GX Aviation Satcom to install on Air China A330s
19
February
2014
Inmarsat welcomes another important milestone in the GX Aviation timeline as Air China and Honeywell Aerospace sign a Memorandum of Understanding to install and test GX Aviation on Air China’s A330 aircraft, expected in the second quarter of 2015.
Inmarsat
GX
Aviation
enables
the next
generation
of
high-speed
global
broadband
in-flight
connectivity
services.
It will
deliver
consistent,
reliable,
high-speed
and
high-capacity
communications
for both
passenger
connectivity
and
aircraft
operations,
and will
enable
airlines
to
deploy
new
types of
connectivity
applications
that
were
previously
not
possible.
Inmarsat
will
provide
GX
Aviation
through
its
fleet of
three
wholly-owned
and
operated
Kaband
satellites
and its
dedicated,
fully
redundant
ground
network.
The
first of
three
Inmarsat-5
satellites
was
successfully
launched
in
December
2013 and
the
remaining
two
are set
to be in
place by
the end
of 2014.
“We are pleased that Air China has chosen to install the GX Aviation system on their aircraft. Air China has led the movement into passenger connectivity in China with their earlier installation of Inmarsat SwiftBroadband and now GX Aviation allows them to continue that leadership and take the passenger experience to a new level,” said Bill Peltola, Inmarsat Vice President, Aviation. “This agreement gives Air China the opportunity to stay at the forefront of a highly competitive market in Asia.”
Inmarsat’s
fleet of
three
high-throughput
satellites
will
offer a
unique
combination
of
seamless
global
Ka-band
coverage
from a
single
operator,
consistent
performance
of up to
50Mbps,
and the
network
reliability
for
which
Inmarsat
is
renowned.
In
addition
to
passenger
communications,
GX
Aviation
services
will be
able to
support
real-time
TV and
live
feeds
from the
internet.
It will
offer
airlines
the next
generation
of
connectivity
with
ample
capacity
for
future
growth.
The
testing
programme
agreed
between
Honeywell
and Air
China is
the
latest
in a
series
of
significant
steps,
which
confirms
that GX
Aviation
is on
track to
deliver
global
availability
for
commercial
airlines
in the
first
half of
2015.