Panasonic Avionics says it has now equipped almost 1800 commercial aircraft with its In Flight Entertainment (IFE), and has an order backlog of some 2200 aircraft still to be equipped.

Panasonic has – up until now – struck deals with Intelsat, Intelsat, Eutelsat and Telesat for geostationary satellite-based delivery of its services.

But that philosophy is changing, according to David Bruner (VP/global sales and marketing) and speaking to specialist trade publication Space Intel Report. Bruner says that over the past 6 months or so Panasonic has increasingly been looking at the non-Geo offerings, and while not being specific this could only mean the plans coming from the likes of Intelsat, SES/O3b and Telesat.

Bruner added that Panasonic saw the industry was at an “inflection point” in terms of the capacity on offer, and that he was now looking for more flexibility in readiness for the “crazy period” that the industry was going through, and – by implication – the impact of existing MEO satellites and the plans for mega-constellations of LEO satellites.

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