Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Panasonic Avionics Corporation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC) designs, engineers, manufactures, sells and installs customized in-flight entertainment and communications devices to airlines worldwide. It is a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation, and operates under the umbrella of the Panasonic Connect group. Panasonic Avionics Corporation was founded in 1979 as Matsushita Avionics Systems Corporation and changed its name in 2005. It is headquartered in Irvine, California and has major business functions in Bothell, WA.

Clients

PAC is a supplier of in-flight entertainment equipment, including music, video on demand (movies and television shows), in-flight shopping, phone service, email, video games, and GPS flight location display. PAC supplies equipment to Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier. Competitors in the IFE market include Thales Group, Rockwell Collins, Safran/Zodiac In-Flight Innovations and LiveTV.

In late 2009, Lufthansa announced that starting mid-2010 they will re-launch their 'FlyNet' service with Panasonic Avionics' satellite-based broadband technology offering passengers in-flight Internet and cellphone connections. Lufthansa will make use of their existing onboard hardware that had been installed in 2003 by Connexion by Boeing, the now defunct provider of the airline's previous onboard connectivity system.

Operations

The product engineering and development departments are located in Irvine, CA; program management, certification, system installation engineering and quality are located in Bothell, Washington, and manufacturing is performed in Osaka, Japan. Other offices and repair facilities are located worldwide, with major offices in Toulouse, Hamburg, London, Dallas, Dubai and Singapore.

Panasonic Avionics Corporation is AS9100, ISO 14001, and ISO 27000 certified.

Technology

In 2017, Panasonic Avionics decided to cancel planned investment in geostationary satellites, in the wake of development in low Earth orbit satellite constellations. This decision could be due to potential future competition from the Starlink and OneWeb satellite constellations. One of the key technical differences is that low Earth orbit satellites provide shorter latencies, because the signal doesn't have to travel 35,786 km (22,236 mi) back and forth to the geostationary orbit.

Controversy

In March 2013, it was reported that American authorities were investigating the subsidiary for bribery. In February 2017, Panasonic said that PAC was being investigated by the DOJ and the SEC under the FCPA. In December 2018, the former CEO and CFO of the company settled with the SEC and agreed to pay a total of $280 million to the Department of Justice and the SEC.

See also

• AeroMobile
• Aircell
• FlyNet

References

1. "Group Companies - Panasonic Holdings". holdings.panasonic. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
2. "Join Us | Panasonic Avionics". panasonic.aero. May 17, 2022.
3. Lufthansa to Launch In-flight Web, Phone System USA Today (12 October 2009)
4. Lake Forest’s Panasonic Avionics Equips Lufthansa Archived 2015-06-02 at the Wayback Machine OC Metro Magazine (12 October 2009)
5. Peter B. De Selding (October 2017). "panasonic-avionics-surprising-conversion-satellite-mega-constellation-believer". discussion paper. Space Intel Report. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
6. "Panasonic says its avionics business being probed by U.S. authorities". Reuters. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
7. "SEC charges former senior executives of Panasonic Avionics". Lexology. Dec 21, 2018. Retrieved Jun 5, 2019.
8. Rubenfeld, Samuel (Dec 19, 2018). "Two Former Executives of Panasonic Unit Settle With SEC Over Charges of Accounting Violations". WSJ. Retrieved Jun 5, 2019.

v t e Panasonic
Subsidiaries	Current Panasonic Avionics Corporation Panasonic Cycle Technology Panasonic Electric Works (acquired in 2012) Sanyo (acquired in 2009) Anchor Electricals (acquired in 2007) Blue Yonder (acquired in 2021) Former JVC (spun off and merged with Kenwood) MCA Inc. (sold to Seagram's) Universal Lighting Technologies (sold to Atar capital in 2021)
Brands	Eneloop Eluga KDK Lumix National (phased out) Panasonic Quasar Sanyo NXT Kaizen Technics Varicam
Products	Consoles 3DO Panasonic M2 Panasonic Q Jungle Turntables Technics SL-1200 Technics SL-10 Technics SL-J2 Other Bicycles Camcorders CD interface Hospi Lenses Lumix cameras MN103 Panapet Panasonic JR series Panasonic Toot-a-Loop Radio Toughpad Toughbook Panasonic TR-005 Venus Engine
Formats and standards	D5 HD M-3DI Standard Micro Four Thirds system MicroP2 MII P2 VHS Viera Cast VX
People	Kōnosuke Matsushita Masaharu Matsushita Masayuki Matsushita Hiro Matsushita Hirofumi Hirano Toshio Iue Kazuhiro Tsuga
Other	Gamba Osaka Osaka Bluteon Panasonic Wild Knights Panasonic cycling team Panasonic Toyota Racing Panasonic Gobel Awards Panasonic Impulse
Category Commons

• Panasonic
• Satellite Internet access