Embark on a journey into the evolving landscape of inflight connectivity with Daniel Welch, co-founder of Valour Consultancy. Continuing his conversation with Satellite World, Welch predicts the trends to look out for at the upcoming Aircraft Interior Expo (AIX), held from May 28-30 in Hamburg, Germany. From cutting-edge flat panel antenna technology to debate around LEO (low Earth orbit) and multi-orbit systems, this article provides a sneak peek at the inflight connectivity trends to expect at AIX 2024. Follow along as Welch explains in his own words everything from regional jets’ rising prominence to the increasing influence of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), and the dawn of a new era in quality experience verification.
1. Future Proofing with Flat Panel Antenna Technology
Flat panel antenna technology has been at the forefront for the last 18 months to two years at trade shows. There are so many vendors now working on or working with flat panel technology; it’s one of the central points of enabling multi-orbit connectivity and LEO-only connectivity. We now have the first generation of antennas being certified for integration onto aircraft, including the BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) ESA antenna. In parallel, airlines are now putting more weighting towards future proofing IFC services technology and asking vendors for proof points to demonstrate how they are thinking about the same. Multi-orbit flat panel capable technologies are a key component to this.
2. The Debate Between LEO Only and Multi-Orbit
I expect that the battle between LEO-only and multi-orbit will rage on. At the moment, I think multi-orbit is the way to go in terms of offering redundancy. That’s what most airlines need, given operational routes, and it’s a transitional step from GEO towards LEO-only on this multi-orbit path. There’s so much capacity in GEO that it just makes sense to leverage that and for the architecture on board the aircraft to choose the right satellite, whether that be in LEO or GEO. Again, there are also airlines that will benefit from LEO only, so I’m sure the debate will continue.
3. The Next Frontier in Inflight Connectivity Evolution is Regional Jets
The topic of regional jets is another one that for the last 12 to 18 months has featured high on the priority list for IFC vendors. In North America, in particular, there are a number of airlines that adopted connectivity early and deployed air-to-ground services that are now looking to upgrade that technology. According to our data, there are around 1,300 regional jets fitted with air-to-ground in North America, and we’re expecting the majority of those to move towards satellite services largely due to the availability of smaller form factor hardware that fits on those aircraft. It is a given that regional jets remain a focal point for vendors and for airlines that want to provide passengers with a consistent connected experience across their entire fleet.
4. The Increasing Influence of OEMs
Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, etc. are all starting to look at how they can have a bigger stake in the connectivity realm, with programs like HBCplus from Airbus. They’re removing part of the decision for airlines by taking ownership of the hardware so the airlines don’t have to worry about that, which for a lot of airlines is great. The onboard networks and the relationship that Airbus, Boeing, and others have with connectivity providers is increasing, and I think there will be an increased presence from vendors that are partnered with those OEMs.
5. A New Era of Quality Experience Verification
The last topic is quality of experience, and it is a relatively new one. Rather than a vendor reporting on service levels, airlines want to have the quality of experience verified independently. There are companies coming out that are offering that service. That changes the paradigm, and the vendor now needs to accommodate this independent verification and be willing to accept the data that’s coming back to them. Be prepared for more educated conversations from airlines that can now see what the experience looks like across the network and have beautifully visualized datasets clearly reporting that there’s a problem in a specific location at a particular time of day during flights. I think that makes for an interesting future, which vendors and airlines need to adjust to.
Stay up-to-date on inflight connectivity trends here.
