Story ID: 715BombardierShatner
Bombardier’s WAVE System Nears the Starting Line
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: The high-speed connectivity solution will make its debut next year on Global-series aircraft.
Word Count: 327
Bombardier has reported that testing and validation for its WAVE (wireless access virtually everywhere) high-speed in-flight connectivity solution is nearing completion, following multiple successful tests aboard a Global jet. To prove its point, the Canadian airframer “beamed ” a little star power into NBAA 2015 in the form of television and film icon William Shatner.

Bombardier invited fellow Canadian Shatner to take a flight on its Global WAVE testbed, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for the NBAA show. During the flight, he asked his office to send him footage from a documentary he is currently engaged in, and according to the actor best known for his role as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, it arrived instantaneously. “If you are an executive going someplace in the world and you need information or you need to inform somebody about something, you can do it aboard your airplane unprecedented, Shatner told the audience at Bombardier’s press conference, “That’s really the bottom line, it works and it works with reliability.”

The system leverages Honeywell’s JetWave hardware and JetConnex satcom service, which taps Inmarsat’s Ka-band satellite constellation to deliver satellite communication at guaranteed speeds previously unavailable.

According to the OEM–which claims is the first to make ultra-high speed Internet and Wi-Fi access available in flight globally–passengers can now stage a videoconference, surf the Internet or stream online video over land or water. “Our Global aircraft can link virtually any key city pair worldwide, nonstop, at close to the speed of sound, and the Bombardier WAVE system is intended to match this performance with its exceptional speed, promise of reliability and worldwide reach,” said David Coleal, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft.

WAVE will be available on new Globals starting next year and can also be retrofitted to older Globals. It will be available first from the company’s owned service centers, followed by the broader authorized service network.