Inmarsat's GX Aviation goes live on Air Astana B767
Air Astana has become the first airline in the world to offer Inmarsat's GX Aviation to passengers onboard a widebody aircraft, after the airline selected the next-gen inflight broadband service from Inmarsat partner Rockwell Collins, with it going live onboard the airline's initial Boeing 767.
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Air Astana’s Aigerim Zhambyl (Manager Projects, Inflight Services), Andrey Gulev (Commercial Engineering Manager) and Zhamilya Jaxybekova (Manager Inflight and Ground Product, Inflight Services) are joined by Inmarsat Aviation’s Frederik van Essen (SVP of Strategy and Business Development) and Rockwell Collins’ Ken Schreder (VP of Strategic Programs) and Andy Hubbard (Head of Cabin Connectivity Solutions) to celebrate the announcement that Air Astana has gone live with Inmarsat’s GX Aviation service.
GX Aviation, the world’s first inflight broadband solution with reliable, seamless high-speed global coverage provided through a single operator, has already been installed on the first Air Astana Boeing 767. The service allows passengers to browse the internet, stream videos, check social media and more, with advanced connectivity on par with broadband on the ground.
Air Astana passengers will be able to choose from three connectivity packages: The Light option will cover 15Mb, the Business option will cover 50Mb, and the Super option will cover 100Mb. All services are estimated to operate at an average speed of between 2-5Mbps.
GX Aviation will eventually be available on all three of Air Astana’s Boeing 767s, with system installation on its second aircraft planned be completed in October 2017.
Frederik van Essen, Inmarsat Aviation Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, said: “GX Aviation has already entered commercial service on narrowbody aircraft flights in Europe and the response from both passengers and cabin crew has been outstanding. As the only solution in the market today that has been specifically designed for inflight broadband, it offers unprecedented speed, reliability and consistency. Offering GX Aviation on widebody aircraft was our next major milestone and we are delighted to have achieved that with Air Astana and our partner Rockwell Collins.”