BETHESDA, Md.-Delta Air Lines selected Comsat Mobile Communications to provide satellite communications services to its passengers and its cockpit crews on all international flights.
According to a three-year contract between the companies, Comsat will transmit voice and fax calls from the passenger cabins of Delta’s international fleet. Comsat already provides satellite communications to the airline and ultimately will equip Delta’s entire international fleet of 46 aircraft, said Comsat.
Calls are transmitted via the Inmarsat satellite system to one of four land earth stations and completed through the public telephone network.
In addition, the Comsat network will be used to provide information to Delta flight crews. ARINC Inc. of Annapolis, Md., receives data from Delta’s flight operations center in Atlanta, converts the information into a packet-switched data format that can be received by cockpit equipment and transmits it via Comsat to the aircraft.
Comsat said satellite communications will help Delta save fuel and reduce operating costs by allowing ground control to provide pilots with more reliable and timely weather and routing information.
Cockpit data and information also follow a path back to Delta’s flight headquarters in Atlanta passing through Comsat to ARINC, which sends the data over terrestrial lines.
