SES has secured airline contracts with Finnair and Air Astana to deploy multi-orbit in-flight connectivity across their passenger fleets (via satnews.com).
Finnair is Finland’s flag carrier, and Air Astana is based in Kazakhstan.
Hybrid GEO-MEO architecture
The agreements call for both carriers to integrate SES’s hybrid architecture, which combines geostationary Earth orbit satellites with the O3b mPOWER medium Earth orbit constellation. The O3b mPOWER constellation operates at an altitude of about 8,000 kilometers and uses Ka-band software-defined Boeing 702X satellites with electronically steered phased-array antennas.
Deployment terms left open
SES did not disclose financial details, aircraft installation counts, or specific entry-into-service schedules. Implementation across both airlines’ fleets will proceed through line-fit and retrofit installations of compatible multi-band fuselage terminals and onboard distribution systems.
Route coverage and capacity
SES says the system can dynamically assign dedicated gigabit-level capacity to aircraft as they move through high-traffic European and Central Asian air corridors. The dual-carrier win extends SES’s MEO-supported connectivity to Finnair’s polar and transcontinental routes and to Air Astana’s domestic and international Eurasian network.
Droam Perspective
For airline connectivity buyers, this is a straightforward multi-orbit IFC deal with no commercial terms attached. The only disclosed operating detail is the hybrid GEO-MEO design, plus the deployment path through line-fit and retrofit installations. That leaves the value proposition to the buyer’s own route map and service requirements, not to any pricing benchmark.