Airbus and SITA joint venture OnAir and TriaGnoSys, of Wessling, Germany, on Thursday unveiled a connectivity system for business jets. OnAir is the telecoms services provider, with TriaGnoSys providing the hardware and software elements for both the aircraft and the ground.
The first commercial deployment will be over the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband service, but the solution can operate over any IP backhaul communications link, whether satellite-based or not.
Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir, said, "Given how much business people use their mobile phones, it isn’t surprising they want stay in touch when they are flying, and that is particularly true of business and VIP passengers. We are therefore making it very simple for operators of business jets to provide inflight connectivity services. It is also very simple for passengers: just make a call, send a text message or look at email as you do on the ground."
Axel Jahn, Managing Director of TriaGnoSys, said, "Not only is the airborne equipment the lightest ever designed for business jets to support such comprehensive services, it is also straightforward to install. The components are simply connected by Ethernet to the satellite link. They do not require specific cooling and their small size and weight means they do not impinge on cabin space."