[Satellite TODAY 06-12-13] JetBlue Airways is more than doubling its contract commitment to $20 million for in-flight connectivity services, called Fly-Fi powered by Exede Internet, while ViaSat will bill for bandwidth charges based on the service take rate for each flight.

 

      “A good way to characterize this amendment is that we’re both putting a little more skin in the game because of our confidence that providing a really good service is going to increase the number of passengers who use it,” said Mark Dankberg, ViaSat CEO and chairman. “This is a great show of JetBlue’s faith in us as we complete ground testing with LiveTV and move ahead to the first flights.”

 

     The Exede In The Air in-flight service for commercial aircraft uses ViaSat 1’s Ka-band beam, and is capable of delivering 12 Mbps or more to each connected passenger.

 

     In partnership with LiveTV, ViaSat is already under contract to install its in-flight system onto a total of 370 aircraft, including JetBlue and one other U.S. carrier. Installations are expected to begin later this year with all aircraft scheduled to be online by the end of calendar 2015.