Covid-19 has had a remarkable impact on consumer behaviours. In this article, we consider the impact of accelerating digital trends on the IFC Business Model. Can airlines pursue a simple approach to in-flight connectivity? Background A pandemic-fueled 18 months has given rise to an undeniable acceleration in the way people go about their daily lives.…
As part of a continued effort to enhance the quality and value of our research services, we’re proud to announce a partnership with airline intelligence provider ch-aviation, merging its extensive fleet database with our In-Flight Connectivity and Entertainment (IFEC) data. This collaboration enables our IFC and IFE quarterly tracker subscribers to bolt-on tail-level fleet and…
It was refreshing to hear Mark Cheyney, Virgin Atlantic’s IFEC Development Manager, talk about the carrier’s in-flight connectivity (IFC) strategy during a recent Global Connected Aircraft podcast. He estimated that rolling out free Wi-Fi will take the airline years, as opposed to months, a statement devoid of marketing spiel. Instead, it reflected awareness of the…
Many reading this will be well aware of how important the North America region has been in the context of IFC. Carriers in the region were amongst the early adopters of IFC, globally, aided by the launch of Gogo’s Air-to-Ground network, which at one point served more than 2,600 aircraft. In true chicken and egg…
As I continue to work on our 2020 update of Valour’s “The Future of In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) Content” report, a number of interesting themes are emerging in the context of what will drive a recovery and, subsequently, the future growth of this sector. I’ll save most of the findings for the report itself, but I…
On March 27th 2020, London-based satellite firm, OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, and in doing so surprised some and merely confirmed what others had seen coming for some time. Much has been written, both pre- and post-bankruptcy, around the challenges associated with making the LEO business model work and,…
One of the major upsides to my role at Valour Consultancy is having the opportunity to visit clients in various countries around the world. I certainly don’t claim to be a globetrotter, but last week I managed to add country number 39 to the list of those I’d visited; Israel. The purpose was to meet…
Mainland China has been unanimously pegged as the next big growth area in the global In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) market for some time now. The country’s aviation sector continues to grow at pace and local airlines possess largely unconnected fleets of almost 3,700 aircraft, 85 per cent of which are single aisle. According to our most…
Earlier this year, I wrote an article which spoke about the industry entering a phase of action rather than talk as various service providers set to work on backlogs built up in recent years. This process began as 2017 came to a close and has continued throughout 2018. A notable and perhaps worrying side effect…
Anticipation is a term sewn into the very fabric of the aviation industry. It is felt by the airline waiting to receive a new aircraft ordered years earlier, by the satellite operator waiting for news of a successful launch, by a hardware manufacturer waiting for its latest technology to go through the certification process, and…