Panasonic Adopts Inmarsat’s In-Flight Satellite Broadband Platform

Panasonic (Panasonic Avionics Corporation) has today signed a new deal with UK satellite operator Inmarsat, which will see the company deploying the “high-speed broadband” GX Aviation (Global Xpress) platform to deliver faster in-flight WiFi connectivity to the airlines (passengers) they serve.

The Global Xpress network, which promises “consistent performance [and] no drop-outs between satellite beams“, should be able to deliver broadband speeds of around 50Mbps to each aircraft it covers via Inmarsat’s Ka-band based network of Satellite’s (e.g. Inmarsat-5).

Inmarsat said they would in-turn be able to offer Panasonic’s portfolio of services and NEXT solutions (e.g. customer support services available via Panasonic’s Customer Performance Centre and Technical Services teams) to their other commercial aviation clients. Furthermore, the two also plan to collaborate on the development of a “next generation” GX Aviation terminal, as well as new connectivity-enabled services and technologies.

Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat CEO, said:

“Our highly complementary collaboration with Panasonic combines the unique expertise and proven capabilities of both companies to create a market-leading in-flight connectivity [IFC] offer for aircraft manufacturers, airlines and their passengers.

IFC is a substantial and fast-emerging sector where the quality of customer experience is paramount. Reliable, high-quality IFC is no longer a luxury for passengers, but an expectation, and will play a vital role in securing an airline’s competitive position in a market.”

Personally speaking I’ve always struggled to get a usable connection during flights that have been equipped with Panasonic’s solution, so this is good news, but by the sounds of it they’ll only be using the GX Aviation platform “as a primary offering for new business” (i.e. there’s no clear mention of hardware upgrades for their current deployments / aircraft).