The demand for in-flight connectivity (IFC) among passengers is expected to soar with IFC expected to generate $37 billion in cumulative revenue by 2027, industry experts revealed

According to Northern Sky Research's (NSR) Aeronautical Satcom Markets, 6th Edition report, this revenue will be driven primarily by new HTS services and greater penetration in all regions of the world. NSR projects that demand will reach almost 295 Gbps of high-throughput satellite (HTS) capacity and more than 92 transponders of FSS Ku-band demand by 2027.
 
The battle for customers is well underway, shifting to a more practical terrain where passenger experience and business models are essential.  “Many airlines are still unsure of what they receive when they install IFC on their planes,” said Claude Rousseau, NSR research director and report author. “They aim to know exactly what passengers receive and not just what the network can deliver. To get there, service providers, who still are not profiting from the IFC boom, will need a multitude of tools and value-added services to improve delivery and address huge demand for IFC for the coming decade.”
 
NSR estimates only one-quarter of all Iata-registered airlines had some type of passenger IFC under contract at the end of 2017. HTS capacity deals signed in the last three years are starting to roll-out across fleets of both wide-body and narrow-body aircraft. However, a slower than expected pace of installs delayed revenue generation as margins suffer in the face of lower capacity prices and airlines wanting in on ‘sharing the savings’.
 
As such, NSR expects 2018 to see a near-doubling of revenues and 50 per cent more aircraft with in-flight connectivity capabilities. Over the next decade, overall aero satcom markets will still be led by MSS L-band units, which are taking a turn for the better with more demand for safety services and increased supply from both LEO and GEO satellites enter service. - TradeArabia News Service