ARINC Direct SM is participating at EBACE 2008 in Geneva

ARINC Direct SM is participating at EBACE 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland this week (Stand No 1553) having seen its customer base in Europe and the Middle East Region grow significantly over the past 12 months.  The number of business aircraft now flying is bolstered to 150 – up 100 units from the total of 40 flying in the region in May 2007.  “Quite literally ARINC is adding new customers week after week, representing the charter operators and corporate flight departments that are household names in the European industry,” said Bob Richard, Senior Director of ARINC Direct.
Particularly strong growth in Germany and Spain in Europe and increasing interest from the Middle East as business jet deliveries start to complete are fuelling this expansion, he noted.   The growth in Germany is being led by players such as DC Aviation, now part of the Cirrus Group – who have turned to ARINC Direct for fleetwide solutions for communications and data link services.   ARINC is also playing a key role to business jet operators in Spain through its recent work with Iberia, uploading the national carrier’s flight plans to share with ARINC business aviation users via datalink.    ARINC’s modular approach allows it to offer its own flight planning solution or delivery via its datalink connections of third party flight plans in an approved format.  It notifies bizjet users of a flight plan, allocating them a unique number available for uplink. As soon as the aircraft connects to the network it gets a message uplinking its flight plan in additional to all other flight critical information such as DATIS, Weather, and NOTAMs.
 
European customers are choosing ARINC Direct for many different reasons but one commonly cited is its unrivalled commitment to customer service.  ARINC offers a one stop shop for integrated solutions for business aviation flight planning and communications – integrating cockpit, cabin and ground operations. 
 
At EBACE 2008 this week, ARINC Direct is highlighting:-
"Near Real Time" Access to Aircraft Satellite Call Data
Real-time data on a per aircraft basis is now offered for all satellite voice and data. Access is provided via a customer's ARINC Direct user account, which is accessible from any internet connection.  This enhancement has real benefits for customers whether they are a corporate flight department which has to account for day by day aircraft usage or a charter company with occasional or regular passengers.  ARINC Direct offers a complete integrated solution to this with Direct Dial services over Iridium and Inmarsat Aero, as well as access to data applications like faxes, Swift 64.
 
eXchange TM with Service by SkyLink.
 
Together with Rockwell Collins, ARINC Direct is promoting this newly named high-speed Internet communications solution for business.  Earlier this month, eXchange, the hardware of which is now sold and supported by Rockwell Collins, was installed on a Cessna Citation X aircraft, the biggest jet in the Cessna family.  eXchange is the only Ku-band connectivity solution available for business jets. Supported by ARINC’s expanding SKYLink Internet satellite network services, broadband terminal hardware is provided by ViaSat Inc.  eXchange offers corporate aircraft access to email, corporate intranets (VPN), the Internet, FoIP, VoIP telephony and data connectivity for Wi-Fi enabled Blackberries and other Smartphones.  SKYLink offers seamless broadband connectivity across North America, most of Europe and the North Atlantic flight tracks.  Caribbean and partial South and central American coverage is planned for mid-2008, while the Middle East and Asia Pacific coverage is under consideration.
 
Oi Onboard Internet – for business jets
 
Last month at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, ARINC announced its new Onboard Internet ‘Oi’ connectivity development for personal laptops. Oi enables commercial airline passengers to surf the Internet (by the hour, day or flight leg), access e-mail during flight, chat over Instant Messenger, watch real-time news and sports flashes, hear bulletins and watch and download podcasts.  ARINC Direct is reporting interest from business aviation operators too.