensively. As those vendors now seek financial stability more than market share a shift is underway. Is the era of cheap wifi over? (And did it ever really exist?!?)

Thales scores a pair of China Southern wins at Zhuhai Air Show

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This year’s Zhuhai Air Show in China delivered little significant commercial aircraft news. Standing out in the event the partnership between Thales and China Southern offered up a pair of new deals. The two companies have a strong relationship dating back nearly 20 years and this week’s moves further those ties.

PaxEx Premium: Predicting a new antenna in flight

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As the new Thales/Spirit Airlines Ka-band inflight wifi connectivity solution inches closer to flight testing it appears necessary to dispel one rumor about timing and opine on a very different one about the antenna technology that will be used on board.

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PaxEx Premium: Does Spirit have a secret for selling wifi?

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Outgoing Spirit Airlines CEO Bob Fornaro is no stranger to the inflight connectivity world, even if his current airline is a late adopter of such services. Fornaro oversaw the fleet-wide deployment of connectivity at AirTran. He saw the value it could deliver and the pains that poor performance and limited availability caused for passengers and the airline. Now he wants to bring a new model to market and lead the connected ULCC revolution, starting with the Thales kit installed on his company's fleet. Will this secret sauce work?

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Gogo TV live on 550+ planes; more to come

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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.