The Seamless Air Alliance is gaining further momentum towards launch, with the news that it has secured five new members: Etihad Airways, Safran, Adaptive Channel, GlobalReach Technology and SITAONAIR. The alliance is a global collaboration intended to enable travelers boarding any flight, on any airline, anywhere in the world, to use their own devices to automatically connect to the Internet with no complicated login process or paywall. In short, the goal is to make connectivity as easy and enjoyable in the skies as it is on the ground.
The five new companies join the founding members of the alliance, comprising Airbus, Airtel, Delta Air Lines, OneWeb and Sprint, who have since been joined by Air France KLM, Aeromexico, and GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, and global technology companies including Astronics, Collins Aerospace, Comtech, Cyient, iDirect, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Latecoere, Nokia and Panasonic. In all, more than 100 key personnel from across the membership will participate in the alliance’s three working groups, with numbers continuing to increase.
The alliance is moving towards an expected initial demonstration of the technology later in 2019, following work at its new research laboratory setup and through its three working groups, which are writing specifications for the technology, requirements and operations.
“The passenger experience with inflight connectivity remains one of the great technology challenges. From day one we have been determined to deliver on our mission to bring industries and technologies together to make the inflight internet experience simple to access and a delight to use,” said Jack Mandala, CEO of Seamless Air Alliance. “I have been tremendously encouraged by the enthusiastic and committed response we have seen and the widening areas of expertise we can call upon as more and more companies and organizations continue to join us,” he added.
Expect further news from the alliance next week, as it has indicated that it will reveal its latest progress at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and will share details of specification topics that have been completed. The alliance anticipates “massive interest” at the show from the whole communications eco-system.
The alliance is also announcing the release of a new research study on the economic benefit of standardization on the inflight connectivity market at Mobile World Congress. The report is available for download HERE.
