Air Canada has expanded its agreement with Intelsat, to provide in-flight connectivity (IFC) for nearly 100 additional aircraft. Intelsat already operates in-flight internet on 240 aircraft with the airline, spanning Air Canada, and its Rouge and Air Canada Express subsidiary carriers.
The contract terms include IFC installations on three types of Air Canada aircraft. Starting this year the airline’s fleet of 40 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will be equipped with Intelsat’s 2Ku IFC systems. The 2Ku system includes a low-profile, fuselage-mounted antenna.
The deal will also see 55 aircraft currently flown by Air Canada’s Jazz regional airline – comprising Embraer 175s and Mitsubishi CRJ-900s – upgraded with Intelsat’s new multi-orbit electronically steered array (ESA) antenna. The work will begin in 2024 and see the aircraft able to access both Intelsat’s family of geo-stationary satellites and on OneWeb’s constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These aircraft are currently installed with Intelsat’s air-to-ground (ATG) system.
