British Airways is one of the brands set to benefit from a new deal between the International Airlines Group and internet service provider Gogo from next year.
Under terms of the deal, the company’s long-haul flights – as well as some operated by Iberia and Aer Lingus – will start being upgraded to faster ‘2Ku’ technology, which can provide speeds of up to 70Mbps.
“2Ku is delivering a ground-like performance to aircraft flying around the world today. But one of the many benefits of 2Ku is that it’s built on an open architecture and can leverage numerous Ku satellites around the world today and new advancements in the Ku-band coming online in the future. This means the technology will get even better over time and will provide passengers with a superior connectivity experience now and in the future.”
The first British Airways flights to offer the faster service will begin next year, with the remainder of IAG’s aircraft (Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 primarily) set to be upgraded by 2019.
While delivering 70Mbps to a plane travelling at hundreds of miles-per-hour sounds like an impressive feat, and it is, Gogo will begin testing new technology that provides up to 400Mbps from next year too.
It’s worth pointing out, however, that these ‘headline’ speeds are split across all passengers, not each. Pricing hasn’t been disclosed for the new service.
Via ISPReview
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