On an Air France flight from Marseille to Paris recently, I couldn’t help but notice a striking addition to the standard safety briefing. “Ladies and Gentlemen, due to the recent safety issues with Galaxy Note 7 devices, we ask passengers to ensure your device is completely switched off and stored away for the duration of…
Having lived and worked in Peru for a couple of years, I try to take a keen interest in all things Latin America. This is especially so when it comes to researching the market for in-flight Internet and mobile phone services and breaking down our stats on connected aircraft by geography as I frequently do.…
Back in October 2014, Valour Consultancy published its first report on in-flight connectivity (IFC) in the commercial aviation market. Fast forward to June 2016 and we are just about to release the second edition of this highly-acclaimed piece of research. With preliminary data now available to companies that have already purchased the report, we thought…
Last year, we wrote a piece of the steady stream of companies now active, or looking to be active in the wireless in-flight entertainment (W-IFE) market. Though some 30 companies have announced their intentions, only about half have solutions that are currently flying. One of the reasons many offerings take so long to make it…
Every parent who has ever gone through the nightmare of a long journey has almost certainly been asked the immortal words, “Are we there yet?” by a bored child. Probably numerous times on the same trip too. And this can be just as annoying as the long journey itself as Homer Simpson found out when…
November 24, 2015 02:07 PM Greenwich Mean Time LONDON. While in-flight Wi-Fi deployments continue to grab the headlines, the closely related market for wireless in-flight entertainment (W-IFE) rapidly gathers speed. According to Valour Consultancy’s latest research, the number of aircraft equipped with solutions that enable wireless delivery of IFE content will exceed 4,000 by the…
If you’re reading this, you’ll most probably know that I write about in-flight connectivity and entertainment (IFEC) quite a lot in my role at Valour Consultancy. You might not know I also lend my expertise to a number of other research organisations and have covered everything from smart home technology, home energy management and the…
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to fly Turkish Airlines for the first time as I made my way to the Aircraft Interiors Middle East (AIME) exhibition in Dubai. You might be wondering why I am writing about this now given the event took place at the beginning of February and the answer to…
George Harrison once remarked that Hamburg was like an apprenticeship for The Beatles – a place where they learnt how to play in front of people. And so it proved; by the time the band returned for their sixth and final visit in 1966, they were a worldwide phenomenon. When I left the recent Aircraft…
Recently, I had the pleasure of sampling Panasonic Avionics’ satellite in-flight connectivity (IFC) solution. On my travels back from Singapore to London via Frankfurt, ably assisted by Deutsche Lufthansa, I was able to test its FlyNet mobile and Internet services. Attempting to beat the proverbial test starting gun, which Linford Christie failed to do so…
Another meeting in Europe, another flight, and another opportunity to test in-flight connectivity (IFC) for ourselves. This time, the flight was with Norwegian Air Shuttle, a carrier that is fast gaining a reputation for its customer experience, and the destination was Portugal. The IFC for Norwegian is provided by Global Eagle Entertainment (Row 44) and…
Come the turn of the year, passengers flying on one of over 4,000 connected commercial aircraft will have access to in-flight connectivity (IFC). However, unless you’ve flown a domestic flight in the United States, chances are you’ve not yet experienced the wonders of the web at 35,000 feet. Thanks mainly to the continued dominance of…