Connectivity specialist Intelsat has secured line-fit status with Embraer on its E-Jet E2 jet family as well as a deal with Japanese carrier Skymark as it continues to build momentum for its multi-orbit in-flight service.
Intelsat delivers in-flight connectivity services over a combination of geostationary (GEO) and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites using its electronically steered array (ESA) antenna.
“These are antennas that can do both and we are now the only provider that has a multi-orbit solution in-flight with 130 jets,” said Intelsat vice-president global airline partnerships Enrique Villasenor during AIX. “By the end of the year we are going to have close to 600 jets installed.”
The 130 aircraft in service so far cover Air Canada and American Airlines regional jets flying in North America.
“It was a question of timing,” explains Villasenor. “A lot of the North American carriers had regional jets that were going to be up for bid and that really kick-started the development. All these jets were using ATG [air-to-ground systems], so that is what drove that all these regional jets.
“We’ve got a 1,000 jets in the backlog but they are spread over 14 airlines all over the world. Two in Europe, five in Asia, four in Latin America and the North American carriers.”
During the show Intelsat announced that Skymark Airlines has selected its multi-orbit services on 10 Boeing 737 Max jets, making the carrier one of the first in Asia-Pacific to offer the company’s hybrid service.
Intelsat has also now secured an agreement with Embraer to make its connectivity service available as a line-fit option on the E2 family.
Rob Baird, director of OEM programs at Intelsat, says: “From the end of this year we will have a launch customer and it will be rolling off the Embraer production line fully installed and connected from December.”
He adds: “We are making great progress with both Boeing and Airbus on line-fit. They are both actively looking at the product. It’s going through qualification with both OEMs. We are not at a position where we can announce another line-fit offerablity, but we are well down the road and we hope to bring that very shortly.”
Villasenor believes the company’s multi-orbit approach is resonating with airlines because it provides a more efficient way of moving data on and off the aircraft. ”The proof is in the pudding,” he says. ”This [product] is only a couple of years old and we have a 1,000 jets down the pipe.”
He adds the market has now gone beyond the question of whether they need in-flight connectivity and bigger issue facing airlines is the model for distributing it.
”We are fielding calls and meetings with airlines that would never have taken our call,” he notes. ”One of the partners we signed up for this technology is a low-cost carrier, which is a new thing for us and for the industry.
”LCCs never wanted to do this, they could never close the business case. But when you install and you connect your aircraft, it goes beyond the passenger experience. You could actually run a more efficient airline and that’s how they closed their business case. We have found a path that resonates with those types of airlines, whereas before low-cost carriers were totally off limits.”.
