Global Eagle win Air France in-flight connectivity
October 3, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Air France has awarded its contract to equip its aircraft with In Flight Connectivity to the consortium of Global Eagle and Orange Business Services. With this deal, Air France will become the first airline in Europe to take full advantage of the Ku-band High Throughput satellite network.
Orange and Global Eagle will deliver high-speed Internet, passenger portal interfaces and services, integrated billing, and passenger data analytics. The service covers 113 Airbus A320 family of aircrafts operated by Air France. These planes fly short and medium haul flights throughout Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East.
“Air France sought industry-leading connectivity solutions with the highest reliability and quality to power superior customer service, innovation and digitisation,” said Josh Marks, Global Eagle CEO. “Together with our partner Orange Business Services, we are proud to support Air France’s ambitions with high-speed gate-to-gate Internet, integrated with our powerful customer portal for the Air France short and medium haul fleet.”
“In-Flight Connectivity gives Air France the opportunity to enhance the customer experience and to take a major step towards digital transformation,” said Pierre-Louis Biaggi, VP/Connectivity at Orange Business Services. “Orange Business Services has leveraged its high-performance network and its strong experience in project management to support Air France’s ambitious goals. Together with our partner Global Eagle, we will enable Air France to be the first airline in Europe to take full advantage of the KU-High-Throughput satellite network and thus drastically increase on-board passenger connectivity experience.”
Network services will be based on Global Eagle’s latest generation of aircraft hardware, with Jupiter HT modem infrastructure capable of 500 Mbps throughput per aircraft and Global Eagle’s new three-axis Ku-band antenna that delivers superior efficiency. Orange Business Services will provide enriched connectivity through its high-performance network (ground and satellite) its experience in project management, cyber security, and local support to the mix for a complete solution offering.