The agreement will see Intelsat distribute OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services to airlines worldwide together with Intelsat’s existing geo-stationary (GEO) satellite service.
The companies – which expect the multi-orbit solution to be in service by 2024 – say there will be no significant gaps in coverage or capacity, including at busy hubs, across oceans, and over polar routes.
“We are proving that, through the power of partnership, a superior suite of multi-orbit capabilities can be offered to better serve the growing connectivity needs of the commercial aviation industry, delivering the highest value coupled with the lowest risk,” said Ben Griffin, OneWeb’s vp of Mobility Services.
For Intelsat, Jeff Sare, president of Commercial Aviation, commented:
“The hybrid service offering further allows the global airline community to plan their suite of next-generation onboard services with confidence – not only ensuring a future-proofed passenger inflight connectivity experience, but also the implementation of a connected airline digitalization strategy.”
Inflight connectivity
Earlier in the summer, OneWeb completed tests (pictured) of delivering inflight connectivity on a Boeing test flight using its low earth orbit (LEO) network of satellites.
It was working with Stellar Blu, aviation terminal specialists, and also partnered with antenna specialists Ball Aerospace to incorporate its electronically steered arrays (ESA) into the terminal used.
This was the ‘Sidewinder’, which is ARINC 791 compliant, to ease integration on commercial aircraft, with a smaller form factor option for installation on regional jets and single-aisle airliners.
OneWeb has recently merged with Eutelsat.
See also: Intelsat completes acquisition of Gogo inflight broadband
