HAMBURG — The inflight connectivity (IFC) landscape is changing at an incredible speed, with industry consolidation, new onboard hardware, new satellites, new constellations, and new ways of integrating that all together for operational and cabin benefits. At this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo, that integration was key, so we delved deep with experts at the show at service providers and with airframers.
Since the beginning of its widespread adoption nearly twenty years ago, the key distinctions in inflight connectivity were speed and bandwidth of geosynchronous earth orbit satellites. In recent years, from the customer perspective this meant choosing between faster yet geographically restricted Ka-band offerings or slower yet global Ku-band services.
(Two limited exceptions here are the largely air-to-ground service provided by Deutsche Telekom as part of the European Aviation Network, its partnership with Inmarsat, over continental airspace, and the ever-decreasing air-to-ground service over the US created by Gogo.)
With Inmarsat’s expansion of its Global Xpress Ka-band constellation, plus its acquisition of Viasat and the plans to meld the two networks together, the key differences today revolve around how inflight Internet service providers can meld together the benefits of the multiple types of satellites — low, mid and geosynchronous earth orbits, each of which has their advantages and disadvantages — into a hybrid network.
Key proposals about the backbone are starting to take shape
On the aircraft currently being built, as a result, the key questions are around infrastructure, and especially the backbone into which the numerous elements of the connected aircraft will be plugged. In terms of flight and airline operations, this will include many elements of the Internet of Things: connected galleys and lavatories, e-enabled cargo operations, predictive maintenance, plus smart integrations into seats and bins.
Here, Airbus has updated the concept of operations of the HBCplus (HBC for High Bandwidth Connectivity) backbone it proposes as supplier-furnished equipment, which launched as recently as 2022.
The Internet of Things-driven improvements will connect via the Aircraft Interface Device to enable, for example, caterers to be notified about loading requirements, or maintenance operators about a fault — or even predictive algorithm-driven requirements. These requirements might include an airline being able to change the way it replaces and overhauls expensive and scarce parts of the aircraft or its interior, based, say, on the number of cycles that an actuator has been used rather than on a calendar basis or waiting for it to fail.
“Connectivity can actually leverage both passenger experience [and] more connected operations. We want to show the connected aircraft vision that we have, that has been the source for the creation of a new connected aircraft programme within Airbus this year,” Mehdi El Kouch, Airbus’ head of connected aircraft marketing, tells us.
This programme includes step-change additions to HBCplus, as well as new hardware and service provider options.
The changing multi-supplier landscape remains a challenge
A key element of HBCplus is the Internet service provider agnosticism of the system: Airbus already had Intelsat, Panasonic, SES and Viasat on board as MSPs (managed service providers) and is now adding Hughes and its Ka-band solutions. Airbus is also working with Telesat and the HBCplus hardware providers to achieve compatibility with Telesat’s low earth orbit constellation.
This year, a major focus has been on improving the antennas available, making them interoperable between more of the elements of the hybrid networks that look set to be the future of inflight connectivity, particularly the geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) constellations.
To start, a new Get SAT Ku-band antenna is currently in flight testing on board an Airbus A310 MRTT military aircraft. Get SAT itself was recently purchased by French tier 1 supplier Thales, and this antenna will be integrated into a Safran Passenger Innovations terminal that Airbus is using for its Ku-band offering for HBCplus.
The complexities imaginable from needing to work with a Thales antenna integrated into a Safran terminal on an Airbus backbone to connect to a network provided by yet a fourth HBCplus supplier (and potentially multiple sub-suppliers) is illustrative of the quagmire in which inflight connectivity finds itself, and what Airbus is trying to resolve with the HBCplus backbone.
“Last year, we had Viasat and SES as service providers; that is still the case. But this Ku antenna is different. It provides Intelsat and Panasonic for the GEO coverage, complemented by OneWeb for the LEO coverage. What is different is that this antenna is an ESA technology — electronically steered antenna,” El Kouch tells us. “That allows multi-beam operations — not only multi-orbit like the Ka, but also multi-beam, so being able to connect to different satellites at the same time. It’s going to be offerable this year for an entry into service in the course of 2026.”
At the same time, Airbus has a ThinKom Ka-band antenna currently in flight testing on its Airspace Explorer A350 test vehicle (MSN2), which will be the first HBCplus offering delivered, on board Airbus A350s that arrive later this year. The Internet service provider on board will be Viasat.
Airbus also confirmed HBCplus orders at firm order stage on widebody aircraft for (alphabetically) Air Algérie, Air India, Ethiopian Airlines and — as a new customer — Philippine Airlines on its forthcoming Airbus A350s. An undisclosed customer is also the first for the single-aisle segment, for its Airbus A320 family aircraft.
It’s notable that the airlines concerned here range from some of the world’s biggest to some of those serving specific geographical niches. Supplier-furnished programmes in a similar vein to HBCplus have, in the past, often been thought of as a sort of option for those airlines not of a sufficient size to support the expertise and investment needed for a full buyer-furnished inflight connectivity programme. That both, say, Emirates (some 250 aircraft with over 300 on order) and Philippine Airlines (under 50 aircraft, with half that on order) find HBCplus to be a compelling offer is a vote of confidence in Airbus’ work in this space.
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