| The world's first daily source of news and comment on the world of inflight entertainment, passenger communications and cabin technology. |
 |
August 27, 2008 – AS the connectivity providers jostle for position in the broadband market, Jet Airways has come up with a reminder of what can be done with Inmarsat’s tried and trusted Classic Aero system.
|
|
August 26, 2008 – WITH less than a fortnight to go until doors-open, this year’s World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) conference and exhibition is set to be the biggest in recent years.
|
|
August 25, 2008 – TAIWANESE carrier EVA Air’s premium economy service has been voted the best of its kind in the annual Skytrax world airline survey. |
|
August 24, 2008 – WISCONSIN-based avionics engineering specialist EMTEQ has obtained an FAA supplemental type certificate for installations of International Communications Group Iridium satcoms systems in the Boeing 757-200 and -300.
|
|
August 23, 2008 – LONDON-based aeronautical satellite operator Inmarsat has caught the industry on the hop with the news that it is to introduce yet another new spacecraft within the next three years. What’s more, the new EuropaSat will carry a communications payload operating in S-band – a major departure for the company, which has hitherto used L-band for its aeronautical and other services.
|
|
August 22, 2008 – THE never-a-dull-moment handheld IFE sector is beginning to warm up with just over a fortnight to go to this year’s WAEA/Aircraft Interiors Americas show in Long Beach.
|
|
August 21, 2008 – OVER the past five years Qantas has invested an average of US$120 million per annum on new product, including lounges and aircraft interiors.
|
|
August 20, 2008 – FOLLOWING a “soft launch” on a few aircraft at the end of June, American Airlines has announced that Aircell’s Gogo terrestrially based broadband service is now available on its Boeing 767-200ER fleet.
|
|
August 19, 2008 – PANASONIC has stepped up its information offensive against prime rival Thales by announcing the recent completion of the 100th installation of its top-of-the-line eX2 AVOD inflight entertainment system. eX2 orders now exceed 900 examples, the company says. |
|
August 19, 2008 – INMARSAT is celebrating yesterday’s successful launch of the third of its new generation of satellites. From the first half of next year Inmarsat-4 F3 and two earlier spacecraft in the series will assure round-the-world availabililty of the London-based mobile satcoms company’s 432kbit/sec SwiftBroadband service for aircraft.
|
|
August 18, 2008 – LEADING handheld IFE supplier The IMS Company has beefed up its Latin American commercial efforts with the appointment of a sales director for the region. |
|
August 17, 2008 – THERE’S another label to add to the language of economy-friendly portable Internet access products. Originally coined by Intel, the word “netbook” joins the established “ultra-mobile PC” (UMPC) and the emerging “mobile Internet device” (MID).
|
|
August 16, 2008 – ICO Global Communications says it will launch trials of its satellite-delivered mobile TV service later this summer.
|
|
August 15, 2008 – SEATING and cabin systems world leader B/E Aerospace expects its revenues to go on growing beyond 2010 despite the hostile economic conditions confronting the airlines. |
|
August 14, 2008 – ARIZONA-based consultancy MultiMedia Intelligence is offering some free beach reading for IFE and communications specialists preparing for a torrent of connectivity action following the summer break.
|
|
August 13, 2008 – DANISH Inmarsat solutions provider Satcom1 says it has just activated its first 432kbit/sec SwiftBroadband-integrated cabin communications network on a VIP aircraft.
|
|
August 12, 2008 - CONTINENTAL Airlines has unveiled the new full-flat seat to be installed in the business-class cabins of its Boeing 757s, 777s and 787s from next year.
|
|
August 12, 2008 – PHILIPPINE Airlines has selected Panasonic’s eX2 audio/video-on-demand IFE system for line installation on six new Boeing 777-300ERs and retrofit in four Airbus A340-300s. Deliveries are due to begin next year.
|
|
August 11, 2008 – FLIGHT Display Systems, the Atlanta-based company that is specialising with increasing success in lightweight, affordable IFE systems for smaller business aircraft, has won key Federal Aviation Administration approvals for two of its products. |
|
August 10, 2008 – THERE are signs that the US public is beginning to understand that onboard cellphone does not mean the end of civilisation as we know it. |
|
August 9, 2008 - AMAC Aerospace, the new Swiss-based completions provider, has ordered Cair cabin air humidification from CTT Systems of Sweden for a VIP Airbus A320. The installation will be carried out in the first quarter of next year.
|
|
August 8, 2008 – QANTAS has announced that it will receive its first A380 next month and is already whipping up expectations about what passengers will find in the cabins of the big Airbus. |
|
August 7, 2008 – ESTABLISHED aeronautical satcoms provider Iridium and surprise new boy ViaSat have both unveiled record results for their overall businesses.
|
|
August 6, 2008 – THE tectonic plates of the passenger broadband market have just shifted with a mighty crack, with Delta Airlines announcing that it will have Gogo, Aircell’s terrestrially based North American service, aboard its entire fleet by next summer.
|
|
August 5, 2008 – LAUNCH of the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite, which will help to extend availability of the London company’s 432kbit/sec SwiftBroadband service worldwide from next spring, has been put back a few days following the discovery of a fault in the Proton rocket.
|
|
August 4, 2008 – IN-SEAT power provider Astronics reports a 16 per cent increase in its second-quarter sales, to $48 million, compared with the same period last year.
|
|
August 3, 2008 – VIRGINIA-based Iridium satcoms equipment manufacturer International Communications Group is upgrading its NxtLink 200 system to include fax and ACARS operational datalink capabilities.
|
|
August 2, 2008 – FURTHER details of the sumptuous set of appointments aboard Emirates’ first Airbus A380, which entered service yesterday, have emerged.
|
|
August 2, 2008 – MOBILE satellite operator Iridium has named Lockheed Martin of the USA and Europe’s Thales Alenia Space as the finalists in the race for the job of building its next-generation satellite system.
|
|
August 1, 2008 – OCTOBER 12 could just go down in aviation history as the day inflight entertainment took a technological leap forward as big as the switch from analogue to digital. For that’s when US Airways is due to launch a trial of Lumexis’ potentially game-changing Fibre-to-the-Screen (FTTS) fibreoptic-based audio/video-on-demand system.
|
|
July 31, 2008 – DANISH Inmarsat satcoms equipment provider Thrane & Thrane has upgraded its Aero-HSD+ cabin communications system to support text messaging, email and Web browsing via passengers’ own WiFi-enabled smartphones and cellular phones.
|
|
July 31, 2008 – ATLANTA-based EMS Technologies is taking over Sky Connect, an Iridium satellite applications provider headquartered in Maryland, with the aim of building a service business of its own in the rapidly developing Iridium aeronautical sector.
|
|
July 30, 2008 – THE juggernaut that is B/E Aerospace thunders on, announcing record results for the second quarter of the year.
|
|
July 30, 2008 – CONNECTIVITY provider AeroMobile says that an Emirates Boeing 777-300 has returned to service with its cabin mobile phone facility in full commercial operation. This brings to four the number of Emirates types offering the service.
|
|
July 29, 2008 – EMIRATES has thrown down the gauntlet to Singapore Airlines, describing the luxury accommodation aboard its first Airbus A380 as “the next generation of suites in first class”.
|
|
July 28, 2008 – CONNECTIVITY provider OnAir has completed the trial of its onboard cellphone service with Air France, it was announced today. The Airbus/SITA-owned company has also made a number of senior appointments designed to accelerate its transition from product development to service delivery.
|
|
