Viasat and Azul, the largest airline in Brazil by number of departures and cities served, have announced that seven aircraft in Azul’s new Airbus A330-900neo fleet will be equipped with Viasat’s Ka-band inflight connectivity (IFEC) solution. The first aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2025.
Azul passengers travelling on the new, line-fit Airbus A330-900neos will be able to enjoy onboard internet from gate to gate. Packages will be available for streaming audio and video, messaging and web browsing. That is consistent with the inflight Wi-Fi offering on Azul’s other aircraft types equipped with Viasat’s IFEC solution.
“Part of what differentiates Azul in the Brazilian market is the best-in-class connectivity experience we offer on select aircraft,” said Jason Ward, Chief People and Customer Officer at Azul.
“From Brazilians’ thirst for real-time sports scores to their desire to stay connected to loved ones on the ground while flying, our hypothesis that this feature would be critical to customer satisfaction is playing out in the market. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Viasat as we continue to build on our current in-flight Wi-Fi experience in the future,” he added.
Don Buchman, Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Aviation at Viasat, commented: “After several successful years of serving Azul passengers in Brazil, we are excited to work with Azul to expand our connectivity onboard even more aircraft.”
“It remains Viasat’s mission to continue delivering high quality and consistent inflight Wi-Fi, so that passengers can enjoy online activities while in the air as they do on the ground, even as the demand for data grows and passenger expectations accelerate rapidly,” continued Buchman.
Azul is also working with Viasat to enhance their passenger Wi-Fi experience by adding ad-supported streaming sessions using the Viasat Advertising platform. Azul is the latest airline to adopt the platform.
Azul and Viasat are expanding upon a collaboration that began providing IFEC in Brazil in 2021. Azul was the first South American airline to select Viasat’s inflight internet service and the first airline to offer a free inflight Wi-Fi service to passengers in South America. The solution leverages the capacity of Viasat’s Ka-band network, including its partner satellite, SGDC-1 (Geostationary Satellite for Defence and Strategic Communications), which is owned by Telebras.
