On this episode of the Global Connected Aircraft Podcast, I spoke to Jack Mandala, CEO of the Seamless Air Alliance, about how their organization of more than 20 members, including Aeromexico, Airbus, Etihad Airways, Delta Air Lines, Sprint and more are developing open architecture standards for in-flight connectivity. The Alliance was launched in February 2018 with a goal of enabling airline passengers to use their connected devices in a seamless way on airplanes, without having to go through a complicated login process or paywall.

A research study released by SAA at this year’s World Mobile Congress in Barcelona concluded technology standardization would increase the value of the in-flight connectivity market by $11.4 billion. In our discussion, Mandala explained their open standards work for in-flight connectivity and the new Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi services they launched and demonstrated at the 2019 Paris Air Show.