Qatar Airways taps Inmarsat for in-flight broadband

Qatar Airways has become the first major Middle East airline to select Inmarsat’s new GX Aviation in-flight broadband solution for in-flight broadband.

The Inmarsat solution will initially be available to Qatar Airways passengers on board more than 130 aircraft, consisting of Airbus A350s and Boeing 777s.

GX Aviation technology has already been equipped on Qatar Airways’ latest Airbus A350s. Installations on the airline’s remaining Airbus A350s, together with the Boeing 777s, will start on a retrofit basis from this summer.

GX Aviation is touted as the world’s first in-flight connectivity solution with reliable, seamless high-speed global coverage provided through a single operator. Inmarsat says the service allows airline passengers to browse the internet, stream videos, check social media and more during flights, with an on-board connectivity experience “on par with broadband services available on the ground.”

“Broadband transformation on the ground is already well advanced and we are able to transfer that into the very challenging in-flight environment, working with Qatar Airways to make connectivity a success,” said Leo Mondale, president of Inmarsat Aviation.

“Our networks are engineered with multiple layers for redundancy and global coverage. Our design philosophy is to scale up capacity over time to fit the route systems of our airline customers and reflect the industry’s real needs.”

The service will integrate with Qatar Airways’ in-flight entertainment system and ensure that connectivity initiatives, such as its passenger app and aircraft technology, will be strengthened using dependable in-flight broadband. GX Aviation also complements the airline’s latest passenger experience innovations.

Qatar Airways will connect to the GX network using exclusive JetWave terminals produced by Inmarsat partner Honeywell Aerospace. The terminals are designed for ease of installation and maintenance to assure the lowest downtime for any cabin connectivity solution in the market.

The selection of GX Aviation follows a separate announcement that Qatar Airways has activated an advanced new space-based system, supplied by Inmarsat, to track all of its flights across the world.

Inmarsat worked exclusively with Qatar Airways to develop this solution, which uses Inmarsat’s satellite technology to provide the exact real-time location of the airline’s aircraft in latitude and longitude.