Agreement is the first step to make the fastest in-flight connectivity service available to new commercial aircraft.
CARLSBAD, CALIF. – ViaSat Inc., a global broadband services and technology company, announced it entered into a new technical agreement with The Boeing Company. The agreement initiates the evaluation process for airlines to specify installation of the ViaSat in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity system on Boeing Commercial airplanes.
ViaSat offers the fastest in-flight internet speeds – typically 8 to 10 times faster – than any other in-flight Wi-Fi system available today. Under the terms of this new agreement, ViaSat’s Ka-band airborne satellite terminal will be evaluated as a factory option for Boeing aircraft prior to delivery, enabling airplanes to come off the line with ViaSat connectivity ready for immediate service. This would allow airlines to avoid costly down-time involved with taking planes out of service for post-production retrofits and ensures that from day one, each passenger and flight crew member gets a best-in-class in-flight internet experience with the industry’s only service level agreement, regardless of how many devices are connected on the plane or how many planes are on the network.
“Our agreement with Boeing is an important milestone giving our airline customers the ability to get the best onboard Wi-Fi system delivered with their new aircraft,” said Don Buchman, vice president and general manager, Commercial Mobility at ViaSat. “By selecting ViaSat in-flight communications for Boeing’s fleet, airlines now can differentiate their in-flight internet service with a flexible, sustainable business model that will continue to create value as more passengers use the service.”
John Craig, chief engineer of Cabin and Network Systems for Boeing Commercial Airplanes continued, “In initiating the evaluation process with long-time partner ViaSat, we now look to add ViaSat airborne terminals to our line-fit factory options. This will give Boeing’s commercial airline customers a new cost- and time-effective high-bandwidth connectivity choice for their airplanes.”
ViaSat’s in-flight internet service has won more industry awards in the past 12-months than any other system, including the Crystal Cabin Award, Excellence in Avionics Award, the Via Satellite Excellence Award and the APEX Avion Award. The service operates on nearly 500 aircraft with unmatched in-flight Wi-Fi quality, performance and scale, allowing airlines to provide a highly-differentiated in-flight experience that gives passengers and crew members access to high-speed web browsing, streaming media and productivity applications.
Expanded Partnership, Expanded Global Coverage
As announced in March 2015, ViaSat and Boeing also are working together to offer the ViaSat Flexible Broadband System. This system couples ViaSat’s high-capacity ViaSat-2 satellite payload design with Boeing’s 702SP (Small Platform) satellite bus to lower barriers of entry for regional satellite service providers to offer affordable, flexible satellite broadband anywhere in the world.
With the ViaSat Flexible Broadband System, service providers can focus capacity to match bandwidth demand and scale their infrastructure as expansion is needed. The vision of this smart global network would allow any ViaSat-enabled Boeing aircraft to stay connected across a much more diverse, global Ka-band satellite network.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
