Emirates Becomes Launch Customer for Airbus HBCplus

Emirates will become the first airline to operate Airbus’ HBCplus agnostic satcom connectivity solution following its line-fit selection to equip its 50 new A350-900 aircraft with the service.

With Emirates’ first A350 aircraft arriving in 2024, and more HBCplus airline customers set to follow across our various aircraft families, Airbus is preparing to ramp-up HBCplus-equipped aircraft.

Airspace Link HBCplus provides satcom based off-board connectivity for the Airspace Link open ecosystem representing an end-to-end Airbus offer, available both in line-fit and retrofit.

Initially encompassing Ka-band services, it will enable airlines to connect to a choice of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) via a new certified terminal and radome built as part of the aircraft.

Adel Al Redha, Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer said: “We continue to strive for improvements and make good use of the evolving technology to support our product offering. HBCplus, offered by Airbus, will provide our Airbus A350 fleet with better integration and performance using the latest generation of connectivity and antenna.

With the first of our 50 new joining Emirates’ fleet next year, we look forward to providing our passengers with the latest standard of continuous high bandwidth inflight connectivity throughout their journey to enjoy a better experience.”

Andre Schneider, Airbus VP Cabin and Cargo Programme said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Emirates as the first airline to select our agnostic and flexible HBCplus high-bandwidth connectivity solution.

As the OEM, we look forward to integrating and delivering state-of-the-art aircraft technology for Emirates, together with our partners Inmarsat and Safran Passenger Innovations (SPI), to deliver a fantastic customer experience through lightning fast internet in-flight.”

HBCplus was launched at Aircraft Interiors Expo in 2022, in partnership with connectivity specialists Inmarsat as the first managed service provider and SPI as Ka terminal and antenna provider. In the future it is planned to extend HBCplus to include additional MSP choices with Ka- and Ku-band services.