Intelsat, Airbus Deliver In-flight Antenna-Equipped Jets to Cathay Pacific

An Airbus A321neo with Cathay Pacific livery. (Photo by Cathay)

Satellite operator Intelsat has delivered Intelsat 2Ku in-flight antenna systems designed for the A321neo aircraft to Airbus, the manufacturer of the A321neo model. Airbus installed the 2Ku systems at its factory in Hamburg, Germany and is now delivering the equipped aircraft to Hong Kong’s flagship airline Cathay Pacific for use on commercial flights.

Cathay Pacific’s A321neo aircraft fleet flies regional routes from the airline’s base in Hong Kong.

The delivery transaction is one of the first since Intelsat re-branded the recently acquired Gogo Commercial Aviation and continued its business under the Intelsat name. The $400 million acquisition instantly made Intelsat, which is still undergoing Chapter 11 reorganization, one of the world’s largest providers of inflight broadband connectivity to the commercial aviation industry, as it inherited multiple airline Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Intelsat extended Gogo’s previous agreement with Cathay Pacific to include the A321neo fleet with the existing long-haul fleet and regional wide-body aircraft already equipped with Wi-Fi. Once equipped, the 2Ku antenna gives Cathay’s A321neo fleet immediate access the global Intelsat satellite network.

“Having these new short-haul aircraft connected is essential in the modern world for business and leisure travel alike,” said Vivian Lo, Cathay Pacific’s general manager customer experience and design. “As a premium service carrier, Cathay Pacific is determined to innovate and elevate the short-haul flying experience by offering connectivity, seatback 4K inflight entertainment and Bluetooth headphone pairing on our new state-of-the-art A321neo fleet.”