The first aircraft specially equipped to carry multi-orbit internet service on board is back in service. Nearly 50 days after arriving at Consortia Aerospace in Gainesville, Florida, the CRJ-700 operated by SkyWest for American Eagle has completed its installation program and is carrying passengers again.
The aircraft is N611SK. Its first passenger flight with the new equipment was on August 10 from Chicago to Aspen. This flight was delayed a few hours and the aircraft returned to the gate after taxiing out. A similar return to the gate (actually the hangar, since there were no passengers on board) occurred on August 9 as the aircraft prepared to fly over to O’Hare.
A request to American Airlines to confirm whether the service is active and for pricing details is pending at the time of publication.
The aircraft is equipped with Intelsat’s multi-orbit solution, which features the Gilat/Stellar Blu Sidewinder terminal. American signed a contract to equip its regional jet fleet with this solution in December 2023. It is expected to massively increase the speed and capacity of the airline’s regional jet fleet.
Intelsat’s multi-orbit solution communicates with satellites in GEO orbits (mostly Intelsat’s own satellites) or LEO orbits (Eutelsat’s OneWeb constellation). Previously, the companies acknowledged that initial implementations would likely start with GEO services only and then move to LEO services before eventually moving to a truly dynamic offering that can be switched as needed.
That American Airlines will be the first airline to launch the flights, not Alaska Airlines, was first hinted at by PaxEx.Aero in June.
Intelsat has signed contracts with American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Air Canada for its regional jet solution. All aircraft are to be retrofitted with the new hardware by the end of 2025.
Read more about Intelsat’s journey to deliver multi-orbit internet onboard:
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