The Inflight year 2018 - it is a wrap!

There was no such thing as a soft start into the new year for the inflight team. On the contrary, with the completion of the network rollout for EAN with almost 300 base stations all over Europe we achieved a real milestone in January.

In February we witnessed one of the most exciting moments of this year: At the GSMA´s Mobile World Congress, the EAN underwent a real endurance test: Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges spoke to German nationalkeeper Manuel Neuer – live from the airplane over Munich to the MWC in Barcelona.

After all the technical challenges we´ve faced over the last months, in March it was time to focus on those, who have brought the EAN to life: the people behind it! Therefor we visited a few of them to value their great contribution with a nice video.

Another month, another fair: In April, the Inflight Team had not just one, but two lovely booths at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. Together with our partners from Inmarsat, Nokia and Thales, we demonstrated how the future of onboard connectivity is going to look like!

In May, we spread our wings to business: Especially for business traveler onboard connectivity is not a luxury but a necessity. Therefor we announced that an inflight Wi-Fi solution will be available for the business aviation market by 2019.

A month later, winning of the prestigious German Design Council’s Innovation Award was a big honor for the EAN in June. The network was commended for its exceptional performance and its potential to positively influence the future of air travel.

To make sure you deliver the best product possible you need to know as much as possible about your customers. So Inmarsat conducted the largest survey of passenger attitudes towards IFC in the world with more than 9,300 passengers from 32 countries. The results from July show that Inflight Wi-Fi becomes even more important. E.g. 67% said that they are more likely to rebook with an airline if Inflight Wi-Fi were available.

August was our testing month: With various flights across the continent we wanted to make sure that the EAN actually delivers a superior experience of connectivity for passengers everywhere – from Norway to Greece and from Portugal to Romania.
In September, the EAN members were in Boston for the APEX (Airline Passenger Experience Association) Expo – and they brought something home: the APEX Cool-Award for the Inflight App as the ‘coolest’ innovation of the fair!

At the World Communication Awards in London in October, we took home another highly coveted prize – the Innovation Award for Operators. The EAN convinced the jury members in the category for the “Best European Project” due to its great collaboration and its role as a truly European project.

One month later, in November, we successfully tested our new Inflight Connect App on several flights all over Europe. The app enables passengers on board of selected flights within Europe to access the internet in a fast and easy way.

And now, after all, it is time for Christmas. The entire Inflight Team gathered to have a decent Christmas dinner and to celebrate the achievements of this year. After a few silent days we are looking forward to an exciting year 2019!