ViaSat Brings Wireless IFE on Board Tigerair Australia
Share
Tigerair Australia has selected ViaSat’s in-flight entertainment (IFE) solution for all domestic flights. Using the airline’s app or a web browser, passengers will be able to access Hollywood movies and television shows, on a pay-per-view basis, on their own devices – including programming from Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Fox Networks Group.
Don Buchman, vice-president, Commercial Mobility, ViaSat, says a lot of the low-cost carrier’s initial challenges were around content. But now, the airline has “a pretty groundbreaking deal with Fox that allows them to go to market with a new model, where all the risk isn’t born upfront with the airline,” he said. “What we did is support all of the content, the loading and everything to make that dream come true.”
This partnership opens up a new channel of entertainment for Tigerair’s customers. Content from Fox will be updated regularly, “which will see content on board Tigerair before its competitors,” said Peter Edwards, manager of Ancillary and Product, Tigerair Australia.
This is the first time ViaSat will deploy an IFE solution since its acquisition of Arconics last year. “The acquisition really got our foot in the door. Having Arconics as part of the ViaSat family – now it’s one integrated product across the whole airline,” Buchman said. In the future, he adds, Tigerair could be set up to adopt its connectivity solutions, which will be supported by its ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 satellites.