Internet to be available on EU flights

The satellite, which is named Europasat and is due to be delivered in 2016, will cost between $200m and $250m over six years, the company said.

Using the internet while midflight is already available in North America, and has proved to be a success with installation and usage growing rapidly.

"We believe that the same in-flight connectivity opportunity exists in Europe and that, with the support of EU telecoms regulators, Inmarsat can rapidly bring to market unique, high speed aviation passenger connectivity services to meet this market demand on an EU-wide basis," said Rupert Peace, chief executive of Inmarsat.

He added that a number of European airlines were "aligned with this vision" and confirmed the company was speaking with British Airways to be its first customer.

Kate Thornton, head of product and service at British Airways, said the 4G broadband network would first be available on UK domestic routes, "giving our customers the internet access they expect on the ground while in the air".

Unlike in the US where Gogo, which was the first company to provide the air-to-ground network, is facing competition from AT&T, Inmarsat is unlikely to face the same problem, according to Giles Thorne, analyst at Jefferies. He said the company's proposal was "compelling".

"It is a scaled, un-replicable, structurally superior proposition in an, effectively, greenfield market with massive potential," he said.

"Gogo's share price response to AT&T's competing ATG network- down roughly 20pc on the day - necessarily begs the question of whether investors should be worried of the same happening in Europe.

"We see the risk as negligible, for now," he added, as the barriers to entry were "insurmountably high".

Shares in Inmarsat were up 2.2pc in trading on Thursday.

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