American Airlines picks Intelsat ESA connectivity for nearly 500 RJs

American Airlines, an early adopter of onboard Internet, has announced plans to offer Intelsat’s multi-orbit inflight connectivity solution on nearly 500 dual-class regional jets operated by the carrier and its regional affiliates. The “planned purchase” of this new technology reinforces American’s commitment to providing a consistent and connected experience for passengers, the carrier said.

Under the arrangement, Intelsat will bring its electronically steered antenna (ESA)-based connectivity solution to American’s RJs starting in 2024. The satcom will replace legacy Gogo air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity kit currently flying aboard these aircraft — a project that Intelsat manages today under a network services agreement inked when it acquired Gogo’s commercial aviation business in 2020.

Engineered in partnership with Stellar Blu Solutions, and incorporating Ball Aerospace’s scalable subarrays, the Intelsat ESA “is unique because it is multi-orbit, interoperating on both Intelsat’s family of geostationary satellites and on a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, providing low latency high-speed internet connection to American’s customers,” said the US major. That’s because Intelsat, which has 58 GEO satellites in orbit, is also a distribution partner for OneWeb’s LEO service, the latter of which will be available for inflight connectivity in 2024.

“This new technology will allow these regional aircraft to match fast Wi-Fi speeds that are currently available on American’s mainline aircraft,” added American, which has taken a dual-source approach to connecting its mainline fleet, using Viasat’s Ka-band solution and elsewhere, Intelsat’s separate 2Ku solution.

Adding Intelsat’s ESA connectivity to nearly 500 RJs — comprising a mixture of CRJs and E-Jets — will bring American’s satcom-connected fleet to more than 1,400 aircraft.

“15 years ago, we and American Airlines pioneered an aspect of flying that is now commonplace – inflight Internet,” noted Intelsat head of commercial aviation Dave Bijur, in reference to American’s launch in 2008 of Gogo ATG, as now managed by Intelsat.

Speaking to Runway Girl Network today on the sidelines of Intelsat’s Media Day at its McLean, Virginia headquarters, Bijur said supplemental type certification work is well underway, as Intelsat has already won ESA connectivity deals for RJs with Alaska Airlines and Air Canada.

He said a formal prototype of the ESA will be flying on Intelsat’s CRJ700 testbed by February.

Intelsat displayed its ESA at headquarters today, alongside a scale model of its CRJ700 testbed. The kit is the exact same footprint of the hardware that will be installed on American’s RJs, management said.