Aircraft

Arinc and Rockwell Collins have submitted a proposal to equip Southwest Airlines' fleet with broadband passenger communications after finalising a deal to reintroduce the avionics manufacturer's Exchange service for business jets, which was disconnected when Connexion by Boeing was shut down last year.

Under the deal, Arinc will provide its SkyLink Ku-band satellite service to Rockwell Collins' Exchange airborne hardware, and the avionics manufacturer will produce and support the hardware for all Exchange and SkyLink customers.

The handful of business jets equipped with Exchange equipment designed to work with Connexion will have to be modified, but the agreement opens up a much larger market for Rockwell Collins. Gulfstream installs SkyLink in its business jets and Arinc has equipped around 70 other business jets.

Rockwell Collins expects the new hardware to be available by the fourth quarter. Coverage using the SkyLink service is already available in North America and Europe, with the North Atlantic to be added soon and expansion planned for the Caribbean and part of Central and South America.

The avionics manufacturer had partnered Connexion, which was principally targeting the airlines, to offer the broadband communications service to business aviation. Bombardier had selected Exchange for its Global large business jets, but the system was shut down soon after the first systems were installed.

Southwest, meanwhile, says it has sought proposals for a prototype system to evaluate whether broadband connectivity for internet, email and other passenger communications services could be another source of revenue.

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