Illustration: Nicolas Venturelli
Written for the Airline Passenger Experience Association
APEX Experience Magazine – Issue 6.3 – June/July 2016
The Chinese airline market continues to see double-digit growth in domestic and international passenger traffic, with thousands of aircraft needed to meet the demand over the next twenty years. According to Boeing, the Chinese domestic airline market is expected to become the world’s largest. With this onslaught of new travelers comes the need for Chinese airlines to provide inflight connectivity on par with the rest of the world. Although the regulatory process has so far moved at a deliberate rate, recent announcements suggest that more passengers on Chinese airlines will soon be online.
In May 2015, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved inflight connectivity testing and service qualification. Since then, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have begun infight connectivity operations, with more airlines expected to follow soon. Panasonic Avionics, Gogo, Inmarsat, Global Eagle Entertaiment (GEE), and Thales are just some of the providers reported to have agreements in place for the initial ramp-up of service. But it’s early days, with merely a few dozen Chinese airliners now able to connect.
“We have two programs going on,” says Mike Douglass, senior vice-president, sales and marketing for GEE. “We had a trial of live tv on one of Air China’s 777s in the fall, and this month, we will start a full trial of connectivity on that 777. In late summer or early fall, that trial will also carry over to a 737.” GEE will also equip five aircraft for each of Hainan Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines for the initial phase of connectivity operations.
Reflecting the Chinese government’s approach to the Internet, Douglass says the GEE can meet the requirements of the market. “We have the technology that can restrict certain sites, and restrict certain components, so from a technology perspective, it’s very do-able. It’s really up to the government how they want to monitor and restrict access, but our technology can handle that.”
Read the original story in APEX Experience Magazine – Issue 6.3