Qianfan Constellation Looks to Airline Services With Panasonic Memorandum
Shanghai Spacesail Technologies has signed another aircraft-focused agreement following one with Airbus last year.
At this year’s Singapore Airshow, Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co Ltd (上海垣信卫星科技有限公司), of the 108-satellite Qianfan (千帆) connectivity constellation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the California-based Panasonic Avionics Corporation, a subsidiary of Japan’s Panasonic.
The memorandum enables the two companies to explore how best to connect airliners to the low Earth orbit constellation, with a focus area being China and the Asia-Pacific. Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s rationale for signing was as part of their plans for developing a next-generation antenna and terminal ecosystem capable of communicating with various satellites, including those of Eutelsat’s OneWeb, for best user connectivity onboard multiple airlines. Speaking on that, John Wade, Vice President of Connectivity at the company, said:
“Airlines are demanding higher speeds, lower latency, and more resilient connectivity solutions than ever before, at every phase of flight. Adding Spacesail’s [low Earth orbit] constellation to Panasonic Avionics’ portfolio will enable us to provide passengers with connectivity over every country, strengthening our network and reinforcing our strategy of providing airlines with the performance, flexibility and future-proofed capability they require.”
As a corporation, Shanghai Spacesail Technologies added onto that, stating:
“We are pleased to collaborate with Panasonic Avionics to extend our [low Earth orbit] capabilities into the aviation market. Our joint efforts will ensure a seamless digital experience for passengers, reinforcing our commitment to reliable global broadband in the skies.”
The memorandum between the two companies was said to build upon a December 2025 agreement for Qianfan with Airbus for its High Bandwidth Connectivity Plus program, becoming a ‘key managed service provider’.
This year, the Qianfan constellation has an aim of deploying 324 satellites, possibly bringing it up to 432 in orbit by year’s end. In support of that, contracted launch provider Space Pioneer has completed a dedicated payload integration facility at Jiuquan for launching thirty-six satellites at once. A batch of Qianfan satellites may be onboard Tianlong-3’s first launch in the coming weeks.