Ethiopian Airlines will equip its four new A350-1000s with Airbus’ integrated satellite connectivity solution - HBCplus becoming the second airline to choose HBCplus. These equipped aircraft will be delivered starting Q3 of 2024.
Speaking about the HBCplus programme, Mesfin Tasew, Chief Executive, Ethiopian Airlines said: “Connectivity is a crucial part of our services and products; and bringing Inmarsat’s best-in-class GX Aviation service to our passengers, as part of Airbus’ HBCplus programme, is a major step forward. We want to give our passengers the possibility to stream, surf, and chat from thousands of feet on the air, no matter where their route or destination is. Inmarsat’s seamless, truly global inflight connectivity will be vital to deliver this. We look forward to a very successful partnership with Airbus and Inmarsat, now and in the years to come.”
Andre Schneider, Airbus VP Cabin and Cargo Programme said: “We are delighted that Ethiopian Airlines has selected our agnostic and flexible high-bandwidth connectivity solution – HBCplus. This is further endorsement from our valued airline customers of the confidence they place in Airbus to devise and integrate enhanced inflight capabilities for their passengers to experience.”
Airbus claims that the Airspace Link HBCplus provides satcom based off-board connectivity for the Airspace Link open ecosystem, available both in linefit and retrofit. Initially encompassing Ka-band services, it will enable the airline to connect to a choice of Managed Service Providers (MSPs), in this case with Inmarsat via a new certified terminal and antenna built as part of the aircraft.