Satellite broadband provider Inmarsat has begun rolling out its new “gold standard” GX Aviation in-flight WiFi on AirAsia aircraft.
AirAsia will gain access to the world’s first and only global commercial Ka-band aviation broadband network. Passengers flying on equipped aircraft can try the service free of charge through the end of the month.
GX Aviation integrates with AirAsia’s onboard entertainment and e-commerce platform, allowing passengers to use personal mobile devices to stream entertainment, listen to music, play games, read news and shop during flight.
Aireen Omar, AirAsia Group President (RedBeat Ventures), said:
“As the pioneer of low-cost carrier inflight Wi‑Fi in the region, we continually seek ways to improve the digital experience for our guests.
Introducing Ka‑band connectivity, powered by ROKKI, is the next step: the enhanced inflight connection enables guests to stay online throughout their journey and to perform data-intensive activities such as live-streaming.
It also supports better real-time analytics, helping us deliver more personalized services to AirAsia’s 100 million annual guests.”
Planned enhancements to Inmarsat’s GX satellite network will further increase capacity and coverage over time.
Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation, commented:
“AirAsia’s introduction of GX Aviation services represents an important milestone, bringing the airline’s innovative digital offering to life for passengers. We believe the move from basic connectivity to the industry’s gold standard inflight broadband will be well received.
Our teams are working closely with AirAsia to install GX Aviation across its Airbus A320 and A330 fleet, making high-quality connectivity available to millions of additional passengers each month.”
Inmarsat has also signed agreements to develop the next generation of GX satellites, set to deliver a step-change in in-flight broadband performance:
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The GX7, GX8 and GX9 satellites will use thousands of dynamically-formed beams to concentrate capacity over high-demand regions and flight corridors.
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The GZ10A and GZ10B Arctic satellites are designed to be the only broadband satellites dedicated to the Arctic region, improving high-latitude coverage.
New GX payloads were scheduled for launch in 2019, 2020 and 2021 as part of the network expansion. Over the coming year, GX Aviation will be progressively rolled out across AirAsia’s Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.
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