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| Vietnam Airlines flight. Photo: Wikipedia |
[Avionics Today 09-16-2014] Gogo has won bidding to provide Vietnam Airlines with In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) services on the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft and a majority of its Airbus A350 aircraft. While both companies are currently negotiating a definitive agreement, the fleet will likely be outfitted with a mix of Inmarsat’s new GX Aviation Ka-band service and SwiftBroadband connectivity. Vietnam is expected to be the first commercial airline to use the technology, with the commercial global services set to begin at the end of June 2015.
“GX Aviation is gathering momentum fast. The first satellite is in operation and the other two satellites are awaiting launch to support a global commercial service expected at the end of June 2015,” said Leo Mondale, president of aviation at Inmarsat. “As the technology challenges are now largely met, we are able to enter into firm contracts with airline customers, and it is particularly exciting to have Vietnam Airlines, who are expanding rapidly in the Asian market, as our GX Aviation launch customer.”