Oman Air Exec Shares What the Airline Needs From Satellite

MARK HOLMES

The satellite industry is bullish on the In-Flight Connecti vity (IFC) market. While
aviati on has had a tough ti me since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there are
high hopes for a return to normal. As more people are vaccinated, the market is
starti ng to recover in some areas as people start to fl y again, both for business
and pleasure. Airlines both big and small have decisions to make about the
connecti vity experience they will provide guests as passengers return to fl ight.

One such airline is Oman Air. While Oman Air may not be the size of Emirates
or Qatar Airways in the Middle East, the airline with a fl eet of around 50
aircraft , makes for an interesti ng case study in terms of IFC. Alia Al Qalam Al
Yafi e, Infl ight Entertainment and Connecti vity manager at Oman Air talked with
Via Satellite about what is next for the airline and how it views the latest
satellite technology.

Al Yafi e talks of the importance of standards when it comes to connecti vity. She
is clear that airlines need access to more bandwidth, and a reliable service,
speeds, and beams that are targeted at their routes. When there are full
fl ights, Oman Air needs to be able to provide a full connecti vity service to all
passengers that works seamlessly. She wants to be able to give passengers the
same reassurance that standards in terrestrial service off er.

“When at home, you have a 5G service, you know it will off er this speed, this
coverage. You have all the informati on on the service. Passengers need to have
the same reassurance when they are taking fl ights, the same way they do at
home,” she says. “As airlines, we need to know what we are marketi ng to our
customers is true. I think there should be a change in perspecti ve, and more
focus on the standards and a reliable service and on clear models, rather than
theoreti cal explanati ons about satellites.”

Alia Al Qalam Al Yafie, Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity manager at Oman Air.
It seems one of the major issues is confi dence in satellite technology. Al Yafi e
points to the fact there are sti ll instances when satellite technology can make
things diffi cult. Oman Air does a lot of short haul fl ights over the Indian
subconti nent, where there is no satellite coverage. This presents a challenge
for the passenger connecti vity experience.

Al Yafi e adds, “If most of my fl ights are fl ying to a conti nent where there is no
coverage because there are challenges for the satellite operator to ensure
there is a full global coverage, or there is an agreement in a specifi c area, how
will this encourage airlines to consider such investments? This is a very real
challenge we have faced. I think there is a big role for satellite operators and
other stakeholders to work together here.”

She also admits that redundancy is also highly important. She points to the fact
that if airlines such as Oman Air are investi ng in satellite IFC services, it needs
to off er strong redundancy. It is important for Oman Air to ensure that its
customers get the service as expected to enhance their fl ight experience.

Satellite end users can someti mes be confused about satellite terminology, and
airlines are no excepti on. Al Yafi e is open about this issue, and says that Oman
Air gets confused about the terminology, and the diff erences between Low-
Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostati onary Orbit (GEO)
are not always well explained.

“If you look at LEO, we have to look at the coverage. What are the downsides of
GEO? We know MEO are smaller satellites. We know LEOs are meant to be
smaller and cheaper satellites. What is the coverage? We expect satellite
operators to know exactly what our demands are. So, whether it is bandwidth,
speed, global coverage, beam coverage, etc. We need a commitment to have
these services provided in a cost-eff ecti ve and reliable way,” she says.

Verti cal Integrati on in the Value Chain

Last year, we saw a major piece of news in this sector with Intelsat acquiring
the Commercial Aviati on segment of Gogo, which hinted at more consolidati on
and verti cal integrati on within this parti cular sector. Al Yafi e points to an
interview she read with the CCO of Intelsat, Samer Halawi, and how he touched
many important points that she could relate to from her perspecti ve. Halawi
said that service providers are struggling fi nancially, and at the same ti me,
airlines are not getti ng what they need in terms of quality and return on
investment. This “is absolutely right,” Al Yafi e says.

“I think having the Gogo experience with Intelsat under one umbrella will bring
enhancements to the service. It could reshape the connecti vity market. It could
increase the demands for more bandwidth, reliable coverage, and low cost,”
she says. “If the service costs are sti ll high, it won’t be att racti ve to the
passengers. We need to lower the costs to make the service more att racti ve.
When this happens, it will enhance the connecti vity sector and encourage
airlines to invest more in connecti vity in the future.”

Al Yafi e believes this is an example of a very successful integrati on and we will

be interested to see the outcome in the future. “We want to see how they will
enhance the market and how they will provide bett er services to airlines,” she
adds.

IFC Innovati ons

Al Yafi e believes innovati on is coming in the future in the IFC arena, although
she believes airlines across the world will need to recover from the pandemic.
The airlines and the enti re ecosystem have been in turmoil and virtually every
airline has been badly impacted. She thinks digitalizati on programs will be a
key factor in the innovati on that the recovery will bring.
“I would like to see one applicati on from the airline, where as a guest I sign in,
load my content, customize my content. I can download my Netf lix content. I
can check my luggage. We have been talking a lot about the Bring Your Own
Device [BYOD] technology, which is really a beauti ful technology. For example,
we talked about Millennials and Generati on Z and how they embrace
technology. But, even people from the ‘old school’ are more connected to our
laptops, our iPhone, our iPads, we would like to use them all the ti me. BYOD is
a very good tool,” she says.

Passengers are demanding wireless services on fl ights. This in turn will

encourage many airlines to move potenti ally away from the classic Audio Video
on Demand (AVOD) system to off er a new cutti ng edge and innovati ve
connecti vity soluti ons, according to Al Yafi e. She believes the AVOD system is
heavyweight, costly in maintenance, and has a lot of challenges when
integrati ng it with another system.

“Complementi ng connecti vity with a seat-centric technology or a wireless

technology or bringing new technologies on board will enable airlines to
enhance their effi ciency and keep their passengers more engaged. At the same
ti me, it is also a potenti al source of revenue,” she adds.

However, for this to happen, airlines need to make sure all of the compati bility
and security issues are taken care of. “As airlines we are very thrilled with
innovati on. So, when we talk new innovati ve apps with satellite service
providers or IFE providers, we get very excited. Theoreti cally everything seems
perfect. But, down the line we get to see more challenges and issues,” she says.

An Infl ecti on Point for IFC

It is clear many airlines are at an infl ecti on point with their IFC strategies, and
these strategies may be more important than ever aft er the events of recent
months. Al Yafi e believes if airlines invest in connecti vity, they expect to have
some return on investment. She maintains that the coverage needs to be
global; she does not want to see service interrupti ons when passengers are
fl ying.

“If it is a long-haul fl ight, there needs to be smooth satellite transiti ons. The
service needs to conti nue and can’t disconnect because of a lack of agreements
with certain countries/authoriti es. Innovati ve airlines always like to be
diff erent. They are always considering ROI. They are considering to have
something new. We fl y worldwide. We want enhanced, seamless passenger
experiences,” she says.
Al Yafi e talks about the fact that airlines like Oman Air have been pushing the
airline Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Boeing or Airbus to
recognize the improvement of any service should not rely on the IFE supplier or
the satellite service provider alone. She believes it is a joint responsibility of all
stakeholders. She talks about how the OEMs certi fy them on their platf orm. She
talks of the satellite service provider as a key partner as they have the
bandwidth and coverage. They know about the hardware.

“We want more than theoreti cal assurances,” she says. “I want to know that if I
have this satellite, with this hardware, with this service provider, it guarantees
me a great level of service. As an airline, I don’t mind starti ng slow. Airlines
want to have everything all at once, but I think of things in phases. We can go
gradually, start with a platf orm or a parti cular model. Aft er that, you can add to
the service, for example off er a targeted beam, more bandwidth and more
coverage. But it can happen in phases rather than a full suite once and for all.”

Al Yafi e believes the industry needs to adopt a more thoughtf ul approach to

bringing these services to airlines. She talks about when airlines get off ered a
full range of services in this arena, they oft en encounter all manner of soft ware
and hardware issues, that it can take a long ti me to improve the service.

“For now, we see the classic IFE has more market share than connecti vity,” she
says. “But, I think it will overcome it in the years to come with BYOD, seat
centric and wireless. Guests want to choose their own devices and content. My
kids want new technologies like VR and AR. They want to see the movie and be
in the movie. These are the new enhancements we could see happen.
Connecti vity will have a bigger market in the future assuming the service is
reliable, and redundancy is good and the price has come down.”  VS