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Premium #330 – Connectivity keeps improving

We have been tracking demand for aircraft connectivity for some time.  There are several news stories that further underscore the point that demand for connectivity seems to have no upper limit. Icelandair will equip its 737 MAX fleet with ViaSat connectivity. The...

Connectivity demand keeps growing

The airline industry seems to be pushing for ever more bandwidth on their aircraft. An early pioneer in this is Lufthansa which was among the first airlines to sign up for Boeing Connexion. Even after that program was abandoned, Lufthansa stayed committed to in-flight...

Missing Airplanes – Why Real-Time Tracking of Airplanes Won’t Happen Quickly

Air travel is a very safe mode of travel, with few accidents and a trend line that points to increasing safety year by year.  The following chart shows worldwide airline fatalities per million passengers from 1976 through 2014.  The trend line shows that safety is...

The Ku vs Ka battle

In the US market, which is by far the largest for in-flight WiFi, there is a looming battle between traditional market leader Gogo and upcoming ViaSat.  Gogo has the largest footprint with "10 airline partners, 6,000+ connected aircraft, 67 STCs obtained, 55+ million...