It's time to future-proof in-flight and at-sea connectivity

Over the past year and a half, the COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of connectivity wherever you are, as people around the world continue to work from home and many things, from school to healthcare, remain virtual. As the travel industry moves toward recovery – with positive signs such as increasing air ticket prices and cruise booking curves at record length – it is more important than ever for airline and cruise executives to look ahead.

Many of the challenges and passenger needs from pre‐pandemic travel have jumped back to the forefront, such as the expectation for “home‐like” connectivity in the skies and at sea. At the same time, new challenges – such as rapidly shifting routes due to fluctuating demand and travel restrictions – present a renewed need for flexibility and agility.

To rise to these challenges, leaders at these companies must rethink their connectivity strategies and future‐proof their networks with new technologies. In a constantly transforming and crowded landscape, air and cruise lines’ passenger experience and ability to remain competitive depend on it.

Challenges old and new

While high‐speed, reliable and affordable satellite connectivity in the air or at sea has always been somewhat of a challenge, it is especially difficult along far northern routes where traditional geostationary (GEO) satellites cannot reach or “see,” leading to connectivity gaps in flights or cruises that traverse over the Polar regions.

Similarly, as travel starts picking up over the coming months, the old issue of network congestion around airports or seaports will reemerge. Global, seamless, high‐performing connectivity has become a crucial piece of the passenger experience for both aviation and cruise, impacting net promoter scores and customer loyalty. Passenger experience is critical now more than ever.

In-flight or at‐sea passenger connectivity has historically been used for entertainment and keeping up with work – and this will remain important – but moving forward there could be a greater need for travelers to have real‐time access to health, safety and immigration information for their destination or accommodations. This further underscores the importance of incorporating next‐generation networks and delivering a consistent, high‐performing user experience for every passenger, on every flight or cruise, no matter how many people connect at once or how remote the route is.

This now‐standard passenger expectation is further complicated by a newly urgent challenge: the need for flexible and agile route management as demand (hopefully) continues to rise. As airlines and cruise companies ramp up operations and need to add or alter routes quite frequently over the next year and beyond, the networks that serve the aviation and maritime sectors need to be flexible and agile themselves.

Although we hope travel restrictions will continue to ease across the world, companies must recognize that the opposite is still a possibility, again reinforcing the need for a dynamic network that can flex at scale. Regardless of what the future holds, fluctuation is inevitable, and connectivity networks must be able to respond nimbly – with enough bandwidth to still meet the connectivity expectations of every passenger.

New satellite technologies are the answer

When it comes to connectivity, air and cruise lines are looking for affordability, reliability, speed, security and overall quality, no matter their fleet size or geographic coverage needs. This is not a new need. But new technologies, such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks, are helping air and cruise companies reimagine what their network can offer passengers and flight operations more broadly. LEO networks are closer to Earth than traditional GEO networks, which allows for 35 times faster connectivity – in other words, faster streaming, downloads, internet and more.

This combined with flexibility and resiliency will be transformative for aviation and maritime connectivity service providers – and, by extension, their customers. Initial demonstrations are already highlighting the benefits of this technology – for example, recent tests with Global Eagle and Telenor Maritime over Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite showcased hardware that is future‐compatible with LEO with fiber‐like connectivity performance.

For air and cruise lines looking to address challenges and passenger needs old and new, LEO connectivity can check all the boxes. LEO offers a real‐time, always‐on connectivity experience with true global coverage – so no matter where travelers fly, cruise or sail, they will have the same home‐like connectivity needed in today’s world. Added benefits with LEO constellations designed specifically for enterprise services such as scalable, concentrated capacity around large travel hubs and busy routes can meet passengers’ increasing demands for high‐speed video streaming, gaming, VPN, online shopping and more, no matter where they travel.

Further, LEO networks that are built as “mesh networks” where each satellite is optically linked to adjacent satellites, provide increased data routing flexibility and resiliency and eliminate single‐point failures. This will increase the agility for air and cruise lines to dynamically adjust or alter routes in the coming years.

When looking toward the future, airlines and cruise operators need LEO network performance and commercial terms that ensure that their connectivity can dynamically increase and decrease as needed – a critical point as routes and travel restrictions constantly change. From plane to plane or ship to ship, these companies need to know that they will be able to provide the same level of connectivity to every single passenger, no matter where in the world they are.

As a result, air and cruise lines need providers who can guarantee committed information rates across their entire fleet, without introducing contention into the network, which limits the ability for multiple passengers to connect at once. Identifying providers that can meet these needs now will ensure companies are well‐positioned to offer exceptional Internet experiences in the future.

As we move toward a post‐pandemic world, air and cruise companies need to make sure they are finding ways to offer the high‐speed, reliable and resilient connectivity that the passengers of today and of the future require. Future‐proofing networks by exploring these new technologies now and partnering with connectivity vendors that are installing forward‐compatible hardware for LEO networks will ensure long‐term sustainability and the ability to safeguard against – and survive – potential future industry‐changing events.