LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Inmarsat plc (ISAT.L), a provider of mobile satellite communications services, said Wednesday that it has signed a contract to provide its GX Aviation inflight broadband solution to Indonesian national carrier Garuda, in partnership with wireless technology provider Mahata Aero Teknologi, Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Systems.
The company noted that the agreement to supply Garuda Indonesia with GX Aviation marks the extension of Mahata's existing 10-year contract with low-cost carrier Citilink, also part of the Garuda Indonesia Group, for the inflight broadband solution. The service went live on the first Citilink aircraft earlier this month and is scheduled to launch with Garuda later this year.
According to Inmarsat, more than 175 aircraft within the Garuda Indonesia Group will now be equipped with GX Aviation, including Airbus A320s, Airbus A330s, Boeing 737s and Boeing 777s.
Lufthansa Technik will manage hardware, engineering, installation design and certification for the project, while Lufthansa Systems is responsible for software platform and integration, based on its BoardConnect's open architecture.
Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation, said, 'Asia Pacific has become one of our biggest markets for GX Aviation. The fact that Indonesia's national airline and low-cost carrier have both selected the service within months of each other is testament to GX Aviation's status as the global benchmark for inflight broadband.'
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX