Avionica has won orders from Continental Airlines to outfit nine B737-800 passenger aircraft with advanced Iridium® satellite systems to provide global, low-cost voice and data communications.

The Continental aircraft are being equipped with Avionica's new satLINK Iridium system, including antenna, wiring, structural elements and a control panel. The initial installations provide an Iridium phone handset in the cockpit, which will be augmented by a wireless cabin handset and integration with the aircraft's communications management unit (CMU) with a mid-year upgrade.

"We introduced satLINK in 2006 as a practical satellite-based alternative to offer additional voice and data communications capabilities to supplement other terrestrial and satellite systems, which are becoming overburdened with heavy traffic," said Raul Segredo, president of Avionica.

Continental has selected ARINC to provide the voice and data services for the satLINK Iridium systems. ARINC's GLOBALink/Iridium service is the first to offer Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messaging using Iridium.

"ARINC is pleased to be able to expand our long-standing relationship with Continental Airlines," said Steve Means, vice president of aviation solutions for ARINC. "We are confident that Iridium will provide both near-term and long-term benefits to our customers."

Continental Airlines, like a growing number of major air carriers worldwide, is discovering the unique benefits of Iridium's aeronautical satellite services for air-to-ground voice and data communications.

"The application of Iridium satcom services will eliminate the sole dependency on standard radio communication methods which are subject to range limitations over isolated areas," said Jun Tsuruta, Jr., senior director of technical purchasing for Continental. "This means that flight crews are not out of touch like they once were. This is a welcome technological breakthrough that ensures global safety and communications in every sense of the word."

We are pleased that Continental Airlines, like a growing number of major air carriers worldwide, is discovering the unique benefits of Iridium's aeronautical satellite services for air-to-ground voice and data communications," said Greg Ewert, executive vice president, Iridium Satellite. "Iridium aeronautical omni directional antennas are low-profile low-drag units, which are easy to retrofit in the field. And, only Iridium's service area is truly worldwide with ubiquitous gap-free coverage, even over the extreme polar regions."

Iridium Satellite LLC is the only provider of truly global satellite voice and data solutions with complete coverage of the earth (including oceans, airways and Polar Regions). Iridium delivers essential communications services to and from remote areas where no other form of communication is available. The Iridium constellation consists of 66 low- earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linked satellites and has multiple in-orbit spares. The constellation operates as a fully meshed network and is the largest commercial satellite constellation in the world.

Continental Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline. Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 3,100 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 150 domestic and 136 international destinations. More than 400 additional points are served via SkyTeam alliance airlines. With more than 44,000 employees, Continental has hubs serving New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, and together with Continental Express, carries approximately 67 million passengers per year. Continental consistently earns awards and critical acclaim for both its operation and its corporate culture.

Avionica, Inc. specializes in complete flight data management solutions. Products include secureLINK, the airborne wireless Ethernet router, the miniQAR, the world’s first miniature quick access flight data recorder, the RSU II, a handheld flight-data recorder monitoring and download tool, AVSCAN.flight, a commercial and military flight data analysis tool, USB429win, a USB ARINC 429 databus analyzer, and LOAD615win, the USB-based ARINC 615 portable dataloader. Avionica also provides flight data analysis services to operators worldwide.