Virgin Atlantic’s First A350 With Inmarsat GX Aviation Takes Off
Share
Passengers on yesterday’s Virgin Atlantic inaugural Airbus A350-1000 flight from London to New York were treated to free in-flight connectivity via Inmarsat’s GX Aviation, a promotion that the airline will extend for the next month in celebration of the new aircraft type.
This first A350 – named Red Velvet, the first of the airline’s new Flying Icons – will be joined by 11 more of the wide-body jetliners over the next three years as Virgin Atlantic continues the process of upgrading its fleet.
All of Virgin’s 335-seat A350s will be equipped with GX Aviation, driven by Inmarsat’s global, Ka-band satellite network service, with Internet connectivity provided by Deutsche Telekom.
In addition to the four, high-throughput, spot beam-equipped GX Aviation satellites already in operation, Inmarsat will orbit three more satellites by 2021. To meet the continued growing demand for connectivity, Inmarsat is already planning to add five more GX payloads to its evolving satellite constellation.