European airlines have lagged behind their US counterparts when it comes to introducing in-flight wi-fi to their short-haul fleets. But recent contracts between IAG and Inmarsat, and ViaSat, Finnair and SAS, indicate that the European market is taking off.
Satellite-based in-flight connectivity providers say technology has moved on in leaps and bounds since the early adopters of wi-fi on flights within Europe launched their services, and the next wave of single-aisle aircraft to be equipped will offer a much more reliable service to passengers.
“Passengers will experience internet onboard short-haul aircraft, which is kind of a novelty for Europe,” says Inmarsat Aviation vice-president strategy and business development Frederik Van Essen. “The current systems flying are first-generation systems with a very limited performance. Passengers will see a real step-up in performance, reliability, capacity and speed.”
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Van Essen adds that while first-generation systems “allow you to do some work”, connections are not always available and “speeds can be haphazard”.
“The US has been leading the world in [in-flight] connectivity but Europe is now rapidly following, and the rest of the world is following that,” he says.
In October Lufthansa Group launched Inmarsat’s much-anticipated GX for Aviation Ka-band satellite-based connectivity solution, with plans in place to install the technology across the German airline group’s entire Airbus A320 fleet by mid-2018.
The following month IAG announced that it would install high-speed in-flight wi-fi across the short-haul fleets of all four of its airlines, following a deal with Inmarsat to become the launch customer for its under-development European Aviation Network (EAN) air-to-ground connectivity service.
Up to 341 of IAG’s Airbus A320-family aircraft will be equipped with satellite antennas on the top, which will communicate with Inmarsat’s S-band satellite, and smaller, lighter antennas on the bottom that will pick up signals from the new 4G mobile terrestrial network to be operated by Inmarsat’s partner, Deutsche Telekom. The idea is that avionics boxes onboard the aircraft will “gauge which signal is best” and seamlessly transition between the strongest signals, says Van Essen.
Passengers will be able to access the internet on their own electronic devices, and IAG says connection speeds will be “similar to what they have at home”. The airline group believes that opting for an integrated air-to-ground and satellite-based solution will enable it to provide its passengers with “the fastest connectivity you can get on any aircraft”.
The first aircraft to be equipped under the contract – a British Airways Airbus A321 – is scheduled to be in service this summer, with Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling aircraft installations to begin later in 2017. The aim is to equip 90% of IAG’s single-aisle fleet with the technology by 2019.
The most obvious difference between EAN and GX is that the former is a regional solution, covering the 28 EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland, while GX provides global coverage. For airlines requiring coverage solely within Europe, Van Essen says EAN is an attractive solution because the equipment that needs to be installed on the aircraft is “a fraction of the weight” of that required for GX.
Testing of the new EAN system has “surpassed what we expected”, says Van Essen, and while there are “many things to tackle, test and work out”, the mid-year launch date looks achievable. Inmarsat suffered a setback last year when a SpaceX launch failure led to a delay in getting the S-band satellite which supports EAN into orbit. However, the company signed a contract with Arianespace to launch the satellite on an Ariane 5 rocket, allowing it to stick to its mid-2017 deadline.
Competitor ViaSat believes the fact that Inmarsat’s EAN service has yet to launch could prove a deterrent to European airlines. Don Buchman, vice-president and general manager of ViaSat’s commercial mobility business, says there are “quite a few regulatory hurdles to get over” for EAN. He also points to the “limited coverage” of air-to-ground services at a time when re-engined narrowbodies from Airbus and Boeing mean single-aisle aircraft are “no longer constrained to 2h flights”.
But Buchman agrees with Van Essen that European operators will “embrace connectivity” on their short-haul networks in much the same way as carriers in the USA have. “If you’re using a device on a train, why wouldn’t you on a plane?” he says.
ViaSat last year announced contracts with Finnair and SAS to install its Ka-band satellite-based connectivity solution across their short-haul fleets. In May Finnair will begin equipping its entire A320 family fleet with the solution, which ViaSat provides through its partnership with Eutelsat. Meanwhile, SAS is installing the service on its short- and medium-haul aircraft, the first of which is scheduled to enter service in the second half of 2017.
“SAS and Finnair announced the same roll-out pattern across their narrowbody fleets, and El Al is already flying [the service] on narrowbody flights from Tel Aviv to European capitals,” says Buchman, adding that ViaSat’s solution is “selling really well” in Europe.
Finnair’s manager of in-flight e-commerce and IFEC (in-flight entertainment and connectivity), Harri Valkama, says the airline chose the ViaSat solution because it believed it was the “best available” for the carrier’s A320 fleet.
“It’s the best in the market now and there are a lot of scalability possibilities in the future,” says Valkama. Finnair “did consider” Inmarsat’s EAN solution but decided against it because of regulatory uncertainties.
“There are a lot of risks for us in the EAN: regulatory approvals pending for some European Union countries, and also the coverage is limited and not supporting all Finnair routes, and there were no possibilities to scale up the coverage in the future,” says Valkama.
None of the European airlines that have recently signed up to offer in-flight connectivity on their short-haul networks have yet unveiled details about whether, and how much, passengers will be charged to access the service. He says Finnair “will communicate the pricing model once the service is launched”, while IAG says it is a decision for its individual airlines and “more details will be provided closer to the launch date”.
Europe’s low-cost carriers have been more reticent about installing in-flight wi-fi than the full-service airlines. With the exception of Norwegian, which provides passengers on its European short-haul network with free wi-fi through an agreement with Global Eagle Entertainment, and Eurowings, which announced in December that it would equip 69 of its A320 family aircraft with Inmarsat’s GX solution by the middle of this year, budget operators have yet to buy into the concept en masse.
EasyJet and Ryanair have said in the past that they would like to offer wi-fi but both have expressed concerns over the cost of installation. ViaSat’s Buchman believes that “all the right ingredients are in place now”, and he is “optimistic” that Europe’s low-cost carriers will get on board “this year, or it might be a little longer”.
He adds that “we’re seeing a lot of interest in wireless IFE”, particularly for narrowbody aircraft, and this was a driving factor behind ViaSat’s recent acquisition of Dublin-based Arconics.
Van Essen is also optimistic about the potential of Europe’s budget airline market. “I don’t think it’s that low-cost carriers are not interested in connectivity, but they’re looking at how to build the business case,” he says.
“It’s fair to say there is very much interest from the whole market, including low-cost carriers – I’d be surprised if they were not moving soon.”
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Source: Flight International
