With Air France Connect announced last week by the airline, we had confirmation that Gogo would be providing coverage on the wide-body aircraft. Very little news was forthcoming about the short[haul coverage.
Today, Global Eagle has confirmed it will be providing the connectivity on Air France’s short to medium haul routes in partnership with Orange Business Services.
Air France Airbus A319 taking off from Birmingham Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The contract between Global Eagle and Air France calls for installation of equipment on the 113 aircraft, crossing between the Air France’s entire Airbus A320 Family – with A318, A319, A320 and A321 aircraft to be fitted.
The aircraft serve short-to-medium haul destinations including Europe, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East.
Inital installations are underway according to Global Eagle, and will utilise the same pricing as previously disclosed by Air France
According to Global Eagle, network services will be based on Global Eagle’s latest generation of aircraft hardware, with a 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.
Meanwhile, Orange Business Services will provide enriched connectivity through its high-performance network (ground and satellite).
On releasing the news, Josh Marks, Global Eagle CEO states:
“Air France sought industry-leading connectivity solutions with the highest reliability and quality to power superior customer service, innovation and digitization,”
“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.”
With the first installs confirmed, the first short-haul services should be flying soon, Air France will join other airlines in Europe offering Wi-Fi on short-haul service such as Lufthansa Group and Norwegian.
And yes, there’s even a free messaging tier too. Which will be welcome for those who fly and want to stay in contact..
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