Bluebox Aviation Systems Ltd. (Bluebox) and FFLYA Ltd. (FFLYA) have conducted successful ground tests of credit card payments over the Iridium Certus satellite network to demonstrate the technology
Bluebox Wow portable unit, with an FFLYA router – Image BlueBox.
The tests involved live payment transactions completed on an iPad for the purchase of in-flight entertainment bundles from Bluebox’s Blueview digital services platform. The purchases were sent wirelessly from the iPad to a Bluebox Wow portable wireless unit which was connected to the FFLYA router, and that router was connected through a patch antenna to the Iridium Certus satellite network.
The payment was then validated by a payment provider and the purchase was confirmed on the iPad.
The significance of the successful tests is the validation of a low-cost, low-weight connectivity solution enabling the award-winning Blueview digital services platform to provide live credit card payment transactions over a LEO satellite network.
The FFLYA patch antenna is an Iridium aviation-certified Certus antenna. At 3 inches, and a footprint identical to a GPS antenna, it has zero drag.
A Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) is available for Airbus A320 family aircraft, and FFLYA has plans underway for the Boeing 737 series.
In Quotes
James Macrae, CTO, Bluebox said
“For Bluebox, ensuring our customers have choice – choice of digital services, choice of hardware system and choice of connectivity solution – is central to everything we do,”
“Airlines invest considerably in differentiating their product and delivering the best experience for their passengers. No two airlines are alike – so one size won’t fit all. We’ve already integrated Blueview with high bandwidth GEO satcom connectivity, but these are still considerable investments for many airlines, especially for LCCs and regional operators. For some airlines, any investment in connectivity is still years away – and we have well-proven offline solutions for them. Now, we’re able to offer a happy medium – all the power of Blueview, boosted by the ability for airlines to increase revenue with more onboard sales in a secure retail environment, thanks to live payment validation.
Ron Chapman, President, FFLYA added
“Bluebox and FFLYA share some common principles in providing low-cost, rapid deployment of systems that improve the passenger experience and help our airline customers generate revenue,”
“Bluebox are experts in digital passenger experiences, and we bring our expertise and proven experience with LEO connectivity and different antennae systems, knowing that for many of Bluebox’s target customers, a single patch antenna is the best solution. This eliminates the issues found with window antennae, for which there can be a 60-degree blind spot above larger aircraft which can result in a high failure rate of transactions due to the unique time and data requirements of live retail payment validation – not exactly ideal for an airline depending on maximising revenue from onboard retail sales. Plus, our antenna with a single cabling and partition install can be done overnight – making this a fast and simple engineering task and minimising the time the aircraft is out of service.”
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond.
We are LIVE IN HAMBURG at Aircraft Interiors Expo. We’re on the floor gathering news and experiencing the latest in passenger innovations. Find out more at our AIX 2024 landing page and our AIX 2024 posts!
In the meantime, welcome to your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on Twitter, Mastodon, BlueSky, Threads and Instagram!
Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
