Airline to Retrofit 400+ 717s with Hughes In-Flight Connectivity

Hughes Network Systems, LLC, a provider of broadband equipment and services, and Delta Air Lines have entered into an agreement by which the Atlanta, Georgia-based legacy air-carrier will outfit upwards of four-hundred of its Boeing 717 narrow-body airliners with Hughes’s In-Flight connectivity solution.

Designed for commercial aircraft, Hughes’s weight-optimized, high-performance aeronautical broadband architecture combines the advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning powered Hughes In-Flight management system with a multi-orbit antenna and Hughes JUPITER Ka-band satellite capacity to deliver reliable in-flight connectivity (IFC) even over busy airport hubs. The solution facilitates a consistent passenger IFC experience at scale.

Hughes vice-president Reza Rasoulain stated: “Hughes welcomes Delta and appreciates their collaborative approach to enabling an enhanced connectivity experience for their regional passengers. Travelers expect a reliable Wi-Fi experience wherever they go, including in the air; the Hughes In-Flight connectivity solution enables Delta to meet that expectation with fast gate-to-gate connectivity.”

Delta Air Lines managing director of in-flight entertainment and connectivity Glenn Latta set forth: “Delta is committed to delivering a reliable Wi-Fi experience to all our passengers, including those flying on our regional carriers. Our partnership with Hughes to create a low-weight, high-capability, gate-to-gate solution for our regional fleet brings us ever closer to fleet-wide connectivity at the speed and reliability our customers expect and unlocks our ability to elevate the experience further in the years to come.”

The described program is underway and on-schedule, with initial installations slated to commence in mid-2024.

Capable of operating on JUPITER-enabled Ka-band high-throughput satellites, Hughes In-Flight supports seamless roaming across the JUPITER-driven constellation. The solution is forward-compatible with Hughes’s JUPITER 3 ultra-high-density satellite, the largest commercial communications satellite yet built, which launched in July 2023 and will enter service before the beginning of 2024. In-Flight is also compatible with additional Ka-band satellite systems, providing airlines emergent, wider, lower-latency services as they mature.

FMI: www.hughes.com/InFlight