By Patrick Clarke
Virgin Atlantic passengers flying aboard the carrier’s fleet of Dreamliner 787s won’t have to settle for checking emails or watching an in-flight movie that they may have already seen, because the British airline is launching live television this summer through a partnership with Panasonic Avionics and IMG.
Initially, passengers will have access to three channels — Sport 24, BBC World News and CNN International. The former will offer passengers access to a slew of live sports and events, including Premier League soccer, NFL football, NBA basketball and tennis majors, among others.
The service is being rolled out now and will be available on all 13 of the carrier’s Dreamliner 787s by the end of the year.
Passengers won’t have to pay a fee to access the live television and can watch it via their seat-back screen or on one of their devices using the in-flight Wi-Fi.
“We know staying up-to-date with current affairs and sporting events is really important to our customers and it’s fantastic we can now offer them the opportunity to view content live,” said Virgin Atlantic’s executive vice president of customer Jill Brady in a statement last month. “We always put our customers at the heart of everything we do and this is just another example of us being able to expand on our promise of making traveling with us irresistible.”
Once in-flight live television is installed across its fleet of Dreamliner 787s, the carrier will look to offer onboard Wi-Fi across its entire fleet by next summer.
Steele Luxury Travel
www.SteeleTravel.com