Posted by Courtney E. Howard 

MANAMA, Bahrain, 13 Oct. 2011. Gulf Air, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier, took delivery of an A330-200 aircraft retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics Corp.'s Sky Hub Global Communications Suite. The Sky Hub communications and entertainment system provides onboard passengers with broadband connectivity to access Internet, mobile phone services, and global, live television service.

Gulf Air will offer two-way broadband connectivity at speeds up to 50 megabytes per second, as well as content-rich entertainment and live, uninterrupted television services on routes across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Passengers will be able to browse the Web at broadband speeds and access social media services, such as Facebook and Twitter. Business travelers can access their virtual private network (VPN) to send and receive emails, while watching live news and stock market updates at 35,000 feet. They turn on their personal device, connect to the in-flight Wi-Fi network, and log into the service through Deutsche Telekom, the wireless Internet service provider (ISP) onboard.

Panasonic's mobile voice and data service, offered in collaboration with AeroMobile's in-flight mobile phone technology, will enable passengers to use their mobile phone, smartphone, or BlackBerry, as well as GSM-enabled tablets and laptops, to call, text, e-mail, browse the Internet, and use other applications throughout the flight.

Panasonic's Global Communications Suite is being installed across Gulf Air's entire fleet of aircraft progressively.

"We are bringing to you, for the first time in the world, a fully integrated broadband connectivity offering high speed internet, very fast mobile data speeds, voice over the Internet (VoIP), streaming videos, and the world's first in-flight live TV satellite stream across continents," says Samer Majali, Gulf Air’s chief executive officer. "We are pleased to be the first in the industry to offer our customers a connected airline. I am sure this avant-garde, cutting-edge technology will fundamentally change our passengers' communications and entertainment experience onboard setting a new standard for in-flight entertainment.”

"We are very excited and honored to have helped Gulf Air become the first carrier in the world to offer a truly amazing passenger entertainment experience with broadband connectivity for high speed Internet access, mobile voice and data services, and a live television service that includes some of the world's most popular news programming and live sporting events,” adds Paul Margis, chief executive officer for Panasonic Avionics Corp.