Gulf Air first airline to offer full broadband connectivity onboard
13 Oct 2011
Manama: Gulf Air became the first airline in the world Wednesday to offer passengers global live TV onboard after it took delivery of its first A330-200 aircraft fitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation's (Panasonic) Global Communications Suite, the airline said. Gulf is Bahrain's national carrier.
The comprehensive communications and entertainment solution, 'Sky Hub', offers passengers onboard full broadband connectivity to access internet, mobile phone services and, for the first time in the world, a global live television service onboard.
The Global Communications Suite is being installed across Gulf Air's entire fleet of aircraft progressively.
"It is another important milestone in our customer service journey as we unveil our latest inflight entertainment system, 'Sky Hub' on our fleet," Samer Majali, Gulf Air chief executive officer, said as he unveiled the 'Sky Hub' onboard the aircraft to the media and senior Bahrain civil aviation officials.
''We are bringing to you, for the first time in the world, fully integrated broadband connectivity offering high speed internet with high speed Wi-Fi and data services, voice over the internet (VOIP), streaming videos and the world's first in-flight live TV satellite stream across continents.''
Using Panasonic's Global Communications Suite, Gulf Air will offer two-way broadband connectivity at speeds of up to 50 Mbps to the aircraft, enabling faster browsing, chatting and other internet based services.
