Passengers on flights in China can now watch live TV programs as a domestically developed satellite TV system has come into service.
The system enabled passengers on a flight from Beijing to the southern coastal resort city of Sanya on September 3 to view a live broadcast of the V-Day parade, that marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the first live broadcast during a domestic flight.
The live broadcast was shown on the Air China aircraft’s TV screens as well as on passengers’ mobiles.
Air China said it has carried out research and testing for more than a year before making the breakthrough with its in-flight broadcast equipment.
Within the next three years, the system is expected to be used in the 2,400 civil aircraft that China owns and provide 400 million passengers a year with live satellite TV.
The airline said that in the future passengers would be able to access state TV broadcasts and a variety of provincial-level TV shows on flights.
N.B. Image credit: chinanews.com