Azul, Brazil’s largest airline by number of departures and cities served, and Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global leader in satellite communications, today announced that seven aircraft in Azul’s new Airbus A330-900neo fleet will be equipped with Viasat’s proven Ka-band in-flight connectivity solution, with the first aircraft scheduled to enter service next year.
As with other Azul aircraft types equipped with Viasat’s solution, Azul passengers travelling on the new standard Airbus A330-900neos will be able to enjoy gate-to-gate in-flight Internet. Customers can purchase packages for audio and video streaming, web browsing and messaging.
“Part of what sets Azul apart in the Brazilian market is the best-in-class connectivity experience we offer on select aircraft,” said Jason Ward, Azul’s Chief People and Customer Officer. “From Brazilians’ desire for real-time sports scores to their desire to stay connected with loved ones on the ground during flight, our hypothesis that this feature is critical to customer satisfaction is being met. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Viasat as we continue to enhance our current in-flight Wi-Fi experience in the future.”
“After several successful years of serving Azul passengers in Brazil, we are excited to partner with Azul to expand our inflight connectivity on even more aircraft,” said Don Buchman, VP and GM, Commercial Aviation at Viasat. “Viasat’s mission remains to continue to provide high-quality and reliable inflight Wi-Fi so passengers can enjoy online activities in the air as much as they do on the ground, even as data demand grows and passenger expectations rapidly rise.”
In addition to expanding their Wi-Fi fleet, Azul is partnering with Viasat to enhance their passengers’ Wi-Fi experience by adding ad-supported streaming sessions through the Viasat advertising platform. Azul is the latest airline to adopt the Viasat advertising platform.
Viasat is focused on serving the aviation market, combining high satellite capacity with the ability to flex that capacity to provide continuous and reliable service where demand is most concentrated, including Brazil’s busiest hubs and any other location where these Airbus A330neos will fly.
Azul and Viasat are expanding a collaboration that began in 2021 with the provision of in-flight connectivity in Brazil. Azul was the first South American airline to choose Viasat’s in-flight internet service and the first airline to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi to its passengers in South America, leveraging the capacity of Viasat’s Ka-band network, including its partner satellite SGDC-1 (Geostationary Satellite for Defense and Strategic Communications), owned by Telebras.
