El Al has installed Israeli firm Starling Advanced Communications' Mijet antenna on one of its Boeing 777s, and is waiting for a service provider to offer a total Ku band-based connectivity solution, Starling VP marketing and sales Jacob Keret reveals.
The Mijet installation occurred in February, said Keret at the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) conference and exhibition in Long Beach, California, but "until they have the service provider they cannot do anything" with respect to offering in-flight connectivity to passengers.
Starling's Mijet antenna family includes the standard Mijet antenna, a lighter version called Mijet-Lite and the mini-Mijet for business aircraft.
Separately, Starling has worked in partnership with EMS Technologies to offer a new ultra-fast, ultra-lightweight Ku-band airborne antenna system.
The partnership can already boast an achievement. Starling's technology contributed to EMS's two-way Ku-broadband products, which are part of EMS's new Aura family of antenna systems.
"The Aura family of antenna systems offers flexibility in size, weight, profile and performance specifications to meet the needs of different business models for private and commercial aircraft," says EMS.
Panasonic Avionics revealed to ATI this week that it has selected EMS to supply the antenna system that will power the in-flight entertainment (IFE) firm's connectivity service, eXConnect.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
