Hi InItEarly …
I am not averse to the idea there are fleets of Boeing 737 800s out there with GoGoWifi installed who perhaps, even now, are lining up to get CVM tech installed to reduce maintenance costs.
I just did not have any jump out at me.
And Delta?
According to Wikipedia Delta has 77 of this model aircraft in service; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_fleet
NB that Wikipedia also says some of these fly a trans-continental flight to Hawaii.
I don’t know the date of that entry, but I DO know that on March 14, just four weeks ago, GLENN LATTA , Delta’s Managing Director of In Flight Connectivity was reported in Delta’s own newsletter as saying nearly all planes flying Delta’s domestic mainline routes would be switched to Viasat by the end of 2022… including the 737 800s that had not already been upgraded after the May update last year [ref].
Here’s that link again : https://news.delta.com/faster-and-more-reliable-three-things-know-about-fast-streaming-wi-fi-delta
This comment seems to exclude 737 800s flying routes that are not ‘mainline’, so possibly Delta will sign a customer installation agreement for a few planes ?
Maybe even a few tens of planes?
But will it sign up to install CVM on 737s it is intending to convert by the end of this year?
According to @pinch2020 on 01/04/22 there is an annual saving if $6,000 a year on the current maintenance method [ref] but why bother to install CVM when you are upgrading?
Given there are at least a few still out there, I think Delta ought to sign a contract with SMN in the near future - to show solidarity if nothing else.
As to other companies with planes -of all models - currently flying with 2KU antennas, @Hatrack ‘s recent link to Intelstat says there are 600 in operation at present and a backlog of 1,400 aircraft [ref]
However it does not nominate how many of these are Boeing 737 800s, and the most recent reference I can find; ie March 28, 2022 [ref] has an Intelstat spokesperson, Dave Bijur, saying at last month’s Satellite 2022 conference and exhibition in Washington DC (https://www.satshow.com/) that ‘GoGo’ won 720 orders in the last 18 months and that some of these will be 737 Maxes although he does not say which model.
To revisit that comment;
.. “Delivery of new 2Ku-fitted Boeing 737 MAXs from the airframer are expected to resume next year, Intelsat told Runway Girl Network at the Satellite 2022 conference and exhibition in Washington DC…”
He does account for at least half the orders as NOT being 737 Maxes of any number code;
“…250 jets in line at Airbus. So, I’m really excited about that,” said Bijur. “We announced a big expansion of our relationship with LATAM Airlines. We had the Brazil fleet always [the win was announced in 2017] and then we just picked up all of the fleet that goes in the Spanish-speaking countries [Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia] and I think that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 new airplanes for the A320 line. But we’ve got three other carriers coming out of that delivery flow as well.
“So, A320 family has being very productive for us, as has the A220 family where we’ve been delivering a lot of airplanes. That linefit predates Airbus’ acquisition of the airplanes [from Bombardier]…We still deliver for Delta. I think people don’t probably realize that we continue to install brand new airplanes for Delta.* So that continues, and that’s really good.” (*A220s)
On the MAX, 2Ku (under Gogo) was offerable before the worldwide grounding of the aircraft type. “So, we delivered a handful of linefit MAXs and then we had some radome challenges and then the MAX got shut down. And so, we’re just getting back to it now and will resume deliveries I think next year,” said Bijur…”
(20min delay)
