Saudi Arabian low-cost airline flyadeal, a Saudia Group subsidiary, is exploring inflight connectivity options for its all-Airbus fleet and expects to make a decision on how and whether to proceed by the end of the year, CEO Steven Greenway revealed to Runway Girl Network during a Teams video call.

Speaking from his home via a SpaceX Starlink connection, Greenway admitted to being a fan of the residential service, citing the “robustness” of the connection. He is also impressed with the rapid pace and “absolute military precision” at which Qatar Airways is installing Starlink on its fleet (the 777 fleet has already been completed, with the airline touting a 9.5-hour install time, and equipage of the A350s is now underway.)

“And there’s no invasive surgery. You know you’re not cutting holes into the ceiling of the aircraft or anything like that. So, it’s interesting. We’ve done our homework, and certainly the install has been very, very, very quick, and we can see that with Qatar as well.”

Though the flyadeal CEO notes that some of the stalwart IFC service providers are “struggling to get the performance that Starlink has got currently,” that doesn’t necessarily mean Starlink is a sure bet for the airline’s fast-growing fleet, which comprises all-economy A320ceo, A320neo and A321neo narrowbodies, plus a cluster of leased A330 widebodies, used mainly for Hajj and Umrah pilgrim flights. Ten new A330neos have been ordered by the Saudia Group for flyadeal.

“No” to seatback IFE (including on the A330neos)

Having diligently pursued a LCC model, inflight entertainment hardware is not in the cards for flyadeal, Greenway said, noting that during his tenure as chief commercial officer of Scoot, the airline “ripped out” seatback IFE and legacy IFC hardware on Boeing 777s, saving “about two tons” of weight.

“And I swear to God, I’m not exaggerating, we took everything out; we didn’t have inflight connectivity or inflight entertainment. And I didn’t receive one complaint, not one,” he said, even though iPads and other tablets were still in their infancy and iPhones were still a bit clunky.

So seatback IFE is “not required” for flyadeal’s LCC approach. “I don’t want to dictate to people what content they’re going to watch. You know, most people will have stuff on their phones and already stored on PCs.” Instead, he’ll leave that experience to “full-service, premium” carrier Saudia, ensuring “people have a choice.”

Likely “yes” to IFC

IFC, however, “now that’s a different matter.” As such, flyadeal has “looked at everything” on the market including Riyadh-based Neo Space Group’s IFC solution, which is powered by SES’s multi-orbit MEO/GEO Ka-band Open Orbits ecosystem and is linefit offerable as part of Airbus’ supplier-furnished HBCplus program.

“And there are still some very cheap, very robust solutions that are air-to-ground, because most of our flying is done over the ground. So, we’ve looked at everything.” (Saudia has tested SkyFive’s A2G solution on an A321.)

He added:

What’s really holding us up more than anything else is … the playing field has changed, I think dramatically in the past six months, where you’ve seen rollout at scale of Starlink, a selection of various things. I keep on talking about Starlink, but what I’m watching for now is the incumbent players. What are you going to do? How is that landscape going to change? Because you can’t sit still now. I mean, you’ve now got this over here [Starlink]. What other things are you going to offer on top of this…?

So that’s what I’m waiting for. I’m in no particular hurry. And what I am seeing is, you know, our absolute drop-dead deadline is the A330neo in terms of just getting that specked out, which is what we’re working on. The rest of the fleet can be retrofitted, and we can also do linefit for a lot of the solutions anyway, because we’ve still got a hulking order to come of about 55 aircraft just on the narrowbodies. So, so we’ll make a decision, I believe, by the end of the year.

A key factor coloring the decision is how the wind blows at Saudia Group, with Greenway noting: “the other thing, which is a little bit, not quirky but just different — think Jetstar/ Qantas — we’re part of the Saudia Group. So, you know, we’re interested in terms of what they’re doing, and they already have some inflight connectivity options already deployed, and they’re looking at what the future brings, because they’ve got a huge orderbook.”

He continued:

So, we’re working with them as well. It’s not a standalone decision. Because together, we can get a much better deal. Because the fleet size, you’re talking 300/400 aircraft, it’s much, much bigger than what we could do. So that’s another thing that, you know, we’re just taking our time to make sure we’re aligned with the group.

(Historically, Saudia largely pursued the Inmarsat technology roadmap, fitting a sizable chunk of its fleet with an L-band SwiftBroadband solution, as originally managed by Sitaonair. In 2021, Saudia ordered Inmarsat’s nextgen GX solution for 35 Airbus narrowbodies. Agreed before Viasat’s acquisition of Inmarsat, the ThinKom Ka2517-based nextgen GX terminal was to be supplied by GDC/Stellar Blu but, with Stellar Blu now owned by Gilat and focused on ESA tech, the terminal is now offered through Safran Passenger Innovations. Saudia also tested a dual-band hybrid in partnership with Sitaonair, which has since exited the cabin connectivity business.)

The lure of operational benefits, personalization

Interestingly, Greenway is keen to see IFC do more than just support passenger connectivity and entertainment at flyadeal; he wants it to really drive operational benefits at the airline, including tackling “credit card fraud” and exploiting real-time crew apps to ensure a more personalized experience for passengers.

“I fly on Qatar reasonably often as a choice to get home or choice to get back to the UK. Look, their product, their service, everything is wonderful. They’ve introduced Starlink from a consumer-facing perspective, but I haven’t seen anything change on how they interact with customers,” he said.

“So, as an example, you know, at the minimum, I think they just have a… terminal that just knows I’m on board and says, ‘Oh, hello, Mr. Greenway, welcome on board. It’s good to see you again.’ That’s fine.”

But he’s intrigued about the possibility of going a step further, including proactively dealing with issues.

For instance, he said, flyadeal could communicate to the passenger: “we’re two hours late getting into Heathrow. You’re going to miss your connecting flight. This is what we’re going to do with you. We’ve spoken to the ground team.”

Or, he said, “Imagine if you’re on WhatsApp and the customer service team comes out and says, ‘Hey, Mr. Greenway, we do need to speak to you. You know, we have an issue with your bag or something. Can I speak to you now and try to resolve the issue for you?’

Greenway said he hasn’t seen that level of proactivity and interaction yet.

And obviously that is a very fertile space for airlines going forward, particularly for us.

Notably, whatever route it takes, flyadeal would want to offer the same IFC solution across the whole fleet.

“We want the same consistent experience,” he said, so that people know what to expect. “But also, the same thing goes to the conversation we were having [in terms of] connectivity for the airline. There’s no use having a subfleet that you’ve got connectivity on, and you can do all sorts of things, and then you’ve got the rest of your fleet, you can’t do anything, and it just becomes a nightmare for crew, completely inconsistent.

“And again, it’s like even basic stuff that is boring, that no one talks about like credit card fraud. So, I can now verify your credit card in real time… Why would only half the fleet have that and then the other half of the fleet I’ve got, you know, fraud going through the roof? So, our approach is consistent across the board, same solution across the board, as best we possibly can to make sure customers, but also our internal experience, is consistent, the same.”

Related Articles:

• flyadeal CEO Green Steven Greenway on why the LCC is growing quickly
• Network resiliency in the spotlight after Starlink outage
• Qatar Airways fits Starlink to A350s after completing 777 installs
• Saudi Arabia’s aviation growth story includes Neo Space Group
• Saudi start-up Riyadh Air eyes world class PaxEx with 787s

Featured image credited to flyadeal