Cathay Pacific bringing 50Mbps WiFi, live TV and in-flight calling to fleet
By Darren Murph 
posted July 7th 2010 8:46PM
posted July 7th 2010 8:46PM
Mmm... we like where this is headed. While legacy airlines in America are struggling to outfit their fleets with in-flight WiFi alone, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways is showing 'em how it's done. The airline has just inked a memorandum of understanding with Panasonic Avionics for the "provision of full broadband connectivity on all Cathay Pacific and Dragonair passenger aircraft." Yeah, you read that correctly -- by early 2012, Cathay will make 50Mbps internet service, in-flight GSM cellphone service (voice, SMS and data) as well as live and pay-per-view television available to every last passenger. The finer details are still being hammered out, and we aren't told whether every single bird in its fleet will be online from Day 1, but we're still as giddy as ever for this to become a reality. Here's hoping this pushes those other airlines into getting with the program, and at the very least, it ought to give you plenty of reason to take that Asian vacation you've been putting off. Cathay Pacific and Panasonic Avionics Corporation Plan to Keep Passengers Connected As They Fly
LAKE FOREST, Calif., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Cathay Pacific Airways and Panasonic Avionics Corporation today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the provision of full broadband connectivity on all Cathay Pacific and Dragonair passenger aircraft.
While final terms are still being negotiated, the MOU allows the parties to immediately begin developing the plan to provide connectivity for passengers together with promotional, sponsorship and e-commerce opportunities for Cathay Pacific partner brands.
Cathay Pacific is the first airline in Asia to announce its intention to deploy Panasonic Avionics' Global Communications Suite broadband connectivity solution. It is also the first airline globally to announce an intention to provide the solution across its full fleet. Services will launch from early 2012, subject to regulatory approval.
The Panasonic Avionics connectivity solution for Cathay Pacific will comprise the eXConnect broadband service, eXPhone GSM phone service, and a CX-branded free-of-charge entertainment portal - accessible through all passenger devices and seatback screens - that will include a range of content updated during the flight, access to airline and partner sites, e-commerce, airline-specific advertising, and live television with a unique pay-per-view capability for special events.
* eXConnect provides two-way broadband connectivity supporting a wide range of passenger and crew applications, including Internet access, voice, data, and the ability to monitor and transmit airline operational data in real time at speeds of up to 50 Mbps to the aircraft.
* eXPhone, offered in collaboration with AeroMobile's GSM mobile phone technology, allows passengers to use their mobile phones, smart phones and BlackBerry® devices onboard to make voice calls, send SMS text messages or utilise data services and stream content wirelessly to their iPod®, iPhone® and iPad®. eXPhone gives the airline flexibility and full control over the services offered including restricting certain services when appropriate.
Alex McGowan, Head of Product for Cathay Pacific, said: "Connectivity will form an important part of our overall customer proposition. Having that connectivity integrated closely with our video on demand entertainment system is especially valuable as it means that all passengers will be able to use the service. We believe that being connected is now an expected part of everyday life – not just for business purposes but also to stay in touch with family and friends. This system will allow passengers to be as 'in touch' as they wish to be while enjoying the great Cathay Pacific and Dragonair service."
Charles Ogilvie, Executive Director of China for Panasonic Avionics Corporation, said: "We are very proud and thrilled to be working with Cathay Pacific. We are committed to serving the needs of the ever-growing markets in China and Asia. With Panasonic Avionics' Global Communications Services, Cathay Pacific will be the first airline in Asia to offer passengers the most innovative inflight entertainment and communication options onboard commercial aircraft."
Cathay Pacific Airways and Panasonic Avionics Corporation have enjoyed a close relationship since 1994.
About Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd
Cathay Pacific Airways is a Hong Kong-based airline offering scheduled passenger and cargo services to some 120 destinations in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe and Africa, using a fleet of 103 wide-body passenger aircraft and 25 freighters. The company is a member of the Swire group and is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Dragonair is a wholly owned subsidiary and Cathay Pacific also has a 60% stake in AHK Air Hong Kong Ltd, an all-cargo carrier operating regional express freight services. Cathay Pacific has made substantial investments to develop Hong Kong as one of the world's leading global transportation hubs. The airline is a founding member of the oneworld global alliance.
About Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Panasonic Avionics Corporation is the world's leading supplier of inflight entertainment and communication systems. The company's best-in-class solutions, supported by professional maintenance services, fully integrate with the cabin enabling airlines to deliver the ultimate travel experiences with a rich variety of entertainment choices, resulting in improved quality communication systems and solutions, and lower overall costs.
Established in 1979, Panasonic Avionics Corporation, a US corporation, is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC). Headquartered in Lake Forest, California with over 2,600 employees and operations in 50 locations worldwide, it serves over 200 customers worldwide and provides IFEC systems on over 3,700 aircraft. For additional information, please visit www.panasonic.aero.
Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Emirates
Remember these 3 airlines when you need to fly overseas.
@CL
I typically use JAL or China Eastern Airlines.
I'm going to Tokyo next spring break, hopefully they have in flight WiFi so I can be the only asshole on the plane playing Eliminate Pro on my iPad with 200ms lag !
@nuclearopts Korean Airlines has had inflight live TV and calling for almost a year now. Wifi is only for business and first classes tho :/ But still, better 2009 than 2012.
@CL
Agreed. I absolutely love flying CX, have great things about SQ and EK.
Korean and Asiana are pretty good also.
@CL like, wasnt it a bad thing to have these in airlines just a few years ago, saying devices, phones, gameboys, etc etc would cause the plane to crash?
@CL Really any far eastern airline except the North Korean one is gonna be better than the domestics. Hard to have worse airlines than us
@nuclearopts China Eastern is the world's worst airline! OK, maybe not the world's worse but certainly Asia's worse. It took me 20 hours one time to get from Shanghai to Beijing. I have lived in Hong Kong for the past 25 years and have flown most airlines out here. Singapore is the best with CX/KA second.
@rpahk
It shouldn't even be possible for it to take 20 hours to get from Shanghai to Beijing. Its suppossed to be like 1 hour.
China Eastern doesn't have the "toys" JAL does, but the chinese food is pretty good and they feed you plenty. I ate like 10 times on that flight LOL.
@CL american airline, united airlines and northwest airlines are pretty bad in sense of gadget. Stewardess are not as friendly as those Asian counterparts does too. My company forced me to fly United Airlines and I have no choice :(... it is a damn boring flight
@1mc
ouch....United is easily the worst of them all, but if I am stuck on a domestic airline, I would pick Delta and perhaps American next. They have better connectivity and IFE options than the others.
@CL
Cathay Pacific for Asian Flights. Lufthansa for European flights.
@nuclearopts
that's better than anything here in the us, gotta pay for everything even for snacks and much more for a meal
@CL
Why don't those companies come to US?
i love flying with Cathay Pacific when going back to Hong Kong. It was great back then with their 30 day all-you-can-fly deals.
Now this makes my trip back to Hong Kong not so painful!!!!
When I was a kid Virgin Atlantic had a snes emulator with loads of games built in to the in-flight entertainment system. Who needs wifi when you have Zelda? The hours few by.
@Pumpticket
Downloading a zelda rom onto my android via the wifi would be pretty sweet.
I wish my Ethernet was 50Mbps....
Every plane probably wouldn't be done for day one, wouldn't that mean that every single plane would have to be taken out of service, at the same time? :S
@Ross McLean
Cathay has 12 +15 orders for the 77W, so I'm guessing the ones that are getting delivered will come with the connectivity.
All of Cathay's long-haul fleet uses the Pansonic IFE, so I wonder if it will be relatively simple to upgrade to a newer version.
Fascinating stuff - what is the technology for this? On US domestic carriers, they communicate with the ground and use typical cell 3G service for wifi... this is overseas...
sweet, I fly with Cathay all the time.
Awesome!
Hopefully we'll see this on at least one American airline within the decade, for a reasonable price if not free. I must admit, hearing other people's phone calls on a plane might be a little annoying.
No need to fly Cathay, use your iPhone 4 with FaceTime on USA inflight wireless ;-)
iPhone 4 FaceTime @ 37,000 feet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v1HNJtamMg
@Jimmygadget
what does that have to w 50Mbps? the iphone 4 doesn't even support it maybe in a few years when Jobs thinks it's ready
I love flying with them. They're the best and just got better!
So a airplane moving at hundreds miles per hour can get 50 mbs. But a house right next to the worlds busiest airport can not. Wtf Atlanta
@DefPoet
WTF Chicago. I can't get anything faster than UP TO 6 Mbps DSL in downtown Chicago unless I sign my self away to Comcast and pay out the ass.
That's great. Hopefully, some European airlines, and Air Canada itself do the same thing so my flights to Europe would be better. Then again, as long as I can find enough good movies to watch on airline catalogues, I don't really have a problem with flying.
@ALBGunner04 Agreed - I hope this helps to push Air Canada to ramp up its onboard connectivity. Without this constant competition on the Canada-Asia front from the likes of Cathay, AC likely wouldn't have been pushed ahead of all North American carriers with on-demand video, etc. so long ago on all of their planes...
The problem with Cathy is that they can't upgrade their passengers. Increasingly, it's filled with low class Chinese that will do some nasty shit on the plains. They stink, literally. Taking shoes off, eating smelly food, farting, picking their noses. You name it, they do it. So, until they can upgrade their passengers, no amount of hi-tech accoutrements will get me back onboard their planes headed for the far-east.
@NoobsRUs Just to clarify, mainland Chinese, not HK or Taiwan etc. Also, plains = planes. Duh, I wish we can edit comments like Gizmodo. WTF?
Wow this is very cool! I would definitely try this one. It's very techy and very accommodating, I will surely love the trip if there's be something like this in the airplane.
Kids Play Tent
i LIVE in hong kong and i dont get 50 mbps hahaa
@weerdoe Haha...then you're not paying enough! I think PCCW has gigabit internet now, no?
@Tammacho they probably do, its all about location, location and fricken connection stability
Cathay Pacific service is very nice, but I just can't stand the lack of decent back support in their feature-filled seats for a ~15 hour flight from LA to HK .
The WiFi and live TV sound great, but the in-flight calling I dread: I can just see spending a transpacific flight where everyone in the cabin is treated to a top-volume performance by someone with verbal diarrhea. This is especially true because of the level of background noise to overcome onboard a plane. (Anyone who thinks otherwise obviously hasn't ridden a commuter train like San Francisco's BART recently!)
Cell phone service on a plane = I won't fly that airline.
Yes! I fly Cathay all the time, so this is brilliant news.
@Bioran23 As someone Cantonese, I think that they're stupidly annoying and terrible misrepresent... actually, there's too many people like in Hong Kong. --;
So this is how the world ends.
I find it so ridiculous how the United States is behind so many countries in the world. A simple example is out railroad system; just about every European country has some sort of high speed railway and many Asian countries like Japan, China, and Korea are building even more powerful railroads. The United States was the pioneer of the railroad yet we don't even bother upgrading the tracks to allow true high speed railways. It's the same thing with internet technology.
The problem with most of this is our corrupt government and the way we work in developing and supporting new technologies. It's so terrible how the United States works in some ways and it's heartbreaking how our country has really fallen over the past 10 years. Just at an economical standpoint, the gap between the classes of wealth is widening and our government's behaviors are intensifying that concept. I'm not trying to sound anti-American or a communist or anything since America has so many great things that most countries don't. Even the countries that do have great services and freedoms that the United States have don't have them to the extent we do or only have a few of the freedoms and services.
Sure you can get 50Mbps in SOME areas of the United States but it can be very expensive and it's only offered by greedy corporations that nickel and dime customers over the littlest things. I live in the New York City metro area so I could in theory get 101Mbps downspeed from Cablevision for $100 per month but many areas of the United States can't even get above 5Mpbs downspeed. Winston Churchill once made a statement about governments and the way countries operate and it's very true even decades later:
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Unfortunately there isn't much the average citizen can do so we just have to let things roll and hope for the best. Though the way we operate may not be a good way at all, it's better than every other way.
@MysticLeviathan "The United States was the pioneer of the railroad yet we don't even bother upgrading the tracks to allow true high speed railways"
I think you'll find the UK invented and pioneered trains, and ours are in a worse state than yours. Double WIN.
@cashclientel
The UK didn't create a trans-continental railroad like we did and though they invented the foundation of the modern day railroad, I don't see much of a need for very modern and high-speed railroads in such a small country today. The UK had so many colonies and probably implemented railroads into their colonies but with pretty much all of them independent now, there isn't much of a reason to have an uber high speed railroad in such a small country. Sure you can say Japan is small and South Korea is small but they are both bigger than the UK and far denser than the UK. Oh, and I think the EuroStar is way faster than anything we got in the US lol
Cathy Pacific! Hells yeah.
It's them or Korean Air for me when I fly across the Pacific.
It's all awesome till you look at the bill!!!
US airlines all have a "economic" approach so that it will cost ya a few $ now let's compare prices shall we??
Looks like I'll have to go on Cathay. @ 50 megs, one word sold!