Viasat welcomes Icelandair to its commercial air roster

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Viasat adds one of Europe’s premier airlines, Icelandair, to its growing family of commercial airline customers focused on delivering great in-flight internet experiences at 35,000 feet.

The deal announced on May 22, will enable Icelandair to provide the fastest, highest performing in-flight Wi-Fi service at-scale to passengers that fly on the Carrier’s fleet of new Boeing 737MAX aircraft.

“Icelandair continues to expand its global network with additional flights, aircraft and service capabilities across the Atlantic – our investment in new technology, from Viasat, will deliver one of the best internet experiences in the skies,” said Guðmundur Óskarsson, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for Icelandair. “In partnering with Viasat, we continue our strong reputation of putting our passengers first by giving them the opportunity to use the internet the way they want to by providing internet with fast web browsing speeds and video streaming.”

The new Icelandair in-flight internet system will be powered by the ViaSat-2 satellite, which will deliver continuous, reliable high-speed connectivity from across Icelandair’s 18 North American airport hubs, the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland and then to the Carrier’s more than 25 European destinations. All passengers flying on the new aircraft will be able to enjoy contiguous, high-quality internet streaming of movies, music, videos and more, as well as have high-speed access to browse the web, shop online, access and post to social media and more when flying to Icelandair’s more than 40 destinations.

Don Buchman, vice president and general manager of Viasat’s Commercial Mobility business said, “Icelandair’s decision to select Viasat was based on the Carrier’s commitment to ensuring passenger comfort and loyalty. They are already known for offering innovative passenger services – like free stopovers in Iceland – and providing high-speed access to the full internet, including video streaming, across the Atlantic Ocean to destinations in the U.S., Canada and Europe adds another innovative, premium service differentiator for them.”

Icelandair will be Viasat’s first airline customer to leverage the ViaSat-2 satellite and next-gen (Gen-2) in-flight internet equipment over the North Atlantic flight routes. The in-flight internet service will connect passengers’ devices directly to the ViaSat-2 Ka-band satellite network over North America and the Atlantic Ocean, then when over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin will switch to another high capacity satellite, KA-SAT, which is partially owned by Viasat through our European joint venture with French-based Eutelsat.

“We recognize that when it comes to in-flight internet service and full streaming capabilities – quality really does matters. That’s why we’re bringing the highest-quality in-flight internet services at-scale to Icelandair…no matter how many planes, people or devices are connected at any given time,” Buchman continued. “We’re honored to be able to bring our service to Icelandair, as their partner-of-choice in delivering new ways for passengers and crew members to connect when in-flight.”