APEX TECH 2024: Day One IFC Panel Sessions, in Brief
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The first day of APEX TECH 2024 at the Sheraton Gateway in Los Angeles included three panel discussions centering on IFC. Topics included “The Best IFC Setup for Airlines in the Future” to “Commercializing Advanced Connectivity in Aviation” and “Most Promising Ancillary Use Cases and their Dependence on IFC.” Below is a round-up of the main points from each of the sessions.
How Does LEO Complement GEO and Vice Versa? What is the Best IFC Setup for Airlines in the Future?
Moderator Mary Kirby set the scene for this panel discussion with a brief overview of GEO and LEO satellites before the panelists began discussing how the latter technology will change the in-flight connectivity (IFC) landscape.
Director of Aviation Terminal Product Management at Viasat Karthik Bharathan was unwavering in his support of cutting-edge GEO satellites, which he said can now be designed to provide “intelligent bandwidth” using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In contrast to older GEO satellites that were designed “artisanally” to support a specific geography, he said that one of the satellites in the Viasat-3 constellation, Viasat EMEA, can move away from that region when extra coverage is needed other areas.
Interestingly, he noted, “The vocabulary we’re using represents that of yield management in the network planning department at airlines. They think about the correct load factor for the airplane, and that’s how we need to think about bandwidth.” For Bharathan, this is the key to building resilience.
The other panelists were excited about multi-orbit offerings that encompass both GEO and LEO satellites. As a self-professed “one-stop-shop” providing LEO and GEO services, Oneweb’s Market Development Director Calahan opined that there would be noticeably different experiences for users of GEO only versus a combined GEO/LEO offering, with the latter being more positive. The company will launch its aviation service this September, with Calahan confirming Oneweb is already planning on releasing new satellites in 2026 to grow capacity.
“We should be as un-sticky for a customer as possible, which is good for airlines, but not so good for suppliers.”
Bill Milroy, ThinKom Solutions
Intelsat’s SVP Engineering Patrick Walsh echoed Calahan’s opinion that the passenger experience when using LEO was a significant improvement on traditional GEO offerings. The company has been flying passengers on its experimental jet for a year, telling them there are no limitations on what they can use connectivity for. “One thing we’ve learned is that users know what network we’re on without us telling them. They know when we switch, because the experience on LEO is noticeable,” he explained. However, he continued on to say that a multi-orbit constellation is useful when dealing with peaks, so that the extra demand can be offloaded to GEO satellites.
Telesat’s Senior Technical Product Manager Brian Kirby acknowledged that his company was late to the game from a LEO perspective with its Lightspeed network, but said he hopes “the wait is worth it.” Telesat will scale up its dedicated mobility capacity from 2026. Like all other panelists, he said the company’s primary focus is on making sure its hardware offering is future-proofed to accommodate airlines’ changing wants and needs.
Flexibility is also central to a successful IFC setup for airlines in the mind of Chairman and CTO of ThinKom Solutions Bill Milroy. “There’s not only the option for a multi-orbit solution, but also a multi-constellation offering, consisting of more than one GEO supplier.”
While there are challenges in making this a reality, he went on to explain that his company is trying to ease airlines’ anxiety about having to commit to one specific setup for too long. “The ultimate vision from the airline is that the hardware is future-proofed for when they renegotiate their contracts for LEO, GEO or both … We should be as un-sticky for a customer as possible, which is good for airlines, but not so good for suppliers,” he stated.
Elevating the Journey: Commercializing Advanced Connectivity in Aviation
To successfully commercialize cutting-edge connectivity products and services, the panelists in this session argued that the industry has to create flexible, future-proof mobility-specific solutions that work seamlessly to offer airlines maximum value for their investment.
Stellar Blu Solutions VP Stephen Rice set the tone when he said that rather than driving revenue, connectivity suppliers should be focused on “taking cost out” of providing the “best possible customer experience with the lowest possible total cost of ownership for airlines.”
He said this is why Stellar Blu worked with American Airlines while designing its Sidewinder electronically steered antenna, to address pain points. He noted that as a result, Stellar Blu introduced an “aircraft-friendly adapter plate that can accommodate future technology.”
Like many others working in IFC, flexibility was also the focus of Anuvu’s EVP Connectivity Mike Pigott, who highlighted his company’s work to “bring the LEO revolution to the GEO arc” both with its Dedicated Space modem technology and MicroGEO satellite network created in partnership with Astranis.
“We’ve truly embraced the integrator spirit. Flexibility is core to our philosophy – we bake it in across our networks, our technologies, our customer experience levels. Despite our in-house offerings, we’re still willing to partner with others to meet our customers’ needs,” he said.
“We need to provide the best possible customer experience with the lowest possible total cost of ownership for airlines.”
Stephen Rice, Stellar Blue Solutions
Pigott went on to argue that the industry needed a “big data mentality” to successfully commercialize new IFC technology and to provide “realistic views on where the value is.” However, Director of Content and Digital Partnerships at Viasat Edwin Edillon Jr, said connectivity companies will always face a challenge because “there’s a level of visibility [they] don’t have” in terms of “micro-actions [they] need to know about for quality of service” when things aren’t working, citing information like whether there a system reboot in-flight.
Edillon also said that while scaling up the capabilities of next-generation IFC was important, so was efficiency: “When dealing with Apple/Google devices and services, more bandwidth is always being used than needs be.”
He added that as IFC matures, Viasat is expecting take rates to reach above 70%. “Once we can quantify how valuable the in-flight audience is, then advertising to third parties who wouldn’t normally look at our space will be easier,” he predicted.
From a content perspective, Associate VP Product Management & Development at DIRECTV Bob Reiter said, “As we continue to provide content for free, advertising plays a tremendous part in the ROI of the screen well into the future.” He claimed that people are OK with ads because they are unwilling to pay for ad-free services, using Amazon as an example, which he said didn’t report a drop off in viewership on introducing advertising to its streaming platform.
In terms of keeping passengers engaged with content, he foresees the need to take a “consumer first, business second” approach, wherein “it doesn’t matter where the content comes from.” In his mind, this means “breaking down the silos between in programming architectures to allow for truly dynamic, flexible content that is relevant at that time for passengers,” i.e. Basketball for four days in March, then onto something else). “This doesn’t exist anywhere else – on the ground or in hotels, but it will come in the next five years.”
Most Promising Ancillary and Passenger Experience Use Cases and Their Dependency on IFC
During this panel discussion, there was general consensus that airlines, and indeed suppliers, need to change the way that they look at the value of and ROI from in-flight connectivity and consider that much, if not more, of the overall benefit comes from operational efficiencies rather than through revenue from passengers.
“Connectivity is sold as a service to make money from passengers, but operational uses taking up a significant amount of bandwidth can be a barrier to this,” explained VP Products and Strategy at Safran Ben Asmar. “We’re not evaluating the whole end-to-end picture, we’re just looking at the bit in the middle and saying it’s too expensive, but the savings are pretty meaningful when we put it all together.”
He went on to add that IFC can be an indirect source of revenue for passengers, as it contributes to changing passenger behaviors over time.
When it comes to the cabin, West Entertainment’s SVP Entertainment Asif Khan, went as far as saying “connectivity is more about the passenger experience than the revenues,” that really it’s becoming a “hygiene factor;” and perhaps airlines are installing it and figuring out the use cases later.
VP Strategic Partnerships and Business Development for Digital and IFE at Thales Maneesha Bhate highlighted that this is why it’s important to have a data-driven approach. “No one has the “Magic 8 Ball,” but if we take a data-driven approach, we can check our KPIs and it gives us more control over the process,” she commented.
“We have to think about Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. 99% of passengers just want to know if their flight is running to time, their baggage is safe, and their kid is comfortable.”
Maneesha Bhate, Thales
Mark Smith, Sales Director at AERQ, extolled the virtues of A/B testing of applications and the concept of a “virtual test rack,” but said this was currently impossible because the systems in place are too “rigid and slow.”
“Whatever we put on the aircraft, it needs the internet to be fast and affordable, and that’s not the case yet. People need to see the immediacy of benefit,” he added. “Two low-hanging fruit [in terms of generating revenue] are movie trailers and new car announcement previews, but the airlines’ need for 60-90 days lead time is not going to cut it.” Khan agreed, “No advertiser has their creative ready 30 days before launch.”
Asmar concluded, “We have innovated with the IFC technology, but not in process and practice with things like content processing. Some of the innovation will come from removing some of the legacy processes and this will pave the way for more IFC use cases.”
LEO Program Director at AirFi Marco Dorjee held a slightly different opinion, believing, “If you know who you’re serving, you’ll always be able to find an optimum model.” He said that with the “right equipment,” that allows for in-flight payment verification, for example, airlines can cut down on in-flight fraud and that, with AirFi LEO, “this could generate a return on investment in just 12 months.”
His fellow panelists agreed that just because airlines have access to in-flight connectivity, it shouldn’t be used for everything. Bhate stated, “We have to think about Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. 99% of passengers just want to know if their flight is running to time, their baggage is safe, and their kid is comfortable. This kind of personalization is important. Only then comes the need for personalized content, etc. You build a story from the bottom.”
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