Hughes to power Air India In-Flight Connectivity 2027 onwards

In case you’ve been wondering what happens with Air India’s connectivity problem (the new 787-9s are not connected), Air India has been working on a solution.

Air India signs with Hughes for widebody connectivity

Hughes Network Systems announced that Air India has selected the Hughes In-Flight connectivity solution to deliver a consistent Wi-Fi experience across its mixed widebody fleet using a common connectivity platform. Hughes will leverage Airbus HBCplus for the A350-1000 and the RAVE Aerospace solution for the Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 777-300ER. The current selection applies to an initial tranche of existing and new widebody aircraft in the Air India fleet.

RAVE Aerospace’s Ka-band terminal, which is based on ThinKom Solutions’ popular Ka2517 VICTS hardware — and a key piece of kit on the Ka-band side of Airbus HBCplus — will be installed on the A350-1000s, 787-8s and 777-300ERs.

So far, Air India (via Vistara) has access to Panasonic bandwidth (which has continued) via its group company, Nelco. Air India’s newly retrofitted 787-8 recently returned to India with an installed radome; however, the 787-9, which came line-fit in January 2026, did not have one.

Dr Satya Ramaswamy, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Air India, said

Always-on broadband Internet connectivity is a fundamental expectation of today’s digitally savvy consumers. Our strategic vision is to provide connectivity with home-broadband-like bandwidth and latency on Air India’s international and domestic flights so that connecting from our flights feels the same as connecting from home

In this journey, we are pleased to partner with Hughes as their global launch customer to offer an in-flight connectivity service that takes into account the existing regulatory considerations and satellite coverage capabilities along the global flight paths of our wide-body aircraft, with a roadmap to seamlessly upgrade to home-broadband levels within the next two years.

Hughes connectivity on Air India aircraft will come in 2027 onwards, and it seems the Air India comment links up to the launch of the Hughes Fusion technology, which will be able to combine LEO service to augment an existing GEO IFC solution and deliver an at-home or office-like Wi-Fi experience everywhere in the air, including over busy airport hubs.

Beyond passenger connectivity, the solution will improve operational efficiency by enabling aircraft monitoring, crew applications, payment validation, and flight-deck services. Air India’s deployment uses the Hughes JUPITER Ka-band fabric and preserves a consistent onboard experience and common operational toolset across both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. This solution from Hughes has a roadmap to low-latency LEO capability.

Reza Rasoulian, SVP and GM of the Aviation Business Unit at Hughes, said,

Hughes is honoured to partner with Air India as the airline modernises connectivity across its widebody fleet. With Hughes In-Flight Connectivity, Air India can deliver a consistent, connected onboard digital experience across both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. This common solution allows Air India to harmonize their passenger experience, operational tools, deploy digital services faster across their fleet, and has a roadmap pole-to-pole, low-latency LEO connectivity with minimal aircraft modifications.”

Bottomline

Air India has signed a deal with Hughes In-Flight for its connectivity solution over the next year for Air India’s widebody aircraft. The Boeing 787-8, the Boeing 777-300ER and the A350-1000 aircraft will be covered by this deployment, leaving open the discussion around  what will happen with the existing 787-9, A350-900 and A321Neo deployments.

What do you think of the new connectivity coming to Air India?

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