Emirates to offer polar Wi-Fi coverage in 2022

US bound Emirate’s passengers will be able to access Wi-Fi, mobile service connectivity and Live TV broadcast, when flying over the North Pole and Arctic circle, as a result of enhancements to Inmarsat’s Global Xpress.

Coverage will start in 2022 and will be delivered by two dedicated satellite payloads in Highly Elliptical Orbits (HEO), scheduled for launch in 2022 as part of Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission

In 2017, Emirates announced plans to install Inmarsat’s GX Aviation high-speed in-flight broadband service on its Boeing 777X aircraft fleet, scheduled for delivery from 2020.

The planned introduction of the two elliptical orbit satellites will also provide Live TV broadcast on Emirates currently available on 175 aircraft including all Boeing 777 and select Airbus 380s.

A popular service among Emirates’ customers, over 1 million Wi-Fi connections are made onboard the airline’s flights in an average month.