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Tag Archives: Cabin Services

In Focus: Next generation passenger connectivity from ARINC

September 3, 2012
Business Aviation News
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ARINC Cabin ConnectToday we are focusing on the brilliant facility of the Cabin Connect Suite offered from ARINC for both passengers and air crew. Cabin Connect has next generation connectivity and enhanced bandwidth provided by a partnership between ARINC and SwiftBroadband.

SwiftBroadband is one of the best, maximum cost effective, global, packet switched satellite communications networks available today. With a combined aviation experience of over 100 years airlines can make the most of the technical expertise of two industry leaders, ARINC and Inmarsat SwiftBroadband.

With ARINC’s Cabin Connect Solution passengers can surf the internet using their own electronic devices which can promote passenger loyalty to your services. In turn Cabin Crew can become more efficient by offering a better level of customer service by using ARINC’s AirCrew Connect. For those key passengers, Cabin crew can now act as a concierge service.  They would be able to remedy customer service issues straight away by having a direct link back to the head office, or ground team whilst in flight and experience an increase in operational the efficiencies.

For additional information please visit: cabinconnect.aero

Airline IT Trends Survey 2012 – Key facts and figures

August 30, 2012
Business Aviation News
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This week I wanted to share a few of the interesting facts and figures found of the executive summary of the Airline IT Trends Survey 2012.

Airlines are more guarded about their outlook for 2013, taking into account a significant economic downside risk. Almost half of the airlines surveyed are still expecting their absolute IT spend to rise. However, the percentage of airlines anticipating growth in IT spending has decreased over the last three years.

For a second consecutive year, mobile services for passengers tops the list of investment programs for airlines, with six out of ten planning major investments in the next three years.

Airlines are continuing to expand their ticket distribution through direct channels. Emerging sales channels such as mobile and social media will have a significant impact on future growth in direct sales.

In the past, selling on an airline’s website has been crucial to driving the transition to direct distribution. Although sales through airline websites will continue to see growth, selling via smart phones is set to become an almost equally important sales channel in the future.

Nine out of ten airlines are planning to sell tickets via mobile phones by 2015, establishing mobile as a mainstream distribution channel for airline tickets. Growing from zero just a few years ago, mobile phones as a distribution channel are expected to generate significant growth in years to come.

Kiosks will continue to play a significant role, with ¾ of airlines increasing the number of check-in kiosks. When it comes to new functionality, however, opinions are split. About half of the respondents do not plan to deploy kiosks for flight transfer or lost baggage reporting. Only 39% of airlines believe kiosks will remain one of the dominant channels to process passengers in the future, highlighting that mobile phones and websites are set to play a more important role for passenger operations in the long-term.

Nine out of ten airlines plan to engage with passengers through mobiles by 2015, and the adoption of new services provided on mobile phones is speeding up. Airlines believe that smart phones can support most, if not all, customer facing interactions including customer service, commerce, in-flight entertainment and passenger processing.

Realise the potential of next generation passenger connectivity

August 30, 2012
Business Aviation News
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ARINC are offering airlines the next generation of passenger connectivity and personal electronic device support with their product Cabin Connect.

ARINC work in partnership with Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband solution to deliver enhanced bandwidth so that airline passengers can now surf the internet, send and receive email, and use universal messaging all through their own portable electronic device, be that laptop, tablet computer e.g. iPad or Playbook, smart phone or portable gaming devices.

ARINC Cabin Connect SwiftBroadband

ARINC Cabin Connect SwiftBroadband

Alongside this ARINC offer AirCrew connect, a solution offering cabin crew connectivity to allow crew to become more efficient and offer a better level of customer service to passengers inflight. Cabin crew can now act as a concierge service for those important passengers, can collect real time CRM data as well as active fault finding and reporting. Anything that can be done on paper can now be logged and sent while inflight, allowing airlines to enjoy increased operational efficiencies.

Thanks to AirCrew Connect it is also possible to do real time fault finding, providing increased efficiencies as any issues with the IFE or onboard systems can either be remedied in flight (dependent upon the airline’s IFE hardware provider) or engineers can be booked to be waiting on stand for the aircraft to arrive at its destination, thus decreasing the amount of downtime the airframe requires.

Supporting various commercial models, ARINC can work with airlines to find the best unique solution to offer to your passengers and crew, creating differentiation and increased value that can help to promote passenger loyalty.

To find out more about the service please visit the ARINC Cabin Connect website.

In Focus – In Flight Broadband

May 28, 2012
Business Aviation News
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Last week we saw the BBC cover this topic in depth.

Onboard internet has been a reality for a while, but not many passengers use it at present, because of a mix of limited availability, speed and cost.

As interest in onboard wifi increases in line with the popularity of mobile devices we heard that Inmarsat plans to launch three new ka-band satellites into orbit in the coming years, with the first in 2013.

Onboard internet is delivered by various methods. In Ka-band passengers are offered a higher speed, and the antennas required for the aircraft are smaller, but the service is vulnerable to bad weather conditions, and fewer satellites are available. In Ku-band there are more satellites but frequency and spend is reduced.

ARINC are one supplier that offers aircraft internet services to the aviation industry. Branded as Cabin Connect they are able to offer enhanced bandwidth by Inmarsat SwiftBroadband and ARIN. Airline passengers can now surf the internet, send and receive email, and use universal messaging all through their own laptop, iPad or Playbook, smart phone or portable gaming devices.

ARINC says “Supporting various commercial models, ARINC can work with airlines to find the best unique solution to offer to your passengers, creating differentiation and increased value that can help to promote passenger loyalty.”

Contact ARINC Cabin Connect to find out more.

Aircraft Broadband - Passenger Communications

In-Flight Connectivity taken to the next level by Honeywell & Inmarsat

April 23, 2012
Business Aviation News
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The next generation of in-flight connectivity systems will increase onboard broadband speeds to 50mbps Inmarsat & Honeywell said this week.

Honeywell will develop the onboard hardware that will connect to Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, made possible by the use of the Ka-band, which is found between 26.5GHz and 40GHz.

Global Xpress is scheduled for launch in 2013, with global service availability for commercial, business aviation and government customers during 2014.

The deal between Honeywell and Inmarsat is exclusive and is estimated to result in US$2.8 billion for Honeywell in sales of hardware, customer service, and maintenance to airlines, governments and OEMs over the next two decades, according to a statement.

Inmarsat already works with ARINC to provide in-flight internet through their SwiftBroadband product in the “Cabin Connect” services. Thanks to the enhanced bandwidth offered by SwiftBroadband and ARINC’s Cabin Connect, airline passengers can surf the internet, send and receive email, and use universal messaging all through their own portable electronic device, be that laptop, tablet computer eg iPad or Playbook, smart phone or portable gaming devices.

These services are currently available for business aviation users here: cabinconnect.aero.

ARINC sees Cabin Connect deal imminent

April 4, 2012
Business Aviation News
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This week FlightGlobal reported that ARINC expects to have a launch airline customer for its wi-fi hotspot product Cabin Connect flying before the end of this year.

ARINC Cabin Connect Passenger Communications

ARINC Cabin Connect Passenger Communications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was at the APEX Expo last September  that the company debuted its Inmarsat SwiftBroadband-supported wi-fi solution. “We expect it to be flying commercially before the end of the year,” says ARINC’s director, satellite solutions and cabin solutions, Lee Costin, adding a customer announcement is likely in “weeks not months”.

ARINC says it has had strong activity in its SwiftBroadband business since Inmarsat appointed it an aero distribution partner. “Last year was our first full year and we’ve had phenomenal growth,” says Costin.

Inmarsat is due to roll out enhancements to the SwiftBroadband service, and ARINC hope to benefit from this. Enhancements include multiple voice channels and data speed increases from 432kbps to 700kbps. Further ahead this will be followed by Inmarsat’s Ka-band Global Xpress system based on the new generation Inmarsat-5 satellites, set for the airline market in 2014.

For more  information please visit: cabinconnect.aero