[SatNews] OnAir has announced that Chief Executive Officer, Benoit Debains, has decided to return to Airbus, Toulouse. Ian Dawkins, former Senior Vice President, Head of Future Programs, of Airbus SAS, will become OnAir's new CEO as of June 16th.

OnAir's Board Members have tasked Dawkins with furthering the company's profitable pace of growth, including its global reach onboard connectivity solutions and Internet Services to increase market share, profitability, customer loyalty and satisfaction. Those objectives, in line with the Company's objectives and strategy, will translate into an economically viable business model for the transport industry. Ian started his career with commercial system controls and then moved into aircraft control and landing systems with Fairy Hydraulics as Head of Program Management.

Additionally, OnAir has launched full mobile phone connectivity — including GSM & GPRS — for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ flagship MS EUROPA with OnAir’s Mobile technology. The launch, with a cruise of the Baltic Sea, marks an extension of OnAir’s business into a new and promising business sector, and underlines the versatility of OnAir’s technology in being able to use various types of satellite links. OnAir’s technological partners, Siemens IT Solutions and Services and TriaGnoSys, developed technology to enable passengers and crew to use their own mobile phones and Smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry©, HTC, and so on). The GSM service uses satellite communications, making connectivity possible regardless of the ship’s location. Siemens IT Solutions and Services supplied, installed and will maintain the software and hardware supporting OnAir’s technology.

The installation, which uses the ship’s existing Ku-band satellite antenna, is a simple process that can be carried out during a routine maintenance stop between cruises. The software developed by Siemens and TriaGnoSys uses compression technology to make very efficient use of the available bandwidth. MS EUROPA is the only cruise liner in the world to have been awarded the coveted 5-star plus distinction by the Berlitz Cruise Guide since its commissioning in 1999. The ship accommodates a maximum of 408 guests in over 200 suites, and 280 officers and crew, while visiting destinations on all five continents.