Aerospace Diary

By Neelam Mathews DELHI: India’s refusal to revoke its rule – at least for the moment – to permit live inflight connectivity over Indian airspace forced SIA-Tata owned startup Vistara to seek interim solutions, says the carrier. A Vistara spokesperson tells RGN that while Indian carriers are collectively trying to convince the government to permit Internet on board, clearances are still required from the country’s ministries of civil aviation and telecom. To ensure passengers get value-add on the full-service carrier and as government clearances do not come easy, Vistara tapped defense contractor – and IFE newcomer – BAE Systems to install its IntelliCabin wireless IFE solution on its Airbus A320s. This is not a live connectivity system. Wireless IFE systems stream content from an onboard server via wireless access points on board the aircraft. The content is pre-loaded and cached. The system will be installed on the nine-strong fleet of aircraft th...

India’s new domestic carrier to be well connected 20-10-2014   |   By Neelam Mathews Tata-SIA owned domestic carrier Vistara, set to be take-off soon, has signed an agreement with air transport IT company SITA for aircraft communications, operations and network connectivity. Vistara will use SITA's integrated suite to manage air-to-ground communications among the flight crew, airline operations and air traffic controllers. SITA's VHF network, the largest in India, will provide the connectivity for these services. The airline will initially use the IP Network to connect its back offices, ticketing desks and check-in counters at 10 airports across India. “We need a network infrastructure that is cost-effective, resilient, easily deployable and scalable….SITA has designed a comprehensive network solution to fit our specific requirements against a very ambitious rollout schedule,” said Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO TATA SIA Airlines Ltd. SITA is also wo...