Azul expands its partnership with Viasat to include long-range Wi-Fi
Azul is expanding its in-flight Wi-Fi program to long-haul flights. The airline has expanded its partnership with Viasat to offer the service on its A330neo aircraft.
The new service will initially only be installed on the airline’s new A330-900s, with the system already being installed at the factory. Seven of these aircraft are still on order from Airbus. The first delivery with the Viasat kit is expected to arrive in 2025.
From Brazilians’ desire for real-time sports scores to their desire to stay connected with loved ones on the ground during flights, our hypothesis that this feature is critical to customer satisfaction is being confirmed in the market. – Jason Ward, Chief People and Customer Officer at Azul
The airline activated internet on board its narrow-body fleet in 2021. This offer is free for passengers on board. However, for the A330neo fleet, the companies say passengers “can purchase packages for audio and video streaming, web browsing and messaging.” This means that at least some of the services will be paid and not free for travelers. At the time of publication, a request to Azul for clarification was pending.
The companies also said they will provide options for ad-supported access to streaming sessions powered by the Viasat Advertising platform. Viasat handles ad sales and audience targeting for the network. It enables a variety of service offerings, including different performance tiers or time-based sessions.
Viasat notes that the service is partially supported by Telebras’ Ka-band satellite SGDC (Geostationary Satellite for Defense and Strategic Communications). Viasat also uses this satellite for its terrestrial hotspot services in the Brazilian market. However, to serve the A330neo fleet, the company needs greater Ka-band coverage than SGDC can provide.
Theoretically, this service could also have been provided by the ViaSat-3 F1 satellite, but due to an antenna failure, the geographical coverage is limited. Viasat recently applied to include the SES-17 satellite in its operating licences. This could provide the necessary coverage and capacity to fill the intercontinental gaps in Viasat’s own coverage areas and ensure the operation of the Azul A330neo.
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