general

OneWeb’s under-development constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites will largely eliminate the latency issues and inconsistency associated with today’s geostationary (GEO) satellite-based inflight connectivity services, according to the start-up’s founder Greg Wyler. Wyler describes the existing satellite-based connectivity experience as a “brand-damaging event” that fails to satisfy passengers’ 3 fundamental requirements for higher capacity, lower latency and reasonable costs. However ViaSat—which has installed its Ka-band service on almost 600 aircraft and boasts a backlog of an additional 800—questions Wyler’s assertions, with the company’s president and CE, Rick Baldridge, saying: “We should have better reliability than a LEO constellation that requires constant replacement of satellites.” <br/>

The application of Europe’s passenger-rights rules—often referred to as EU261—is being scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors, but a wider revamp remains in limbo. A lack of clarity in EU261 has resulted in a number of cases being brought to court, setting conflicting legal precedents. This triggered the rules to be redrafted in 2013, but the proposal stalled because Spain and the UK disagreed on whether Gibraltar should now be covered by the legislation. European Regions Airline Association (ERA) DG Montserrat Barriga said that redraft is still on hold, with no signs of movement and no timeline for when it is likely to be resolved. However, Barriga went on to explain that the European Court of Auditors is performing a passenger rights audit, which should be finalised by the end of 2018. <br/>