Just before AIX, Panasonic Avionics announced that had completed major tests in its Multi-Orbit platform. Well, it seems they snuck out a customer for it – Discover Airlines.
Discover Airlines will be the first airline in the Lufthansa Group, as well as one of the first airlines in the world to gradually install the Panasonic Avionics Multi-Orbit connectivity on its long-haul aircraft.
Mutli-Orbit connectivity combines connectivity of geostationary (GEO) satellites which are in current use, with the LEO (Low Earth Orbit) network from Eutelsat OneWeb. LEO connectivity grants users lower latency, as well as higher bandwidth. In tests, Pansonic Avionics achieved over 200Mbps, making it suitable for streaming, browsing, and interactive services.
This will replace the existing solution – Lufthansa FlyNet. For passengers, pricing should be in line with what is currently offered. In addition, the airline will offer free messaging (akin to other Lufthansa group airlines).
The installation will cover 13 aircraft – Airbus A330-200 and Airbus A330-300.
In Quotes
Bernd Bauer, Chief Executive Officer of Discover Airlines said
The introduction of this new technology is a big step towards an even greater digitalization of the flight experience and is a real upgrade for our guests. In the future, this will also open up opportunities to further personalise the entertainment programme and also the service on board. We are very pleased to be one of the first airlines to use this new technology,”
John Wade, Vice President of Connectivity at Panasonic Avionics, said:
“We are proud to partner with Discover Airlines as one of the first multi-orbit customers, enabling them to deliver an exceptional connected experience to the passengers on their A330 fleet. Our multi-orbit network has been meticulously tested and, coupled with Panasonic Avionics’ proven track record and rigorous structure, we are confident it will be a popular choice for airlines going forward.”
A Game Changer in the Sky? Maybe.
At Economy Class and Beyond, we’ve been trying out LEO-based connectivity on and off (and in particular, the Eutelsat OneWeb solution) – and even on the ground, the speeds are impressive (in tests on Thursday, I was yielding between 140 to 180mb on the ground alone).
Multi-Orbit, in this case, will allow the aircraft to connect to LEO connectivity, until they can’t, when the signal will switch on to GEO to grant wider coverage – thus keeping passengers connected.
We’ll have an updated guide in the next few weeks for all these terms and why they matter to you.
But put it like this: High Download Speeds and Low Latency opens up things like gaming and even video conferencing in the sky, as well as high-quality video streaming.
And if you’re not a fan of the inflight entertainment, this could be a big boost.
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