Aircraft Interiors – industry development summary: Aug-2022

IFC market expected to double within 10 years: PART ONE

The demand for connectivity has led to an uptick in IFC services within the commercial aviation market, with more than 100 airlines worldwide offering IFC to passengers. Improvements in bandwidth coverage will lead to further growth in the sector, with the global IFC market expected to increase from approximately 10,500 aircraft to more than 21,000 aircraft by 2031, according to Euroconsult.

Ka- and Ku-band service have become prominent solutions for international airlines since their introduction, delivering improved service quality, reductions in manufacturing and transport costs, as well as high data transfer rates.

Asia: Panasonic has a strong hold in the regional market; Intelsat makes a pivotal move in India

Panasonic Avionics has a leading position in the Asian IFC market with its eXConnect Ku-band solution, with a fourfold increase in aircraft installations over the last seven years, including major installations on All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and China Eastern Airlines aircraft.

In 2018 Panasonic signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Inmarsat to combine services, allowing Inmarsat to become Panasonic's exclusive provider of Ka-band connectivity for commercial aviation. Panasonic expects more than 10,000 aircraft will be connected to its global high-speed communications network by 2025.

IFC service in Asia between Aug-2015 and Aug-2022

Source: CAPA Aircraft Interiors Database.

India - an underserved market with potential

India is an underserved market with Inmarsat and Panasonic holding a slim market share in the country.

According to Inmarsat, SpiceJet was expected to be the first Indian airline to provide GX Aviation Ka-band services, after securing licensing approval from India's Department of Telecommunications in late 2021.

SpiceJet planned to introduce the IFC solution on its fleet of 737 MAX 8s from early 2022, however the airline has not rolled out the service to date.

Intelsat is making movements within the market following regulatory approval. In Aug-2022 the provider launched inflight connectivity services in India through an agreement with the satellite communication service provider Nelco. Under the agreement, aircraft flying to and from India can access Intelsat's 2Ku inflight service.

No Indian airline has the service yet, although the recent development could land some contract wins for Intelsat.

IFC market share in India by supplier: based on current passenger aircraft as of Aug-2022

Source: CAPA Aircraft Interiors Database.

South Pacific: upward trend expected to continue with long haul deliveries

The South Pacific was a relatively underserved IFC market in 2015, until Viasat, Intelsat and Inmarsat secured service agreements with Qantas, Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, respectively. It is likely the three service providers will maintain their stronghold in the market as the airlines look to expand their international fleets.

Qantas placed an order for 12 A350-1000s in May-2022 and it is expected that Viasat will remain as the primary IFC service provider for the airline's long haul fleet expansion with Ka-band services.

Air New Zealand also signed with Inmarsat in 2016 for the installation of GX for Aviation connectivity, and Inmarsat is expected to continue as the airline's IFC supplier for the upcoming 22 787 aircraft due to begin operations in 2024.

Virgin Australia signed with Intelsat for the supply of 2Ku satellite connectivity on international and domestic services in Mar-2017. Intelsat will likely continue supporting Virgin Australia with its 2Ku solution, as the airline is expected to take delivery of 737 MAX 8s by the end of 2027.

IFC market share by service in the South Pacific between Aug-2015 and Aug-2022

Source: CAPA Aircraft Interiors Database.

Middle East: higher uptake in IFC solutions; Saudia experiments with new solutions

The Middle East has a relatively higher penetration of IFC adoption - almost half of aircraft currently operated by commercial airlines are equipped with IFC technology, compared to a global IFC market average of approximately one third, as of Aug-2022.

The market is positioned as the global widebody hub, and the IFC uptake is primarily due to Middle Eastern operators equipping their long haul fleets with Ku- and Ka-band services. Almost 90% of total widebody aircraft operated by commercial operators have IFC services available, while almost 25% of total narrowbody aircraft are equipped with IFC technology.

Inmarsat is the market leader in the region, holding more than half of the market share, with GX Aviation and SwiftBroadBand solutions available on the majority of Middle Eastern airlines including Emirates, Saudia, Etihad, Qatar Airways, SaudiGulf and Gulf Air.

IFC Market in the Middle East between Aug-2015 and Aug-2022

Source: CAPA Aircraft Interiors Database.

Saudia - a unique service airline in the IFC market

Saudia is a representative airline in the Middle Eastern IFC market - it has a higher than average uptake of IFC services on its narrowbody and widebody fleet (more than 90% of current fleet), with the majority of aircraft fitted with Inmarsat's SwiftBroadBand L-band IFC service.

It is a unique service provider, as it is the leading provider of IFC services with L-band solution, followed by Emirates and Qatar Airways. The airline is also the launch customer of Taqnia Space's Ka/Ku hybrid terminal for selected A320ceo and 777-300ER aircraft.

However, Saudia will take a different approach with its IFC service delivery moving forward, announcing that it will select Falcon 300 Ka-band from Stellar Blu (formerly GDC Technics) to upgrade IFC services.

In Aug-2022 Inmarsat and Stellar Blu completed the development of the Falcon 300 terminal for GX Aviation inflight broadband.

The Falcon 300 has full type approval for use over Inmarsat's Global Xpress satellite network. The Falcon 300 will enter commercial service with Saudia from early 2023, with retrofits on 20 A321neo and 15 A321XLR aircraft. Inmarsat's SVP inflight connectivity William Huot-Marchand noted that the solution would deliver "higher speeds and better consistency" than Saudia's current IFC service offering.

Saudia: IFC installation between Aug-2015 and Aug-2022

Source: CAPA Aircraft Interiors Database.

Little doubt that the proliferation in coverage will boost bandwidth availability and reliability

Recent announcements from satellite providers leave little doubt that the proliferation in coverage will boost bandwidth availability and reliability.

Network and satellite operators have made the following announcements in Aug-2022:

• Intelsat and OneWeb signed a global distribution partnership agreement to offer airlines inflight connectivity solutions, with Intelsat distributing OneWeb's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services to airlines. The companies expect the multi-orbit solution to be in service by 2024.
• Get SAT launched the LESA Aero Ku electronic steerable antenna (ESA), designed for multi-orbit and multi-satellite constellation operations.
• ST Engineering iDirect signed a contract with the satellite operator Türksat for the ground systems required to run services over the Türksat 5B satellite, enabling the extension of broadband services over major air routes and regions, including Africa and the Middle East. The new services are expected to begin in 3Q2022.

Latest global interior updates

Asia & South Pacific

• Japan Airlines upgraded its international fleet of Boeing 737-800s with seating refurbishments and the installation of Intelsat's 2Ku service. The airline has not outlined how many aircraft will be upgraded in the future.
• Qantas Airways entered into an entertainment partnership with Paramount Australia and New Zealand, through which content from the Paramount+ streaming service will be available via the airline's inflight entertainment (IFE) system from Aug-2022

Europe, Middle East & Africa

• Emirates Airline started trials of its cabin upgrade programme, which includes cabin retrofits for 67 A380s and 53 Boeing 777 aircraft. Emirates aims to complete the (over) USD2 billion programme by Apr-2025.
• KLM launched service with its 'Premium Comfort' cabin class on the Amsterdam Schiphol-New York JFK route. KLM plans to equip all Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 with the Premium Comfort cabin class, featuring the MiQ seat from Collins Aerospace Interior Systems.
• Air France retrofitted a 777-300ER with its new long haul business class in Aug-2022. It is the first of 12 777-300s equipped with 48 new direct-aisle, lie-flat Versa seats supplied by Safran. In addition, the airline installed its new premium economy and economy seats on the aircraft, accounting for 48 and 273 seats respectively.

Americas

• Thales reported that 55 Spirit Airlines aircraft equipped with Thales' 'FlytLIVE' high speed connectivity solution had transitioned to the new, high-throughput SES-17 satellite.
• RECARO Aircraft Seating installed 240 SL3710 economy class seats on JetSMART's new A321neo.

Other OEM news

• JAMCO Corporation introduced the 'Quest for Elegance' business class seat. The product is expected to be prepared for installation in 2024 or early 2025.