As the installed aircraft count ticks higher for Viasat so, too, does the share of revenue the company realizes from that segment. The growth rate will slow in the coming year as the American Airlines fleet completes its conversion (more than 450 aircraft installed to date) but CEO Mark Dankberg believes there is still runway left in the market. Even if it is going to be a little later than previously expected.
Virgin America
The first Hi Fly A380 lease customer is not who we expected
Reports out of Denmark this afternoon have a special addition to the Hi Fly A380 wet lease charter schedule. The first flight will operate on Wednesday for an unlikely customer. Thomas Cook Scandinavia reportedly chartered the aircraft for a one-off service from Copenhagen to Larnaca, Cyprus.
Too many award seats? Alaska Airlines says whoopsie!
Does a merger integration still count as wildly successful if it hurts revenues to the tune of 1.5% for 9ish months? Alaska Airlines’ PSS integration came off incredibly smoothly on the operations side, but the carrier missed on the loyalty side. And lots of frequent flyers got a ton of award seats as a result.
Alaska Airlines gets its Gogo 2Ku on
The newest delivery to Alaska Airlines entered service last week with a special addition on board. Ship N927VA, an A321neo, is now flying throughout the Alaska Airlines network with Gogo’s 2Ku inflight internet service installed. This is the first Alaska Airlines aircraft to operate with the kit.
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.
Gilat goes cuckoo for Ku-Ka
One antenna kit to handle connections to multiple satellite networks sounds like a great idea. Gilat now has one on offer but there’s just one problem: It is unclear that commercial demand is truly sufficient for such. Oopsie.
Free Gogo coming for top Air Canada elites
Loyalty can earn you free wifi on your next Air Canada flight. The carrier teamed up with inflight connectivity provider Gogo to offer top-tier elites an unlimited connectivity pass to ease their frequent flyer life.
Friday Flyday: Departing Love Field on Virgin America
Taking a quick hop on one of the new Virgin America routes from Dallas to LaGuardia was an opportunity to explore the airport for my first time and fly a carrier I haven’t been on in a while.
Hating hater hates on in-flight internet
I love a good rant, particularly a well written one published under the guise of “news” by the NYTimes. Alas, this week’s lamenting on in-flight internet misses the boat a bit.
Gate-to-gate wifi: Coming soon, but someone has to pay for it
Now that personal electronic device use is permitted gate-to-gate on the bulk of flights in the USA (and most of the rest should be on board soon) the question becomes what about gate-to-gate connectivity? When will travelers be able to use WiFi throughout their trip rather than only above 10,000 feet? Alas, the answer isn’t […]