Emirates airline passengers headed to the United States will soon have use of Wi-Fi, mobile service connectivity and live TV broadcasts throughout their journeys, including remote areas over the North Pole and Arctic circle, the airline announced on Wednesday.
Previously, passengers on flights to the US-bound themselves without connectivity for up to four hours as they travelled over Polar regions in areas that geo-stationary satellites are unable to connect with aircraft antennae.
To address the issue, Emirates’ partner Inmarsat will add two elliptical orbit satellites to provide coverage over the North Pole by 2022.
“We are very pleased with this development, which will ensure Emirates continues to lead the industry in providing our customers with a seamless inflight connectivity experience across geographies, on all of our flight routes,” said Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ executive vice president and Chief Operations Office.
Al Redha added that “over the years, we have worked closely with Inmarsat and our supply partners to continually raise the bar on inflight connectivity, and we look forward to further enhancing that experience, taking advantage of new technologies and infrastructure.”
Each month, more than 1 million Wi-Fi connections are made on board Emirates flights around the world.
Source: Arabian Business
