[Satellite TODAY 04-10-13] United Airlines is one of the world’s biggest airlines. In total, United Airlines and United Express operate an average of 5,472 flights a day to 381 airports across six continents. In 2012, both lines operated nearly two million flights carrying 140 million customers. In terms of in-flight connectivity, the company is seen as one of the blue chip contracts in this area. In January 2013, United Airlines announced it had introduced onboard satellite-based WiFi Internet connectivity on the first of its international widebody aircraft. A Boeing 747 was outfitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation‘s Ku-band satellite technology, serving trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes.
Unlike some airlines, the United plans to both use Ka-band and Ku-band technology. “We strongly believe that they are both great technologies, and both with future promise and potential. We have this unique situation where on about 200 aircraft we have LiveTV installed. So, we opted to go for a Ka-band solution on the 737s and 757s that offer LiveTV today. So, for the remainder of our fleet we went with Panasonic and a long-term partnership using Ku-band. We don’t have any plans to go fully Ka-band,” said Mark Nasr, managing director, E-Commerce, United Airlines.
United customers have the choice of two speeds: “standard,” priced initially between $3.99 and $14.99 depending on the duration of flight, and “Accelerated,” priced initially between $5.99 and $19.99, and offering faster download speeds. Like most airlines, United is monitoring its early attempts in the market to try and decipher passenger usage trends. “One of the things we have been pleasantly surprised by since we launched the service is that we have had a significantly higher interest in our accelerated speed than we thought we would have. That tells us that customers are clearly looking for a better speed experience and are willing to pay for that product,” added Nasr.
In the digital edition of Via Satellite May coming out next week, read the full interview with Mark Nasr as he talks in-depth about United Airlines’ in-flight connectivity strategy.
