On Sunday, 25 February, Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) announced the formation of the Seamless Air Alliance. The alliance seeks to expand its member mobile operators services into the airline cabins, while continuously providing their mobile customers – via satellite technology – high-speed and uninterrupted in-flight data connectivity, creating a smooth and positive user experience.
The alliance aims to eliminate the extremely large costs and hurdles commonly associated with “acquisition, installation and operation of data access infrastructure bystreamlining system integration and certification, providing open specifications for interoperability, increasing accessibility for passengers, and enabling simple and integrated billing,” reads a statement by Delta.
“What if the best internet you ever experienced was in the air? Keeping this goal in mind, together, we will enable an affordable and frictionless experience for passengers everywhere,” said Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman of OneWeb, adding that “With the launch of our first production satellites set for later this year, we’re one step closer to bridging the global Digital Divide on land and in the air.”
Airbus, a global leader in aeronautics, is “committed to innovation that creates value across the aviation industry,” said Marc Fontaine, Airbus Digital Transformation Officer, adding that “high-speed connectivity is part of the next revolution in aerospace.”
Gil West, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Delta, confirmed that the airline is “constantly looking at innovative ways to improve the customer experience.” He added that Delta is “excited to be collaborating with other visionary companies, and that our existing partner Gogo will be joining the alliance as Delta develops a system that not only benefits Delta customers, but the entire airline industry.”
Dow Draper, Chief Commercial Officer at Sprint said the company is investing heavily to roll out next year their 5G network that will provide their customers with “the best mobile Internet experience possible.”
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia) of Bharti Airtel, the third-largest mobile operator in the world with operations in 16 countries across Asia and Africa, said: “We are delighted to be an initial member of this innovative technology platform to bring seamless connectivity to customers in the true sense… We look forward to collaborating with all partner members to ensure this platform goes live at the earliest.”
Gogo, the market leader in in-flight connectivity, is looking forward to “working with the Alliance to develop future generations of inflight connectivity, which will provide airline passengers worldwide with simple, fast and reliable connectivity,” said Michael Small, CEO of Gogo.
The global initiative, announced on Sunday in Barcelona, will also look at expanding its current membership with other industry operators beyond the five founding members.
