Written by Eric Diamond – Vice President of International Aviation Gross sales, SES

Air journey is on the rise throughout the Americas, and passengers who’ve grown accustomed to their high-speed house leisure and communications providers throughout the pandemic are much more discerning than ever about their inflight connectivity expertise. 

Spirit Airways is among the many first to shut the inflight connectivity hole. The provider has transitioned the overwhelming majority of its fleet to Thales’ FlytLIVE connectivity service delivered over SES’ new high-powered SES-17 satellite tv for pc (pictured above).

Spirit’s A320 and A321 fleet is among the many youngest, most gasoline environment friendly, and now among the many most linked within the U.S. in the present day. The overwhelming majority of the provider’s fleet affords entry to one of the clever high-throughput satellites (HTS), and the quickest Wi-Fi of any U.S. primarily based airline (primarily based on publicly obtainable information).

Closing the Inflight Connectivity Hole

We’ve all skilled the inflight connectivity (IFC) hole – the numerous distinction between an pleasurable at-home linked expertise and a irritating one at greatest on some flights. 

This primary rollout of Thales’ FlytLIVE IFC service on SES-17 is particularly noteworthy, as Spirit affords inflight Wi-Fi facilities, speeds and repair choices that aren’t sometimes obtainable on ultra-low fare carriers.

Actually, SES is thrilled to help Thales in providing an unmatched airline passenger expertise with essentially the most superior Geostationary (GEO) Ka-band satellite tv for pc in our fleet of 70 satellites. SES-17 is bringing the long-awaited high-speed linked home- or office-like expertise to the fingertips of air vacationers flying more and more busy routes all through the Americas.

Thales’ FlytLIVE delivered over this highly effective satellite tv for pc is offering Spirit Airways the quickest Wi-Fi of any U.S. primarily based airline. Passengers can now surf the web and binge watch their favourite content material with speeds of as much as 400 megabits per second (Mbps) and distinctive reliability.

A New Technology of Related Journey

The launch of Thales’ FlytLIVE connectivity and leisure platform on SES-17 is a significant increase to the way forward for linked journey. That includes a completely digital payload run by essentially the most highly effective digital transponder processor in orbit, unmatched flexibility, and almost 200 person beams, the SES-17 satellite tv for pc shouldn’t be solely a severe tech development however a significant step within the integration of SES’s multi-orbit community.

This unbelievable spacecraft is supported by Adaptive Useful resource Management (ARC) software program, which makes it interoperable with our second-generation O3b mPOWER satellite tv for pc communications system in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), which noticed its first two satellites launched late final 12 months.

This can be a first-of-its-kind functionality that can in the end have extra game-changing implications on linked planes, trains, cruise ships – the entire world of journey, as SES will have the ability to mix GEO and MEO satellite tv for pc capability to seamlessly allow connectivity within the air, at sea and on land like by no means earlier than.

GEO connectivity is right for the supply of reside broadcast TV on flights, whereas MEO, with its inherent low latencies, is healthier suited to transporting high-speed broadband providers. The mixture equates to a greater passenger expertise, in addition to pilots higher geared up, for instance, with real-time climate stories that enables them to keep away from harmful situations and turbulence.

Thales Alenia Area constructed and engineered this first-of-its-kind GEO satellite tv for pc, which is enabling Spirit Airways passengers to expertise the way forward for high quality video streaming, video games, web searching, and social media in the present day on flights throughout the USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

We’re very excited to see air journey taking off once more and sit up for watching passengers take pleasure in their linked journey on increasingly flights around the globe.