Delta Air Lines will add diversity to its inflight internet supply and Hughes has a launch customer for its new Jupiter in-flight service offering. The two will pair up to bring Wi-Fi to more than 400 aircraft across Delta’s fleet.
Our partnership with Hughes to create a low-weight, high-capability, gate-to-gate solution for our regional fleet brings us ever closer to fleet-wide connectivity at the speed and reliability our customers expect and unlocks our ability to elevate the experience further in the years to come.
– Glenn Latta, Delta’s managing director, In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity
The solution brings the smallest planes in Delta’s fleet in line with their larger siblings, allowing fast, free (for SkyMiles members) connectivity from gate to gate.
While Hughes has been involved in the aero connectivity business for more than a decade, the Delta deal is its first direct relationship with an airline. The agreement covers Delta’s regional jet fleet, including the CRJ-700/900 family (~180 aircraft) and the Embraer E175 family (~140 aircraft). It also covers the 717s (~88 planes), all of which currently fly with the limited-capacity ground-based solution.
We’ve got the team of experts in house, we’ve got the secret sauce. I think we’re in a great place to help airlines and, ultimately, passengers.
– Reza Rasoulian, VP, Hughes
Hughes will provide connectivity via Ka-band links on its JUPITER satellite constellation, including JUPITER 3, its highest capacity satellite ever which launched in July and will enter service later this year. The companies anticipate aircraft installations will begin in Q2 2024. The retrofit work should complete by the end of 2025 to coincide with the sunsetting of the air-to-ground network those planes use for connectivity today.
With Delta as the first direct customer for Hughes, the company must prove not just that it can deliver the satellite capacity, but that it can also support the other facets of the implementation. Hughes VP Reza Rasoulian believes the company’s long history leaves it perfectly suited for that role. “We’re experts at managing complex networks, stitching together networks, bringing capacity to customers. We’re a technology house,” he explains. “And, frankly, you get to the point where you look at the passenger experience, and you’re like, ‘Well, I’m doing 80% of the work.’ To go the remaining X percent to deliver the experience, it is not that much of a heavy lift.”
Rasoulian also notes Hughes is building on decades of experience (including more than 10 years in aero connectivity) “together with the assets that we own and the technology to really come up with, we believe, a very unique set of offerings.”
The Hughes implementation includes ThinKom’s ThinAir Ka1717 multi-orbit antenna as part of the install package. This (along with the potential Delta/Hughes relationship) was first tipped as likely in June 2023.
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