iStock
What is the alliance?
The alliance includes the collaborative efforts of Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, and Airtel. They have announced the formation of the Seamless Air Alliance on Monday, 26 February. This is expected to birth a new era of innovation for airlines and passengers the world over.
The alliance aims to attract additional industry operators beyond the five initial members listed. They also plan to "eliminate the immense costs and hurdles commonly associated with acquisition, installation, and operation of data access infrastructure," according to a statement from Airbus.
The alliance sets out to do so through the means of streamlining system integration and certification to provide open specifications for interoperability, increase passenger accessibility and enable simple and integrated billing options.
READ: US celebrity Chrissy Teigen brings 'Emotional Support Casserole' on flight
What will this Seamless Air Alliance do?
It aims to empower its mobile users by extending their services into airline cabins. They say that this will allow users to continue experiencing the same speed and latency connectivity from the ground, to the air and back again. They strive to deliver this experience through the use of satellite technology. This innovation also aims to "significantly reduce costs for everyone involved while creating a smooth, positive user-experience."
Their goal is to essentially create a fast, widely accessible and affordable internet experience for people on land and in the air and to tackle the issue of digital jet lag experienced by many.
iStock
"The next revolution in aerospace."
The team hopes to bridge the infamous Digital Divide on land as well as in the air and say that they are looking into ways to achieve that.
Greg Wyler, founder and Executive Chairman of OneWeb, says that their vision is to create an affordable and a frictionless internet experience for passengers the world over.
"What if the best internet you ever experienced was in the air? Keeping this goal in mind, together, we will enable an affordable and frictionless experience for passengers everywhere," said Wyler.
"With the launch of our first production satellites set for later this year, we're one step closer to bridging the global digital divide on land and in the air."
Marc Fontaine, Airbus Digital Transformation Officer, hopes that this "revolutionary" high speed innovated realm of connectivity creates value in the aviation industry and changes it for the better.
"Easy-to-use, high-speed connectivity is part of the next revolution in aerospace," said Fontaine. "We're excited to create this seamless experience for our airline customers and their passengers. As we showed with our Skywise aviation data platform, Airbus is committed to innovation that creates value across the aviation industry."
CHECK OUT: In-flight Fright: Why you don't need to be scared while up in the air
SEVP and COO of Delta, Gil West, said that Delta is always looking for ways to improve customer experience and has high hopes for the alliance formed to collaborate on this innovation.
"We know that Delta customers have an expectation that their internet connection just works – no matter where they are in their travel journey," said West.
iStock
SEE: Woman removed from Emirates flight due to 'period pain'
Existing Delta partner, Gogo's CEO Michael Small, says that the team looks forward to the collaborative opportunity to develop future generations of in-flight connectivity and to help co-captain this new ship.
"As the market-leader in in-flight connectivity, Gogo is excited to join the Seamless Alliance. We look forward to working with the Alliance to develop future generations of in-flight connectivity, which will provide airline passengers worldwide with simple, fast and reliable connectivity."
iStock
ALSO CHECK OUT PICS: Fly from Tokyo to Paris on a virtual reality flight
Who knows? The next time you travel you could get some important work done on business trips, Netflix and cabin chill or even just keep up to date with your socials - the sky is the limit with what could be possible!
Plan your trip:
