ELITE WINGS - 2024 CONNECTIVITY GUIDE

ISSN 2816-4040

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Abdelmajid Jlioui abdelmajid.jlioui@elite-wings.com

MANAGING PARTNER

Frédéric Morais frederic.morais@elite-wings.com

DIRECTOR CONTENT STRATEGY

Viswanath Tata viswanath.tata@elite-wings.com

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Jane Stanbury jane.stanbury@elite-wings.com

SENIOR EDITOR

Mark Lowe mark.lowe@elite-wings.com

EDITOR AT LARGE Rolland Vincent rvincent@rollandvincent.com

CONTACTS

Editorial | editorial@elite-wings.com

General Inquiries | info@elite-wings.com

Advertising | ads@elite-wings.com

Elite Wings publishes timely, structured, validated, unbiased, and relevantbusiness aviation

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE (ISSN 2816-4040) IS PUBLISHED BY ELITE WINGS MEDIA Inc, MONTREAL, CANADA

Any information of a technical nature contained in this document may contain inaccuracies and is subject to change and should never be relied upon for operational use

Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of ELITE WINGS MEDIA is strictly prohibited.

Welcome to

the 2024 Connectivity Guide from Elite Wings

Data, connectivity, and communications indisputably power our world, and we recognize that business aviation users want to emulate their terrestrial lives at altitude.

Our motivation is to enable readers to make informed decisions when selecting, acquiring, and managing connectivity solutions. We created this guide to ensure that you have timely, unbiased and valid intelligence collated from the world of connectivity in one trusted resource.

In this edition, knowledge from industry leaders, shapers, and analysts is aggregated to deliver relevant information about the current state of the market and its future direction. We identify the key points to consider when selecting solutions, identify what to ask who and when, and look out to the horizon to discover more about the latest hardware options, the changes coming from advanced satellite technology and how this affects tomorrow’s strategies today.

We know that it’s a changing market, which is why we’ll be publishing this resource annually; however, if you have questions about an article, find information lacking or would like to read more about the subject, please do let us know. These guides are for you, our industry colleagues, and your feedback is most welcome.

Feel free to contact us.

Majid Fred Vis Jane

CONNECTIVITY GUIDE 2024 BUSINESS AVIATION

Developing

More

ELITE WINGS

CONNECTIVITY SURVEY

Photo courtesy of Bombardier

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH

Business Aviation

CONNECTIVITY

Jane Stanbury, Editorial Director

It’s an exciting time in the connectivity space. The introduction of new satellite networks, upgraded constellation technology, and increased hardware options for more airframe types, is enabling life in the air to replicate life on the ground for more owners and operators than ever before. The ongoing evolution brings more choices, enriched functionality, and flexible, customizable pricing plans for customers.

The days of the one-size-fits-all model have gone, which makes it essential to do your homework when selecting a connectivity solution. The principles remain the same, with connectivity comprising three distinct systems. The cabin and antenna hardware to receive the signals and subsequently distribute the data to the cabin devices, a subscription to a network which is invariably managed by one of the industry’s service providers, and installation either by a reliable MRO or the OEM itself.

With the diversity of options now available to operators, it is essential to define up front who will be using it on what type of airframe, what the connectivity will be used for, and where and how often the airframe flies. For example, the needs of a Cessna Citation X operator in the USA, will be very different from those of a Bombardier Global 7500 passenger in Dubai. Identifying the requirements from the start will save valuable time, money, and management intervention later.

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

The ‘who will be using it’ refers to how many passengers will regularly require the connectivity. ‘What will it be used for’ refers to video conferencing, gaming, and streaming TV, or simply accessing the internet, mobile device applications, and making calls. ‘Where and when’ the connectivity is used is also key. Is the aircraft operating solely across North America or frequently travelling internationally? Airframes flying regularly may require a monthly always-on subscription, while a pay-as-you-go option may benefit those that travel less frequently. If an airframe is likely to be owned by the same proprietor for several years, a system that can be easily upgraded to stay current may be more suitable. This differs from a corporate fleet that buys new every three years. Larger airframesmay benefit from installing two or more systems to ensure uninterrupted coverage. In contrast, airframes in the light to mid-size category are likely to opt for a single terminal that supports regional travel.

Network selection will be informed by the geographicarea of operations. A satellite communication, SATCOM, solution will meet global connectivity needs by connecting an onboard terminal system with one of the increasing number of constellations located either in low earth orbit, LEO, geostationary orbit, GEO or highly elliptical orbit, HEO for polar connectivity.

An air-to-ground, ATG, network will support regional activity. As the name suggests, ground stations support the ATG solution using a network of terrestrial towers deployed across the continent that point upwards to enable aircraft connectivity. Offered uniquely in North America, ATG is ideal for those operating only within the continent. For those who travel between North America and the Caribbean or Hawaii, a second system installation could support over-water flight connectivity. GETTING

Photo courtesy of Gogo

Photo courtesy of Viasat

Each network connects with dedicated hardware which can be divided into three main components. The antenna, which, depending on its network connection, will be located in a radome on the aircraft tail or on the fuselage, as a low profile, flat panel antenna. For ATG services the antenna is positioned on the airframe belly. Each antenna has steering electronics and transceivers, which send and receive data from the satellites or towers. The tail-mount antennas move using gimbals to “see”the satellite they connect with and are invariably supported by GEO and HEO constellations. The flat panels are electronically steered with no moving parts and use phased array technology to connect to the LEO networks.

Cabin connectivity is enabled by boxes, which will be stowed within the cabin or in the unpressurized fuselage area. These comprise routers, Wi-Fi extension units, and modems that enable the transmission of the received and transmitted signals from and to the digital devices in the cabin. The number and size of the boxes will depend on the system and network selection.

Connectivity is delivered predominantly by dedicated service providers, which will offer plans that suit each operator's mission profile. Beyond facilitating connectivity, the providers will also manage the billing, customer support and various value-added services to help operators manage their systems. Some will also provide cyber security support to mitigate associated risks of data transmission. These value-added services may also include customized apps, network partner management to support uninterrupted coverage and training to ensure optimal connectivity usage. Increasingly, operators and owners will install two systems linking to different networks to ensure continuous coverage, more efficient budgeting, or amplify bandwidth to and from the cabin. This multi-orbit offering will likely become the status quo for airframes circumnavigating the globe to ensure consistent coverage.

Photo courtesy of Satcom Direct

Photo courtesy of Satcom Direct

Dependable, high-performance airborne global connectivity is now an expectation, but it is only possible through the installation of the right equipment by skilled avionics professionals. Installation is available from either the aircraft manufacturer and can be selected prior to delivery or from a network of maintenance repair and overhaul companies. MRO facilities act as approved vendors for the hardware and service providers. This retrofitoption is made possible through supplemental-type certificates confirming that the equipment is approved to be fitted onto an airframe without compromising safety. The retrofit market typically offers a wider variety of choices in system selection, and in some cases, newly delivered airframes may also have a second system fitted by MRO teams.

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH Business Aviation Connectivity

Connectivity is moving beyond communications and can now enable an array of thirdparty functionality. The right connectivity solutions can also support aircraft health monitoring, maintenance scheduling, flight operations and more. So, choose wisely and choose well, and connectivity installation will enhance the passenger experience, support asset value retention, and future-proof the aircraft even while the technology continues to advance.

Photo courtesy of Duncan Aviation

SATCOM NETWORKS

Satellite networks have undergone a rapid evolution in the last few years with the introduction of recordbreaking high-capacity satellites and new constellations allowing for ground-like connectivity speeds, reduced costs, and highly optimized coverage.

Two key features define SATCOM network technology: ▪ SATELLITEORBITS

FREQUENCY BAND

GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT (GEO)

GEO satellites operate in a circular earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches the earth’s rotation on its axis of 24 hr. The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that the satellite stays at the same position in the sky where antennas can permanently point to them. The GEO orbit is located at 35,786 km above the earth’s equator. A minimum of three GEO satellites is required to cover the earth. There are currently over 400 active satellites in GEO orbit.

LOW EARTH ORBIT (LEO)

LEO constellations use satellites positioned on an earth-centered orbit at a low altitude of 2000 Km or less. The lower altitude allows for smaller satellites with less powerful amplifiers. However, each satellite is only able to observe and communicate with a fraction of the earth at a time, meaning a constellation of many satellites is required to provide continuous coverage with each satellite continuously communicating with neighboring satellites. The first fully operational LEO constellation was Iridium using 66 active satellites at 781 Km altitude to achieve full global coverage including the poles.

MEDIUM EARTH ORBIT (MEO)

MEO Constellations use satellites positioned on orbit which is more than 2000 Km above earth but below the GEO constellations. The GPS satellite-based navigation system is a good example of a MEO operated constellation.

L-BAND (1 - 2 GHZ)

The L-Band is still the most used frequency in business aviation satellite connectivity. Designed mainly to provide cockpit safety services, the global coverage of L-band SATCOM networks allowed for a large offering of first generation low-speed cabin connectivity solutions.

KU-BAND (12 – 18 GHZ)

The Ku-band concentrates the largest number of regional satellite offerings. Developed originally for direct television broadcasting, the performance of Kuband systems has improved in recent years, with typical speed now around 18 Mbps, which is enough to enable standard video streaming.

KA-BAND (26 – 40 GHZ)

The Ka-band has more available capacity and is more efficient in its use of bandwidth. The Ka-band can achieve a speed of up to 33 Mbps, which is more than enough to enable live streaming of HD video and exceed the speed of many ground-based Wi-Fi services.

SATCOM ANTENNAS

In recent years aircraft antenna technology has advanced significantly, becoming more compact and enabling higher throughput capabilities. However, antennas are often the "bottle neck" that restrict data connection speeds to aircraft. Different antenna technologies are needed to support linking with the growing number of constellations, multi-orbit offerings and the frequency band the networks support. The most common used in business aviation are the familiar mechanically steered dish antennas, but an increasing

Ka-band terminal tail mounted installation on a BBJ

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH

Business Aviation Connectivity

number of electronically steered antennas are coming to market.

The flat panel antennas are typically fuselage mounted and are often equipped on commercial and executive airliners. As the ESA technology reduces in size they are becoming an option for business aircraft. The tail-mount antenna sits on top of the vertical stabilizer in an aerodynamic radome and are optimized for business jets.

Intelsat 2Ku terminal fuselage mounted installation on a BBJ

AIR-TO-GROUND (ATG) NETWORKS

An Air-To-Ground (ATG) network is a land-based connectivity network infrastructure. It’s analogous to how your cell phone connects at (almost) any given point on the ground: a cell tower routes the data from your aircraft to and from the destination device or entity. This technology is enabled by directing cell tower receivers and transmitters up toward the sky to provide a connectivity solution for aircraft flying overhead. The most extensive ATG systems have been established throughout the continental United States due to the large, continuous geographic region with collaborative aviation and communication governing authorities.

Typically, ATG systems are less expensive to equip and operate than the satellite options due to the lower complexity of the installation and hardware costs. Installing a satellite antenna typically involves a new tail radome which impacts the installation price. ATG antennas are fuselage mounted and are always mounted on the aircraft’s belly to allow for airto-ground transmissions.

ATG Ground Station

ATG Antennas Installation

Satcom Antennas Installations

photos courtesy of ALOFT AeroArchitects

Honeywell JetWave

Photos courtesy of Gogo

BUSINESS AVIATION IN-FLIGHT CONNECTIVITY

2024

MARKET OUTLOOK

By Summer Staninski, Market Research Analyst VALOUR CONSULTANCY

Valour Consultancy expects that nearly 30,000 business jets and turboprops will be equipped with In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) as we head into the start of the next decade. That’s up from about 18,000 aircraft today, representing growth of over 50 percentage points

This article explores new SATCOM products and services in the business aviationmarket and discusses how they might drive In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) adoption across the market. The industry’s focus has shifted from simply havingIFC (coverage) to optimal performance (consistency and capacity) and, consequently, the last few years have seen upgrades to existingsolutions and the introductionof new technologies. Low-earth orbit (LEO) networks, for example, offer truly global coverage (includingover the poles) and maximum speeds in the hundreds of Mbps - more than enough to stream movies and TV shows, browse social media and have multiple passengers connect to multiple devices. New hardware, such as low-profile multi-orbit electronically steered antennas (ESAs), will further bolster performance and expandthe addressable market of Ku- and Ka-band solutions.

scan the QR code to learn more about Valour Consultancy

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

Photo courtesy of Satcom Direct

By Valour Consultancy

Prior to 2010, maximum download speeds were typically measured in Kbps as L-band solutions were the only available option (note that, for some aircraft, this is still the case).

Up until recently, L-band was the only game in town for global coverage and the technology is still the most established and reliable form of IFC on the market; incumbents Inmarsat (now Viasat) and Iridium have been trusted to provide cockpit safety services for years.

One advantage of L-band solutions is that they only require small form factor fuselage-mount antennas (FMAs) which can be equipped on light aircraft. As a result, L-band-based IFC is the only available connectivity solution for any aircraft smaller than a midsize jet where air-to-ground (ATG) is not available (which is virtually everywhere outside of the continental U.S.). Its consistent global coverage also means that bizliners and heavier jets are often equipped with a back-up L-band system for full redundancy, hence the solution is the most common satellite frequency band across aircraft of all sizes (apart from very light jets and turboprops based in the U.S. where ATG is most popular).

Valour Consultancy expects that L-band connectivity will continue to be a cornerstone of IFC throughout the decade. Despite the relatively low throughput that supports only a narrow range of applications – mainly mobile telephony, basic browsing, email and a connected cockpit – Viasat and Iridium have announced incoming service upgrades that will propel L-band speeds into Mbps. In 2022, the former unveiled SwiftJet, which is due to enter service in the second half of this year and will offer speeds of up to 2.6Mbps which will make it the fastest L-band solution on the market. Iridium also has plans in place to upgrade the maximum speed of its LEO network, Certus, from 704Kbps to 1.4Mbps depending on market demand. Since the introduction of Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX (JX) GEO Ka-band solution in 2016, midsize jets and upward have moved towards GEO Ku- and Ka-band satcom IFC. As a result, maximum connectivity speeds have been pushed into the tens of Mbps which has enabled the use of higher bandwidth applications, such as streaming platforms, in the air. To connect to GEO Ku- and Ka-band connectivity, bizliners are typically equipped with a mechanically steerable FMA, while midsize, super midsize and large cabin jets are

fitted with a tail-mount antenna (TMA) – neither of which are suitable for smaller aircraft hence the use of L-band and ATG in these segments.

In recent years, there has been very little difference in the maximum achievable speeds and, therefore, the passenger experience associated with Ku- and Kaband solutions. SES’s LuxStream and Intelsat’s FlexExec (GEO Ku-band) both offer download speeds of up 25 Mbps, while JX for a long time maxed out at 20 Mbps and Viasat’s regional Ka-band solution, which offers “unlimited” speeds, tends to average around 30 Mbps.

In 2022, Inmarsat announced an upgrade path for JX, JX Evolution, which achieved speeds in excess of 100 Mbps during testing - in line with today’s new LEO offerings. New antennas such as the Plane Simple line from Satcom Direct and ThinKom’s Ka2517 product are more efficient than first-generation hardware and help to get the most out of these networks.

Satcom Direct Dual Ku/ Ka-band Antennas Installation

Photo courtesy of Satcom Direct

By Valour Consultancy

Despite L-band and GEO Ku- and Ka-band solutions accounting for most of the satellite equipped fleet today, Valour Consultancy expects that much of the forecasted future growth can be attributed to the introduction of LEO IFC solutions in the business aviation market.

SpaceX’s 2022 launch of its LEO Ku-band network, Starlink, into business aviation, as well as the imminent entry of Eutelsat Group’s proprietary multi-orbit offering – the first of its kind – comprising OneWeb LEO and its GEO Ku-band capacity will drive adoption of IFC across a range of aircraft and likely disrupt the status quo in terms of passenger expectation for capacity and consistency. More players are set to enter the market throughout the 2020s. Amazon Kuiper is taking a similar approach to Starlink and will launch a LEO-only Ka-band IFC network which is expected to be fully deployed by 2029.Telesat is also set to launch its LEO Ka-band network Lightspeed in 2026 and offer IFC services by 2027.The major driver for LEO connectivity is that it offers super-fast speeds and, at the same time, is intrinsically low latency. While GEO networks exhibit latency greater than 600 milliseconds, which can negatively impact page load times and the performance of video conferencing via Zoom or Teams, users on LEO networks generally see average round-trip latency around 100 milliseconds. In 2023, speed tests of Starlink Aviation on board a JSX operated aircraft showed “ping” of between 28 and 150 milliseconds. Our understanding of OneWeb’s GEN 1 network and the absence of inter-satellite links (ISLs) is that round-trip latency could be as low as 40 milliseconds or as high as 200 milliseconds, depending where in the world the aircraft happened to be and where traffic terminated on the ground.

As a result, LEO lends itself particularly well to business aviation where passengers are much more inclined to use video conferencing software, have VoIP conversations, connect to a VPN, work with documents stored in the cloud and engage in live in-flight gaming.

Furthermore, LEO networks necessitate movement away from the mechanically steered antennas currently used with Ku- and Ka-band GEO constellations, and towards electronically steered antennas (ESAs) which have the potential to connect to both GEO, LEO and even MEO satellites. The main benefit of ESAs is that they can be made much more compact than mechanically steered antennas and can therefore fit on light jets and turboprops – two segments which, as previously mentioned, are currently limited to L-band and ATG.

Larger ESAs are also available to afford heavy jets and bizliners optimal capacity when compared with small ESAs, as well as reduced drag and visibility compared to a mechanically steered antenna which may be appealing to larger jet owners concerned with aesthetics or reducing environmental impact.

Starlink currently offers an ESA suitable for fitment only on larger aircraft but is expected to introduce a smaller variant in the near future. Two FMA options will soon be available from Hughes Network Systems to power Gogo’s Eutelsat OneWeb powered LEO solution, Galileo: a halfduplex (HDX) variant that targets midsize and smaller jets that a) domicile outside North America and have no broadband solution today, and b) domicile inside North America and often fly international missions; and a larger full duplex (FDX) variant that delivers significantly higher bandwidth and targets global super midsized and larger heavy jets that fly transcontinental missions. Both will be tested this summer with discussions for STCs currently underway.

While ATG offers U.S.-focussed customers speeds in the tens of Mbps, which is preferable when compared with Lband, the entry of LEO solutions within this segment will be ground-breaking in terms of capacity and associated capabilities. As a result, Valour Consultancy expects some displacement of ATG terminals among smaller aircraft and usage of solutions that combine ATG and LEO such as Galileo for larger aircraft where ATG complements satcom and is used for full redundancy. Starlink’s 5,400 satellites and Eutelsat Group’s almost-650-satellite constellation ensure global coverage so smaller aircraft based outside the U.S. are also fair game for an upgrade from L-band connectivity.

LEO connectivity also offers consistency – coverage and capacity are equally distributed across every coordinate as networks must be comprised of hundreds to thousands of satellites to achieve global coverage. This is because each satellite is closer to the Earth and therefore covers a smaller area. However, equal global coverage is a doubleedged sword as some areas, such as around airports or over densely populated urban areas, need more capacity than others. This is where GEO networks excel. Due to their higher orbit, as few as three satellites are needed for global coverage. GEO satellites have a larger look angle to work with so can be steered such that multiple cover the same area allowing more capacity to be delivered if necessary. Valour Consultancy expects that, rather than completely replace GEO connectivity, LEO connectivity will be used as a complement and that this will provide passengers with the best possible IFC experience.

In order to capitalise on the strengths of both LEO and GEO Ku- and Ka-band solutions, multi-orbit offerings are being developed for business aviation. As previously mentioned, Eutelsat Group (borne out of a merger between OneWeb and Eutelsat) offers both LEO and GEO Ku-band solutions and partners such as STELLAR BLU Solutions and SatixFy are in various stages of developing accompanying multi-orbit antennas. Other GEO network operators have plans in the works to also partner with Eutelsat Group to access OneWeb LEO capacity. Intelsat is one such example and has also signed on to use the STELLAR Blu antenna. Referred to as Sidewinder, it is software-defined to enable seamlessly switching between LEO and GEO satellite connectivity – two separate terminals are not required as is currently the case for aircraft wanting to access two different types of connectivity. SES can also be expected to offer a multiorbit offering in the near future. mPOWER is a medium earth orbit (MEO) solution which offers low latency and high throughput similar to LEO and is on track to go live this year. Although plans are in place only for commercial aviation at present, it will likely enter the business aviation market in the future and be used alongside its GEO satellites. Other major players such as Viasat are likely to partner with a LEO network operator at some stage.

It’s all good and well that these services are available, but how can passengers access them? While multi-orbit ESAs can switch between networks, in order to access multiple connectivity solutions, aircraft owners must use a dualmodem modem manager (MODMAN) in which a second modem connecting to a different service can be added. In

2024 MARKET OUTLOOK

By Valour Consultancy

the future, interoperability will be possible with a single software-definable modem. An example is Hughes Network Systems’ software-defined modem that was demoed in 2021 which automatically switches between SES’ GEO and MEO solution specifically designed for the US Air Force. Though a software-defined modem for different satellite connectivity solutions has yet to enter the business aviation market, There is no doubt one will soon be developed to allow passengers to exploit the benefits of LEO and GEO satcom connectivity.

Valour Consultancy expects that this interoperability, advances in hardware, and the super-fast speeds of today’s and future IFC services are all factors that will continue to drive the adoption of IFC on aircraft small and large in business aviation.

ATGGroundStation

Photos courtesy of Gogo

BUSINESS AVIATION

IN-FLIGHT CONNECTIVITY

2024

MARKET INSIGHTS

By Rolland Vincent, President Rolland Vincent Associates, LLC and Creator / Director, JETNET iQ

Since 2011, JETNET iQ quarterly surveys of business aircraft owners and operators have gatheredinsights from more than 25,000 customers with fixed-wing turbine-powered aircraft in more than 140 countries and territories worldwide. These insights provide vital intelligence on the activities, preferences, and intentions of this highly connected but inevitably hard-to-reach community. Since 2016, we have been specifically pulsingbusiness aircraft customers to understandtheir perspectives regardingon-board WiFi, and expectations on the likelihood and timing of their investments in system upgrades.

While business aviation is widely acknowledged to be an active contributor at the leading edge of aerospace innovation, perhaps nowhere else in recent years have fresh insights and technology advancement transformed the user experience (UX) than in the field of in-flight connectivity. Initially serving customers in the large cabin, longhaul segment, on-board Wi-Fi systems have since migrated throughout the business and private aircraft fleet, made possible by continuous progress in smaller, lighter-weightsystems and their associated low-profile antennas, as well as business model innovations by a diverse field of highly capable service providers. These systems and organizations are delivering exceptional UX in the never-ending search for seamless, home- or office-like connectivity at high speeds and altitudes, in different meteorological conditions, and over vast and remote regions.

2024 MARKET INSIGHTS

By Rolland Vincent

The challenges delivering such technology to a customer base that is easily amongst the most discriminating and demanding of users is an ever-evolving puzzle that attracts some of the industry’s best and brightest talents, eager to create solutions that cater to a global clientele. Long ago already, on-board Wi-Fi operability –or, more accurately, inoperability - became a dispatch item for many business and private flight operations.

“I am/We are seriously considering upgrading our aircraft Wi-Fi system in the next 12 months” – All Respondents

Agree Disagree

Source: Q1 2024 JETNET iQ Survey

More than half of the decided respondents to the Q1 2024 JETNET iQ Survey indicated that they would seriously consider upgrading their aircraft Wi-Fi system in the next 12 months.

For those owners / operators who do not yet have a broadband or Wi-Fi system installed in their aircraft, JETNET iQ Survey respondents indicated that economic factors – including hardware and installation costs as well as monthly subscription fees – are their primary concerns. Together, these investment considerations made up more than 70% of mentions of concern worldwide, led by the upfront costs of the Wi-Fi equipment. While such concern was expressed by Survey respondents based in every major region of the world, it was somewhat higher for owners / operators based in North America (U.S. and Canada).

Photo courtesy of Bombardier

We note that many business aircraft owners / operators are of the expectation that Wi-Fi usage fees will continue to decline significantly over the next 12-24 months, no doubt providing some demand tailwinds.

The use case for on-board Wi-Fi communications is very clear. Owners / operators tell us that they primarily value the time-savings advantages they derive from using their business aircraft. They particularly appreciate the ease, convenience, and privacy of business aviation, the control they have over flight operations / scheduling / dispatch, and the ability they have to access airports that are closer to their origins and destinations. Whether enabling business and personal communications and connectivity or providing news, sports, and entertainment programming to the cabin, today’s Wi-Fi systems are widely considered to be essential on-board equipment without which the flight should not dispatch.

Much of the excitement about on-board Wi-Fi naturally comes from customers who fly in the back of the aircraft– those who work, search, connect, e-mail, and pay most of the bills. For those who enter the aircraftand turn left, the advantages of in-flight connectivity are at least or if not more profound. These center on safer aerial navigation, more timely and stratified information for real-time decision-making, electronicflight bags, simplified and proactive flight and maintenance planning, and ease and nearinstancy of aircraft-to-ground communications.

Moving at the speed of life, Wi-Fi advancements are transforming the way people experience air travel, whether in the front or the back of the aircraft. Investments in new connectivity technologies are amongst the most sought-after improvements that customers and crews can make to sustain their positions at the leading edge of business and private aviation.

2024 MARKET INSIGHTS

By Rolland Vincent

“I am/We are seriously considering upgrading our aircraft Wi-Fi system in the next 12 months” – All Respondents

Agree Disagree

Agree Disagree Agree Disagree

Source: Q1 2024 JETNET iQ Survey Agree Disagree

Interest in Wi-Fi upgrades in 2024 is apparently a worldwide phenomenon, based on Q1 2024 JETNET iQ Survey results. Prospective WiFi customers operate all sizes of business aircraft today but are more likely to be flying medium-sized and larger business jets, for which hardware choices and installation options are most widely developed.

Turboprop Operators Light Jet Operators

Medium Jet Operators Large Jet Operators

Viasat:TheSatelliteConnectivityLeader

At the heart of the industry for more than 30 years

As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus once quipped, “the only constantin life is change”. While his viewpoint was born hundreds of centuries ago and well before the advent of business aviation, it couldn’t be a more apt description of our industry. This is particularly true for the in-flight connectivity market, where the pace of evolution has always been relentless. And if there’s one company that understands the market’s constant shifts better than most, its Viasat. After all, it’s been at the heart of the industry for more than 30 years now, with a successful track record of navigatingthrough the market’s various ebbs and flows.

“We’ve always had a deep history in business aviation inflight connectivity and following our acquisition of Inmarsat last year, we have benefitted from an even stronger heritage, Not only were Viasat and Inmarsat both market leaders in their own right before the acquisition, we also shared a common reputation as proven innovators that have consistently evolved our services to stay ahead of customer demand. That’s really been a key part of our individual journeys over the years and now, as a combined organization, it will play an even more important role for us.”

Claudio D'Amico, Viasat’s Vice President of StrategicMarket Engagement, Business Aviationchats withAbdelmajid Jlioui.

Over the past year, the market for business aviation inflight connectivity has entered one of its biggest periods of transformation, with technology advancing and a flux of new entrants talking up their capabilities.

“Competition has always been a good thing for the market, and we welcome it,” continues D'Amico.

“However, we pride ourselves on knowing the market better than others and truly understanding what our customers want from their connectivity provider. We strive to deliver on that, working side-by-side with the business aviation industry’s leading OEMs, MROs and resellers. That’s why, while others have come and gone, Viasat has always stood the test of time.”

D'Amico’s assertions are reinforced by Viasat’s impressive customer base. Today, the company’s share of the business aviation satellite connectivity market is approximately 70%. Its four in-flight connectivity services - Jet ConneX and Viasat Ka on the Ka-band side, and SwiftBroadband and SwiftJet on the L-band side - are activated on thousands of business jets worldwide. These can be purchased through industry heavyweights Collins Aerospace, Honeywell and Satcom Direct, backed by an enviable (and growing) list of STCs, a vast MRO dealer network, and line-fit positions with the likes of Gulfstream, Embraer, Dassault and Bombardier.

Chris Moore, President Satcom Direct

(LRUs), the next-generation terminals are well suited for various types of business jets, including large cabin and smaller aircraft, making them an excellent choice for aircraft operating globally or within just one region. In addition, these systems are all designed for installation outside of the pressure vessel, saving valuable baggage space.

“We’re delighted that the market shares our excitement about how these upcoming innovations will raise the bar of what’s possible in terms of onboard connectivity. It gives them assurance that we are focused on delivering what they need, from connecting unlimited devices, sending unlimited messages and sharing unlimited documents to streaming unlimited video, making unlimited conference calls, and watching the game, uninterrupted. They can enjoy unchallenged access to the most data-hungry applications without compromising on our proven characteristics of consistency, reliability, resilience, and seamless global availability,” says D'Amico.

A number of technology milestones are fast approaching that will further enhance Viasat’s service offering, including the launch of advanced new satellites and next-generation terminals from Satcom Direct, Orbit and Honeywell. These use innovative technology and lightweight designs to optimize performance, reduce costs, and simplify installation and maintenance. With fewer line-replaceable units

“Plus, as we work with a world-class partner ecosystem, customers also have the benefits of flexibility and optionality. This is a key advantage of using Viasat, as customers can pick and choose the perfect solution to meet their unique requirements. They also have the added assurance of regular, incremental performance improvements as our additional capacity and equipment upgrades enter service.”

Viasat’s innovation isn’t limited to technology either. The company has a range of services plans that have been developed following extensive analysis into how business aviation customers are using its connectivity, drawing on the analysis of global demand patterns to pair performance tiers with customer requirements. These insights have been supported by the latest market research and one-to-one discussions with various partners and customers.

“Our pioneering service plans combine the best parts of Viasat and Inmarsat’s offerings for customers, so it’s truly the best of both worlds. This would not have been possible without the acquisition bringing us together and shows how our unique combination has delivered enhanced benefits to customers,” says D'Amico. “Such innovation is grounded by our focus to exceed the connectivity needs of our customer and not just deliver technology for the sake of it. We’re excited about being able to guarantee reliable, consistent, high-performance connectivity that truly delivers, whatever the customer’s priorities, wherever and whenever they fly, from the busiest airports to the most remote locations.”

He adds that instead of being totally preoccupied with speed promises, Viasat focuses on the bigger picture,

offering flexible services that fulfil all aspects of customer requirements for secure, uncompromised access to essential business and personal applications, consistently across flight routes. “We’ve reached a stage in the market where customers understand their needs a lot better. They don’t want to focus exclusively on speed, as that’s only one factor and actually one of the less important ones,” he states, referencing the latest results from Viasat’s annual survey of business aviation professionals, which have sent a clear signal to the market.

“According to the survey results, the two leading factors when selecting a connectivity solution are consistent performance and coverage across 100% of routes, followed by speed in third position. Our services have been developed accordingly and provide a welcome alternative to many newer entrants in this market, who are almost entirely focused on the theoretical speeds they hope to offer. Much of that is unproven and even then, it’s now understood that speed is only one factor when it comes to delivering gold standard in-flight connectivity.”

It seems D'Amico has a valid point. Viasat’s approach has received a hugely favourable response from the market as evidenced by the success of their products and adoption by MROs, resellers and OEMs into their production lines. “This is only the start. Watch this space, as we’re excited to share the details of exciting developments in the pipeline that will further build on our market leadership,” teases D'Amico.

BOMBARDIER

SPEARHEADING THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN BUSINESS AVIATION

VISWANATH TATA

A Conversation with Elza Brunelle-Yeung, Bombardier’s Senior Director Aftermarket Products and Digital

Can you give us a brief history of the Smart Link Plus program at Bombardier?

Smart Link Plus is all about that next level of connectivity, going beyond just data flowing, to an enhanced customer experience. For a long time, the airline industry had a lot of very sophisticated capabilities for enhanced aircraft health management systems providing both real-time diagnostic and advanced prognostic capabilities. But in business aviation, nobody focused on introducing these kinds of capabilities until we started that at Bombardier when we first launched the Global 7500. When the ultra-long range Global 7500 program was launched, we quickly saw that there was a need in business aviation for advanced data analytics. Because most operators don't operate hundreds of aircraft as some airlines do, they couldn’t develop these capabilities themselves. As the aircraft OEM, we felt that we were in a unique position where we could bring that type of technology, providing advanced analytics and data-driven experience similar to the most sophisticated airlines and make it available to our business aviation operators. At the same time, there was also an awakening of the world to new digitally enabled innovations with the introduction of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and all the other innovations available in our day-to-day lives such as smartwatches, smart homes, smart cars, smart health, etc. The convergence of all these ideas is what brought us to the launch of the Smart Link Plus program.

A Smart Link Plus solution was therefore designed as a baseline feature, part of the Global 7500 program since its launch. So, when the aircraft entered service in 2018, that marked the official entry into service of the Smart Link Plus program, and since then we started seeing the potential of such an advanced solution. The feedback we were getting was awesome. The data we were able to collect with the Global 7500 and the possibilities that this solution was enabling from many perspectives: customer experience, troubleshooting, customer support capabilities… and many other things made us quickly realize the great potential of this solution, and the need to bring these capabilities to all our customers. We realized that this technology was so game changing that our customers needed to start benefiting from it on all our other platforms. So, we decided to

embark on a program which has now brought us to certify STCs on our Challenger and Global aircraft family.

We are currently finishing our last certifications on the Global 5500 and 6500. All the other Bombardier platforms have now certified retrofit solutions. We are also working on making Smart Link Plus baseline in all our new production aircraft, it is already a baseline feature in the new Challenger 3500 and will be soon a baseline feature on the Challenger 650 and the Global 5500 and 6500.

Since its introduction with newly delivered aircraft, the SmartLink Plus program has been a great success, with a consistent service renewal rate of 100%. As customers enroll and see the great benefits, they usually don’t want to miss out on the benefits of this technology.

We are looking now to democratize even further this enabling digital technology to all our existing customers whether they operate our Challenger or Global jets.

We already have a large number of retrofit STCs and soon all our models will be covered, so our operators can start planning the installation of this gamechanging technology at their next major inspection which is an ideal downtime opportunity for that. We also want to make sure everybody can benefit from this technology. So, we are currently offering the Smart Link Plus hardware unit, which is at the heart of this technology, completely free of charge with a service subscription.

Can you give us a high-level description of the system?

The Smart Link Plus program enables customers to have access to insights at the tip of their fingers from anywhere in the world. So technically all our aircraft, even the older models, are generating thousands of parameters from different systems. We are talking about things like cabin pressure, temperature, power voltage, etc. The data that is flowing between different avionics and aircraft systems is captured by the Smart Link Plus box. Then, as the aircraft is flying, you've got a small portion of this data that's being transmitted in flight if the aircraft is equipped with a high-speed connectivity system. The data that is coming off in flight typically includes Crew Alerting System (CAS) messages for any inflight anomalies, and contextual data around these messages. The bulk of the data is sent when the aircraft lands, through a cellular connection.

The Smart Link Plus service comes with a worldwide 4G cellular coverage, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi modem that can be used where they have an available Wi-Fi connection. All this collected data then goes into Bombardier’s cloud platform where it gets aggregated with all our worldwide in-service fleet data and enriched. Customers can access their individual aircraft data through an app that we developed, called

myMaintenance. This app is available through any personal device, any laptop, anywhere in the world and provides customers access to their enriched data. This data can be used to deep dive during their troubleshooting and if they need help, they can get assistance from our Bombardier Customer Response Centre (CRC), which can also, following customers' approval, get access to the same information. This is really revolutionizing the way we support our aircraft today. As you can imagine, a Bombardier technical service person and the Director of Maintenance of an operator who may be halfway around the world, are both looking at the exact same data when the aircraft may be in a different hemisphere. That is happening in real-time. When we look at some of our CRC KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) on the Global 7500 equipped with the Smart Link Plus technology, one striking KPI number is the First Time Fix Rate (FTFR) which indicates the percentage of time Bombardier’s CRC is able to fix an issue the first time. The FTFR on the Global 7500 is at 100% most months which is a premier in our industry where these rates have never achieved such high scores. When looking at this performance it is also easy to understand how we can achieve a 100% service renewal rate.

Can you give us a few examples of Smart Link Plus use cases?

When looking at some typical cases, two examples come to mind. The first example is related to a nose wheel steering case notification. This happened a few times when customers would call, and both the customer and the CRC were able to look at the data to realize it was an unintentional pilot action that triggered that malfunction notification. This is a great example as you don’t have to ground the aircraft for an extended time to perform all the typical troubleshooting and maintenance tasks. In fact, the aircraft can be dispatched immediately after notifying the crew about the data analysis outcome and the error's root cause.

Another great example is hard landing detection. Typically, when you suspect a hard landing, you must start a maintenance event and do a large number of tests. But now we're getting customers who are calling our CRC when suspecting a hard landing event and asking if they can look at the data with our CRC technicians. This may not necessarily eliminate all the tests and tasks that you need to do around hard landing events, but it can save a lot of time and money.

One particular feature of the Global 7500 Smart Link Plus solution is the ability to uplink or “ping” the aircraft from the ground, can you give us more details on this function?

This function is called Remote Parameter Display (RPD). So as explained earlier, as the aircraft is flying, the aircraft will automatically downlink selected data, that can be used to start troubleshooting any inflight malfunction, this data will include the CAS message and some contextual data around that CAS message. But in the case when the maintenance or flight operations personnel want to get really into the troubleshooting mode, they can ping the aircraft to spotlight that particular event and request the system to provide even more parameters around the malfunction timeframe. This functionality is available on the Global 7500, but we will be soon enabling it for all the other aircraft models.

There is also another very interesting feature on the Global 7500, which is automatic engine trend monitoring data, i.e. forwarding the data automatically to the engine manufacturer, removing the need for manual data download. Bombardier is working to extend this service to all other platforms in the near future.

Looks like the Smart Link Plus is just the enabling piece of an even greater digital revolution for business aviation. Can you share with us how AI can help?

At Bombardier, we're always looking at new ways to solve complex problems most efficiently. And we believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is bringing a clear advantage in that regard.

We started our AI journey about four years ago just before the COVID pandemic, especially for aftermarket applications because we had a lot of immediate use cases for AI. So, we started with smaller projects to get familiar with the technology and then we started building from there. One of the first obvious AI projects involved inventory forecasting. This has great benefits for our customers as we were able to have the right parts at the right time when needed. That project was even more critical for us as we suffered, along with most of the industry during the COVID pandemic, from parts shortages as suppliers were struggling to deliver them. So, by having a more accurate demand forecast, we were able to limit supply chain shocks and give our suppliers more advanced notice about our parts need. Also, and more importantly, we were able to provide our customers the parts that they needed to fly during that high flying demand period. That was a great success story that was enabled by AI technology. We continue using AI to

generate our forecasts.

Another great feature we developed is providing recommendations through our e-commerce platform to our customers. When they're buying spare parts online, where the system uses AI to suggest additional parts that may be required to complete the replacement tasks.

AI is very important for us as we are working to expand the Smart Link Plus program to be able to get even more proactive in identifying maintenance and performance issues before they happen, allowing the maintenance personnel to repair or replace parts proactively. We also believe that the widespread usage of broadband connectivity, combined with the ability to capture, share, and aggregate all these thousands of aircraft-generated parameters and data will enable even greater projections and prognostic features in the near future

Within the aftermarket organization here at Bombardier, we have a digital team and an AI team. We're also working with third-party experts and companies who are helping us to build up our AI models and capabilities together. We're also very fortunate to be located in Montreal, Canada, which is internationally recognized as a hot spot for AI technology. With many world-class AI experts here, we're really leveraging the Canadian AI ecosystem as well as building those capabilities internally.

Rolls-Royce

DeliveringGreaterReliability&Efficiency WithConnected,ContextuallyAware andComprehendingEngines

JLIOUI

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

ABDELMAJID

A conversation with Stefan Wriege, Head of External Communications, Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce

In the fast-paced rhythm of today’s business world, private jets are becoming a fundamental business tool and a strategic element for corporate success. Therefore, aircraft and engine availability expectations are very high in this industry. Can you give us an overview of how Rolls-Royce is making sure to deliver the highest levels of availability to its powered fleet?

Business Aviation customers aren’t just buying an aircraft – they are buying a time machine. The aircraft is a powerful tool that helps saving their most precious good, time. And they count on us to deliver exactly that – with reliable, clean and best-in-class products.

Central to Rolls-Royce’s success in business aviation has been the commitment to leading the way in which engines are serviced. With the revolutionary 'Power-bythe-Hour' service concept, Rolls-Royce pioneered the world of engine maintenance management. First introduced to the market in 1962, this innovation provided a complete engine and accessory replacement service for the first time on a fixed-costper-flying-hour basis. This aligned the interests of the manufacturer and operator, who only paid for engines that performed well.

The programme has been further developed over the years and has become today’s market-leading CorporateCare® Enhanced service. Launched in 2002 as CorporateCare®, the programme allows operators to remove risk related to unscheduled maintenance events and makes maintenance costs predictable and easy to plan for. CorporateCare features Engine Health Monitoring, which tracks on-wing performance using onboard sensors; lease engine access to replace an operator's engine during off-wing maintenance, thereby minimising downtime; and a global network of 85 authorised service centres, 78 on-wing care specialists, ten strategically place storage and spare parts locations with 250 engine and nacelle lease assets and all orchestrated by our dedicated 24/7 business aviation aircraft availability center to ensure that world-class support is readily available to customers whenever required. This powerful network ensures we are able to solve standard ‘aircraft on ground’ (AOG) situations in less than 24 hours –wherever the customer needs our support. With CorporateCare Enhanced we added a wide range of services for the covered engines, including extended line maintenance and nacelle coverage for the BR710, BR725 and the brand-new Pearl engines.

A key metric for the availability of an aircraft is the averted missed trips rate. Andy Robinson, SVP Services – Business Aviation at Rolls-Royce, adds:

“We’re targeting 100% averted missed trips and to accomplish that we need to be able to clear an AOG within 24 hours. To achieve that, we’ve invested in a powerful and dedicated service network and the combination of all those assets is delivering impressive results. In 2023 we achieved 99% averted missed trips and averaged just under 23 hours’ AOG response time.”

Pro-active engine health monitoring (EHM) is a key component for ensuring the highest level of engine availability. Can you explain how EHM works and what kind of engine data are monitored?

The Pearl engine family exemplifies Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision of a future where product and service become indistinguishable thanks to advancements in digital capability. The engine vibration and health monitoring unit (EVHMU) is a perfect example of our vision of the IntelligentEngine, combining products and services in an innovative way, supercharged by digital tools to further enhance customer experience.

With its state-of-the-art EVHMU, the Pearl family features a step-change in ‘on-wing’ engine intelligence to deliver best-in-class engine availability. It is enabled to be connected to the ‘Internet-of-Things’, it can provide instant access to over 10,000 engine performance and health parameters with unprecedented levels of data quality. This includes pressure, temperature or vibration and, for the first time ever, the ability to monitor Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). This will ultimately enable us to remove a unit before they ever cause a problem (for reference, LRUs are components that can be repaired/exchanged while not having to remove the entire engine for repair, such

as fuel pumps).

Automatic engine data download and transmission to Rolls-Royce is also taking the burden from the customer. The system allows for advanced troubleshooting of issues using live-streaming of engine performance and EHM data via secure internetlink.

As you can see, with the Pearl family we are offering the full package – a perfect combination of customized technologies, pioneering Engine Health Monitoring capabilities and our already established aftermarket services programme CorporateCare Enhanced.

ROLLS-ROYCE

Advancements in digital capability have accelerated the fusion of product development and service offerings. A few years ago, Rolls-Royce introduced the concept of IntelligentEngine to capture this new paradigm, can you describe more about this concept and how it is contributing to your business aviation offering?

With the digital revolution blurring the boundaries between our physical products and the services we provide, we see a future where our engines are connected, contextually aware and even comprehending. A future where we design and test engines digitally, service them remotely and manage them through their digital twin. A future where, once again, we are pioneers, just like we have been throughout our history.

The IntelligentEngine is our pioneering vision. One that helps people fly more reliably and efficiently than ever before. It sees the worlds of product and service becoming so closely connected that they are now inseparable. A combination made even stronger by the revolution in digital capability that underpins the two. For our customers that means ever greater reliability and efficiency, and a wealth of opportunities to find greater value. It means we can design, test, and maintain engines in the digital realm, creating an IntelligentEngine vision where we will deliver greater reliability and efficiency with an engine that will be increasingly connected, contextually aware and comprehending.

And by that we mean:

▪ Connected – with other engines, its support ecosystem, and with its customers, allowing for regular, two-way flow of information between many parties

▪ Contextually aware – of its operating context, constraints and the needs of the customer, allowing it to respond to the environment around it without human intervention

▪ Comprehending – learning from its own experiences and from its network of peers, to adjust its behaviour and achieve best performance

Business Aviation is gearing up for a potential transformative digital upgrade cycle enabled by a wider availability of true broadband connectivity. How do you foresee that impacting Rolls-Royce products and services offering?

Digital information is the lifeblood of the IntelligentEngine. Harnessing its power is critical to delivering the IntelligentEngine vision.

We have always been leaders in making digital technology work with our pioneering Engine Health Monitoring systems that go back to the 1990s. But now a digital revolution is underway, one which means that by the end of this year Rolls-Royce will be receiving more than 70 trillion data points each year.

That gives us the opportunity to have our vision of an IntelligentEngine that is connected, contextually aware and comprehending. But having access to data is one thing. The challenge is making sense of that mass of information and turning it into the basis for insight and action. That's where our Rolls-Royce Data Labs team comes in.

We launched the Rolls-Royce Data Labs to tackle challenges just like these. It is an acceleration hub for data innovation, using advanced data analytics, industrial Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques.

At the heart of Rolls-Royce Data Labs are Data Innovation Cells; mixed discipline teams of data experts who work in collaboration with teams from across Rolls-Royce's operations. These cells apply cutting edge DevOps principles to rapidly explore data, unlock and test new ideas, and turn those ideas into new innovative services for customers.

ACJ TwoTwenty

The ultimate office in the sky

Redefining corporate aviation productivity with the combination of Xtra large cabin flexibility and best-in-class connectivity

VISWANATH TATA

The ACJ TwoTwenty's cabin boasts a generous 786 sq ft / 73m2 of floor space, seating up to 19 passengers in six wide VIP living areas, each approximately 130 sq ft / 12m2 in size. The cabin can be configured for up to 10 full-flat sleeping positions plus one full-flat isolated crew rest area. The ACJ TwoTwenty boasts an impressive luggage capacity, which can accommodate up to 100 bags.

This 5,650 nm range ultra-efficient jet offers the ultimate office in the sky environment with best-in-class connectivity and a range of relaxation amenities, such as a California king-size bed, an ensuite bathroom with a rain shower, and 55-inch 4K TV screens.

Régis Broutee, Vice-President Airbus Corporate Jets Service & Customer Support, answers EWM questions

Last year, ACJ announced a breakthrough partnership agreement with Eutelsat OneWeb to power the new ACJ Connect Link broadband connectivity offering. Can you provide more details about this new offering?

Indeed, last year during NBAA-BACE, ACJ signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EutelsatOneWeb to offer advanced inflight connectivity to ACJ customers. This is made possible as a result of Eutelsat OneWeb’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation and a dedicated electronically steered flat antenna. The agreement exemplifies our commitment to continuous innovation for both our newly developed aircraft and our in-service fleet through our retrofit program.

This unique in-flight satellite connectivity solution will provide passengers with a seamless experience akin to that of their home or office environment. With bandwidth (up to 195Mbps) and low latency (under 100ms) capabilities ten times faster than existing Ka/Ku solutions, it enables concurrent use of multiple devices for activities such as 4K video conferencing, high-definition streaming, and access to live TV content.

The introduction of the lighter electronically steered flat antenna will provide significant benefits, including a reduction in drag and fuel consumption compared to the existing mechanically steered Ka/Ku antennas. Furthermore, it will be integrated with all ACJ platforms, ensuring compatibility across our fleet.

We believe this new offer – optimized around aerodynamic design, bandwidth and price – to be a game changer that will significantly improve the passenger experience onboard our ACJ aircraft upon its deployment in Q3 2024. It is truly inspiring to empower people with seamless digital and connectivity solutions, ensuring their presence and impact where it matters, when it matters.

Can you walk us through some key cabin features of the ACJ TwoTwenty?

The ACJ TwoTwenty “Xtra Large Bizjet” delivers unmatched personal space and comfort with a cabin height of 6.8 ft / 2.1m and a cross-section exceeding 10.8 ft / 3.3m. This spacious layout accommodates six distinct zones, including a dedicated chef’s preparation annex, a California king-size bed, an ensuite bathroom with a rain shower, a dining table for eight, and a double door, allowing for more efficient movement between areas.

Additionally, it features an 8.8 ft / 2.7m wide and 4.3 ft /1.3m long sofa and a 55-inch 4K TV screens. The ACJ TwoTwenty boasts some cutting-edge technologies and innovations, such as electrochromic windows, LED lighting, and an advanced humidifying system, which ensures cabin humidity is maintained at over 20% to promote improved well-being and enhanced sense of taste and smell.

The ACJ Connect Link is seamlessly integrated into the state-of-the-art cabin to provide passengers with unprecedented fast onboard connectivity.

How do you see the combination of the ACJ TwoTwenty “Xtra” large cabin space and the latest connectivity technologies becoming a game changer in the world of corporate aviation?

For decades, business aviation has been instrumental in helping companies, individuals and governments gain key advantages in efficiency and productivity. This is echoed by the words of Fred Smith, chairman and CEO of FedEx, who refers to business aviation as a “force multiplier” and an integral part of FedEx’s success as a company.

The spacious cabin space, coupled with cutting-edge connectivity technology, enables the seamless transition of the passenger’s office environment to the skies. Whether it’s conducting board meetings or negotiating deals, being on board the ACJ TwoTwenty is no longer just about getting from point A to point B, but maximizing time and providing the space to conduct business without making any compromises.

As the demand for consistent, high-speed connectivity with uninterrupted global coverage continues to increase among business jet owners and operators, connectivity has emerged as a key differentiator in the competitive business aviation landscape. It is no longer considered a luxury but rather an essential requirement that aligns with the evolving norms of modern living and working.

The signature flexible cabin catalog offers a selection of layout options allowing hundreds of possible cabin configurations covering a wide variety of customer requirements. Visit the online

ACJ TwoTwenty Configurator

Gulfstream Connectivity OfferingUpdate

Can you give us an overview of Gulfstream’s current factory-installed in-flight connectivity offering?

Gulfstream aims to provide the best in-cabin experience in the industry by offering a variety of customizable options to support our customers’ individual needs.

Today we provide in-flight connectivity and entertainment options through a combination of traditional geostationary and low earth orbit satellites as well as air to ground solutions. Gulfstream also offers standard data link and voice safety services through satellite and VHF ground-based solutions. The aircraft Wifi connectivity experience begins with the on-board router and wireless system, and we’ve simplified this service with the Satcom Direct Router or Gateway to manage all on board communications on the aircraft to provide reliable high-speed coverage that meets all business and entertainment needs while in the sky.

We currently offer L-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band services, which are delivered through multiple global satellite networks.

The Satcom Direct Plane Simple Ku provides the bestin-class Ku band global high speed connectivity solution by using the Intelsat FlexExec satellite constellation for business aviation.

Gulfstream’s Ka-band offerings include Satcom Direct Ka, Honeywell Jet ConneX and ViaSat Ka-band.

SwiftBroadband is our L band solution service. This is an add-on to the existing safety services Satcom system that is installed on the aircraft, offering global L band coverage for in-flight voice and data with enhanced speed capabilities.

Additionally, Gulfstream offers Gogo AVANCE L5, an air to ground network of cellular radio towers that provide up to 5G of broadband connectivity capability throughout the continental United States, Alaska and portions of Canada.

Derek Zimmerman, President of Gulfstream Customer Support, chats with Abdelmajid Jlioui

In 2017, Gulfstream launched its own Connectivity Service Program. Can you provide us with an overview of this program and how it is helping Gulfstream customers to select and maintain both their cabin and flight deck connectivity solutions?

The primary goal of the Gulfstream Connectivity Service is to provide customers with the strongest support experience possible. This connectivity service was developed to provide our customers with an advanced support experience and complemented by a new and enhanced focus on technical training for customers’ best-in-class use of the technology.

In 2017, Gulfstream introduced its Virtual Network Operations Center (VNOC), headquartered at the Gulfstream Savannah Service Center, which enables direct data sharing between the Satcom Direct (SD) Network Operations Center (NOC) and Gulfstream. The VNOC has been instrumental in terms of advancements and improvements to our service capabilities. It provides Gulfstream with the tools and resources that enable our team of experts to be more proactive by having the ability to identify solutions to potential future challenges before they even occur. This is an added benefit to our customers as it allows us to help them avoid unnecessary down time or service interruption before it occurs. We look forward to building on this collaboration to further exceed our customers’ expectations.

Gulfstream was the first aircraft OEM to offer a maintenance data link that automatically transmits aircraft maintenance information to the ground. Can you give us an overview of Gulfstream’s PlaneConnect system and how it is helping Gulfstream customers achieve the highest levels of dispatch reliability?

PlaneConnect is a maintenance data link that automatically transmits aircraft maintenance information from airborne PlaneView-equipped Gulfstream business jets to ground-based operations centers. Gulfstream was the first business jet OEM to provide this downlink capability, and it is available on G450, G550, G500, G600, G650 and G700. It will also be available on the G800 and G400.

There are many benefits to this service, including the ability for Gulfstream to identify potential aircraft-onground (AOG) situations before they even occur. We can also use the system to help provide visibility of aircraft status across time zones and evaluate individual aircraft health; identify the need to prepare parts for customers ahead of time; easily identify the root causes of issues; and provide supporting documentation to all stakeholders for a more holistic evaluation of in-service fleets.

The combination of the latest business jets' ultralong-range capabilities with the increasing availability of true broadband cabin connectivity solutions will enable a lot of corporate operators to turn their jets into a true collaborative office-in-thesky. How do you see the cabin design and configuration evolving to support more collaboration and productivity?

Since the introduction of the G650 in 2008, the ultralong-range standard Gulfstream set for business-jet travel has given passengers the ability to live and work in the air in much the same way they do on the ground.

A key component of our cabin design involves business and entertainment connectivity options. The flexibility of Gulfstream interiors and interior technologies create a seamless transition from life on the ground to the aircraft. Gulfstream’s design team works hand-in-hand with our customers to envision custom interiors and aircraft configurations that accommodate their connectivity needs and mission requirements. From there, we continue to develop and adjust these offerings to support them throughout the life of their aircraft.

Can you give us an overview of Gulfstream’s inservice connectivity retrofit offering?

Gulfstream provides the same in-service connectivity offerings for both in-service and completions aircraft.

How can customers better plan their connectivity systems installation or upgrade?

Gulfstream Customer Support’s new product development team constantly evaluates its cabin management systems to adapt our technology features and functions to support our customers’ evolving needs.

We have worked closely with our network and hardware providers to create solutions that are easier to install and upgrade on the aircraft and enable access to multiple satellite network constellations. This provides greater service flexibility, creates a more competitive marketplace, and makes it easier to keep up with the pace of technological improvement. We also work with customers to continue to identify their unique missions and needs, including what communication and streaming services they need inflight and the best connectivity solutions based on what parts of the world their flights will take them. For example, will their travel be domestic, international or both? How many users and devices do they expect to be in use at the same time? All of these factors can play a role in determining what connectivity options will fulfill and exceed their needs.

When we all work together, we are best able to deliver an industry-leading experience tailored specificallyto the needs of our customers ” “

EMBRAER Connectivity Offering Update

ABDELMAJID JLIOUI

Can you give us an overview of Embraer’s current Factory-installed In-Flight connectivity offering?

Embraer Executive Jets’ current portfolio extends from the entry and light jet segments with the Phenom 100EX and Phenom 300E, up to the continental-ranged midsize Praetor 500 and intercontinental-ranged super-midsize Praetor 600.

The Phenom 100EX offers an in-flight phone and datalink system through the Iridium satellite network, allowing pilots and passengers to access SMS texts, voice calls, weather services (Garmin Connext), and position tracking.

The Phenom 300E offers both a North American air-toground (ATG) based internet system through the Gogo network and global satellite coverage based on the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband system.

Lastly, the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 offer the same connectivity options as the Phenom 300E, plus an ultra-high-speed internet product based on Viasat’s Ka-Band satellite.

The Praetor 600 was the first super-midsize jet to offer a line-fit satellite-based broadband connectivity solution. How popular is this optional feature with Praetor customers?

Both the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 were the first to introduce ultra-high-speed internet in their individual segments. This is a very popular option, equipping a majority of the Praetor family’s line-fit deliveries.

Today’s business jet passengers expect to be connected, productive, and entertained during the

A conversation with Alvadi Serpa Junior, Director of Market and Product Intelligence at Embraer Executive Jets

full duration of their flights. Can you walk us through some of Embraer's cabin features that enable these expectations?

Embraer’s business jets were designed to deliver the ultimate customer experience. In addition to the stateof-the-art connectivity available in each aircraft’s respective segment, the interior cabin layout and available functionalities, bolstered by Embraer’s Design DNA philosophy, are designed to deliver value through solutions in design, ergonomics and craftsmanship for a comprehensive passenger experience when working, resting, or entertaining. Taking the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 as examples, passengers have a wet galley equipped with plenty of appliances, including a microwave, conventional oven, refrigerator, ice drawer, espresso machine and other well-designed spaces for storage and meal preparation areas. Going through the sophisticated cabin, seats facing one another can be berthed to create seven-foot flat beds for resting during overnight trips. Passengers can also enjoy the cabin entertainment system, compatible with most consumer electronics available, including a full HD video system, cabin surround sound and audio/video on demand on passenger’s devices. Passengers also have home-like connectivity capacity, with the ability to hold video call meetings or even access their cloud and streaming platform content. The cabin also delivers one of the healthiest environments in the sky enabled by the best-in-class cabin altitude of 5,800 ft. and HEPA filters that capture 99.97% of all particles, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Woelber, Vice President Worldwide Customer Support & Aftermarket Sales at Embraer Services and Support answers EWM questions

Can you give us an overview of Embraer’s in-service connectivity retrofit offering?

Embraer offers a diverse on-board connectivity portfolio that provides solutions for an easy retrofit to keep customers always connected with the best inflight Wi-Fi experience, including: Gogo L5 for the Phenom 300, Legacy 450/500 and Praetor 500/600. For customers who fly with more demanding connectivity needs, Viasat Ka is available for the Legacy 450/500 and Praetor 500/600, and JetConneX on the Lineage 1000. For customers who require a reliable connection with the addition of safety services, Embraer offers Swift Broadband on the Legacy 600/650.

With ever-evolving technologies and flight missions, how can customers better plan their connectivity systems installation or upgrade?

We are constantly striving to provide the best solutions and experience for our customers. Our team of sales representatives is readily available to support an efficient installation schedule, tailored to customer requirements. Early planning combined with scheduled maintenance will help to minimize the aircraft’s downtime for the installation.

Marsha

VIASAT Business Aviation Connectivity Offering Update

In May 2023, Viasat announced the completion of the acquisition of Inmarsat after receiving clearance from competition authorities. Can you walk us through the combined capabilities of the new global satellite communications leader?

The combination of Viasat and Inmarsat as two in-flight connectivity leaders is great news for the business aviation industry. After the acquisition was completed, we identified which aspects of Viasat’s offering was most beneficial to customers and likewise, which aspects of Inmarsat’s offering was most beneficial to customers. Not only in terms of service plans, but across the board, including our hardware and partner ecosystem. By utilizing our collective experience, expertise and technology, our customers have directly benefited from even better choice, value and capabilities to meet their existing and long-term needs. Our two advanced, high-speed solutions over Ka-band are suitable for a broad range of business jets, from super-midsized to large cabin. These provide fast and consistent connectivity that allows passengers to enjoy video conferencing, multi-device video streaming, corporate VPN access and more, during all phases of flight.

Business aviation customers also have access to our resilient L-band services, which can either be used as primary connectivity for smaller or older aircraft, or as a complementary system to Ka-band services. This ensures passengers can stay connected with colleagues, friends and family wherever and whenever they fly, with the ability to communicate over email, text, instant messaging and video calls, browse the internet and social media, and enjoy single device streaming.

Both Viasat and Inmarsat have a successful track record of consistently innovating, not only in terms of technology, but also ensuring our service plans evolve to meet the changing demands of customers. As a combined business, we’ll keep pushing the boundaries of in-flight connectivity to stay ahead of their needs. We have already announced a number of advanced new satellites, terminal innovations and service plans, which will mark a transformative step-change in our Kaband and L-band capabilities. And we’re in a unique position because we are building up from existing, proven solutions. This approach cannot be replicated by others and presents a welcome alternative to the over-promising and under-delivering of some providers in the market.

The combination of Viasat and Inmarsat is very important for the business aviation connectivity market as the two companies equip and serve a large number of business jets. Can you provide us an overview of your combined customer base in Business Aviation?

Viasat is the world’s leading provider of in-flight connectivity. In the business aviation industry alone, our share of the satellite connectivity market is currently around 70% and our services are activated on thousands of business jets around the world. These impressive statistics are testament to how the business aviation industry has embraced our solutions. It also shows that we’re more than just a connectivity provider. We’re a true business partner and have a unique position in the industry ecosystem, trusted by OEMs, service and technology providers to optimize our customers’ experience and value from connectivity.

Business Aviation is one of the most demanding inflight connectivity markets. What are your views on the expectations of business jet users in term of quality, availability, and support?

We conduct an annual survey of business aviation professionals across the world to gauge their views on in-flight connectivity. The latest results once again highlighted that in-flight connectivity is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. That’s reflected in the fact that the vast majority of respondents (82%) said in-flight connectivity is now a passenger expectation. Almost three quarters (74%) said that passenger satisfaction increased when in-flight connectivity was introduced on their business jets.

However, it’s not simply a case of having connectivity onboard. This is a demanding customer base that includes high-net-worth individuals and senior corporate executives. They have exacting standards and their expectations around connectivity has now shifted toward a superior quality of service. And despite all the noise in the market about speed, this alone will not fully meet customer demands in business aviation. For example, when asked which factors would be prioritised when buying a connectivity

solution, consistent performance and coverage across 100% of routes were both deemed more important than high speeds. Similarly, when asked which aspects of inflight connectivity are most important, respondents said the solution working consistently wherever they fly is more important than a superfast connection.

It’s clear that business aviation customers are looking for consistency, reliability, resilience, seamless global availability, and world-class customer service. That’s exactly what Viasat strives to deliver. We’re enabling passengers to make the most of their time onboard, whether that’s for business, entertainment, or simply staying in touch with family, friends and colleagues.

How do you plan to keep your leadership in this market segment?

The dynamics of the business aviation in-flight connectivity market are constantly changing. Viasat has been a key player for over 30 years now and as you can imagine, we’ve seen many changes over that time, with technology advancing and competitors coming and going. The market has entered another period of transformation now, with new entrants almost entirely focused on the speeds they hope to offer, even though customers have become more savvy and understand speed is only one factor of many when it comes to gold standard in-flight connectivity.

Following the acquisition of Inmarsat, our decadeslong understanding of the market is even deeper as we benefit from our combined experience and vastly enhanced data insights from our larger combined customer base. In fact, one of our first activities after the acquisition was conducting an in-depth process to better understand market demands. This involved an extensive analysis of how business aviation customers use our connectivity, supported by the latest market research and one-to-one discussions with various partners and customers. Those insights are being used to shape our latest service transformations, with a focus on overall experience rather than just speed.

Kai Tang, Head of Business Aviation at Viasat, chats with Abdelmajid Jlioui

VIASAT Connectivity Offering Update

We are being smarter and, thanks to the benefits of our new scale following our acquisition, we can offer a better cost per bit without compromising on the experience. We want our services to truly offer the best of both worlds, delivering on the powerful combination of Inmarsat’s coverage and reliability with Viasat’s capacity and performance. We look forward to revealing more soon and we’re delighted the market has already responded so favourably to the details that we have shared to date.

Viasat is now the leader of Ka-band connectivity solutions for Business Aviation, can you provide us an overview of your new combined Ka-band offering?

We offer two Ka-band connectivity solutions – Jet ConneX and Viasat Ka – which have been purposebuilt for business aviation and set the benchmark for high-performing connectivity. Both allow principals to maximize their time and productivity at all phases of flight. Moving forward, customers should expect to see a combination of what they have valued in both systems, particularly the reliability and consistency of their service. An overwhelming number of our savviest customers recognize the value of these attributes, and we’re delighted to be able to give them that value as a direct result of the two companies coming together.

We’re also very excited to add next generation terminals, designed specifically for business aviation, alongside our existing hardware solutions. These nextgeneration terminals are being developed by our partners Satcom Direct, Orbit and Honeywell using innovative technology and lightweight designs to optimize performance, reduce costs, and simplify installation and maintenance.

The combination of our next generation terminals and enhanced global satellite capabilities will take the inflight connectivity experience to the next level, satisfying even the most stringent demands from top tier customers for many years to come.

For many years, Inmarsat L-band offering was the only true global cockpit and cabin connectivity solution equipping a large number of long-range jets. How do you plan to support this fleet and what upgrade options are available for these customers?

SwiftBroadband (SBB) is one of our flagship services for business aviation, offering reliable in-flight voice and data connectivity with global coverage that is always available to meet the core needs of users.

VIASAT Connectivity Offering Update

With consistency and performance by design, it has been the world’s leading L-band service for business aviation since 2009.

SBB is a proven, dependable way to stay connected, regardless of which aircraft type is being operated or which route is being flown across the world. This helps to ensure the needs of business aviation passengers and crew are being met, from in-seat mobile phone and text services to emails and web browsing.

Looking ahead, our ground-breaking new SwiftJet inflight connectivity service enters commercial service this year, delivering seamless global coverage across flight routes and maximum speeds up to six times faster than our existing SwiftBroadband L-band business aviation solution.

This ensures passengers can stay connected with colleagues, friends and family wherever and whenever they fly, with the ability to communicate over email, text, instant messaging and video calls, browse the internet and social media, and even enjoy single device streaming.

The service will use advanced hardware that can be equipped on a broad range of aircraft and also supports cockpit and safety services. For thousands of our existing SBB business aviation customers, there will be a seamless, natural upgrade path through minimal changes to the installed equipment. New customers will also experience the same installation ease as any Viasat L-band terminal.

It’s also worth highlighting that our global L-band network’s capabilities are being further enhanced with additional satellites, which will support SwiftJet through the 2030s, reinforcing the service’s long-term value. Just like our Ka-band services, it has a bright future ahead.

\\Viasat is more than just a connectivity provider. We’re a true business partner and have a unique position in the industry ecosystem

Satcom Direct

ExpandingConnectivity Benefits ThroughESA Technology

High-speed connectivity was once the domain of the large cabin long-range jets. Antennas needed to be mounted in a radome on the aircraft tail, power was needed to make reliable connections, at least five or six boxes were required to distribute the Wi-Fi through the cabin, satellite constellations supporting business aviation were limited. Consequently, the associated budgets related to installation and pricing plans, limited the types of airframes that could access truly global broadband.

The full connectivity benefits were experienced by a privileged few, but that is set to change thanks to the momentum building in the world of Electronically Steered Antennas, ESAs. In a hyper-connected world where connectivity on the move is an expectation, the demand for reliable, consistent global connectivity has grown, and operators of smaller airframes are demanding solutions. Owners and operators of light to mid-size jets want to emulate terrestrial life in the air, and thanks to new hardware, technological advances, and increasingly competitive service plans, broadband will be available to more aircraft types than ever before.

The interest in the potential offered by these scalable antennas is matched by the enthusiasm of connectivity providers recognizing the opportunity to deliver meaningful connectivity from take-off to touchdown to a new audience of aircraft owners.

Recent entrants include Gogo, which announced the introduction of their flat panel manufacturer, Hughes Network Systems, during EBACE 2023 and is planning service introduction for late 2024. Starlink, which has re-purposed its ESA, originally targeted to commercial airlines and recreational vehicles, for the business aviation sector and is generating STCs for mainstream OEM airframes. And Satcom Direct, which is set to flight test its ESA, this summer on board a Cessna Grand Caravan. At the other end of the spectrum, Stellar Blu is introducing the Sidewinder ESA terminal, which is designed to retrofit executive airliners, and marked its first connection through the OneWeb service via a contract with SD for a BBJ in March. The terminal supports connectivity to Ku-band airtime networks and gives business airliners with heavy passenger loads bolstered connectivity.

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

JANE STANBURY

Why did Satcom Direct add an ESA to its SD Plane Simple® antenna portfolio?

The SD Plane Simple antenna series offers two formats. The compact tail mount and the flat panel fuselage mount, which is a scalable ESA. Equipping the right aircraft antenna is essential for consistent data transmission and we wanted to be able to offer our customers choice and the opportunity to customize their services to meet their specific missions. The gimbaled SD Plane Simple tail mount Ku-band variant has proved to be incredibly successful, and we’re close to launching our Ka-band variant commercially.

We recognised early on that it is not just large jet owners that need to be productive, but customers flying in Embraer Phenom or Cessna Citation size airframes equally need access to high-speed broadband. That motivated us to develop, in conjunction with Gilat our scalable ESA. Our customers can equip individual antennas or combine two different services on the same aircraft to ensure constant connectivity.

So, how do they connect with the satellites?

Chris Moore, president of Satcom Direct, the only connectivity provider dedicated to supporting business and government aviation customers, believes that ESA technology will change the face of connectivity for the sector, and gives an overview to EW about what the ESA introduction means for business aviation.

The SD Plane Simple tail-mount variants are designed to connect with geostationary, GEO, satellite constellations. These satellites are on a seemingly fixed orbit at great distances from earth which means their beams cover large portions of the planet. This is why fewer GEO satellites in a constellation are needed than in a low Earth orbit, LEO network. To connect with the GEO satellites, the tail-mount antennas need to change their angle of view on the moving aircraft to ensure it is always able to “see” the satellite and at low-look angles at the edge of a GEO coverage area.

The tail-mount antenna adjusts to the required angle to stay connected.

The ESA terminals do not contain any moving parts and, in their flat panel format, are based on augmenting phased array technology. The ESA dynamically steers the beam electrically towards the satellite to maintain connection and can adapt the beam to optimize signal strength and reception quality, even in challenging weather. The LEO networks comprise multiple satellites, enabling aircraft to regularly switch between them, making the connection changes nearly instantaneous, to increase the efficiency of the connection to minimize interruptions.

So, what changed to make the ESA solution an option?

Electronically steered antennas are flat panel devices based on optimizing phased array technology. They have been used in airline and defence applications for years. Until recently, they required a lot of power and generated significant heat, making them unsuitable for small airframes.

However, with the emergence of the new, high-speed LEO constellations, which are effectively much closer to the aircraft than the GEO constellations, less power is needed to steer the antenna’s phased arrays, which makes the connection. This reduces the amount of heat generated. In addition, the technology has allowed for the development of smaller, scalable, lightweight ESAs, which means they are more aerodynamically friendly.

This widens the types of airframes that can carry this antenna.

Where are ESA antennas supported around the globe?

The new high-speed LEO constellations have sufficient satellites to provide truly global coverage. This is an added bonus for customers travelling across island nations or in remote areas. The ESA antennas will be connecting with extensive satellite networks that reduce connectivity interruptions. Our SD Plane

Simple ESA links with Eutelsat OneWeb which delivers fully global connectivity and is why we selected them as our preferred ESA satellite service.

What are the tangible benefits for business aviation operators?

The main benefit is that the smaller, low-profile antennas can fit more airframe sizes than ever before. The antennas, covered by a low-form factor radome, reduce drag. This saves fuel, but additionally, the low weight and lack of moving parts adds more efficiency. With no moving parts the risk of mechanical failure is limited, and reliability is increased for consistent performance throughout flight

Our ESA is a modular design and has been evolved to preserve the integrity of the antenna installation, minimizing the need for invasive upgrades. Most updates will happen in the SD Modem Unit rather than on the antenna. This is a significant leap forward in terms of budgets and future-proofs the owner’s investment.

Once installed the ESA delivers high-speed broadband connectivity that supports voice calls, video streaming and much of the functionality delivered by legacy antennas. Being much closer to Earth, LEOs provide reduced latency as compared to GEOs. If cloud computing or gaming are your thing, then LEO services likely offer the best experience. Our antenna will deliver full-duplex performance, a key capability in small-form, low-power devices that allow data to be sent and received simultaneously.

The gimbaled SD Plane Simple tail mount Kuband variant has proved to be incredibly successful, and we’re close to launching our Ka-band variant commercially

What are the downsides of ESA solutions?

Once in areas of high-density usage, for example the skies above New York, the LEO services may be negatively affected, and users can experience interruption. GEO constellations have the advantage of being able to add capacity to a specific region to mitigate congestion. If it’s live TV you want to watch, or you need maximum bandwidth in congested airspace, then GEO service provides an excellent solution. There have been some concerns over satellite switching and the frequency of beam changing, which may negatively affect the overall user experience. This is why the LEO constellations have so many satellites, as they aim to mitigate any concern around global coverage.

Who would you suggest installs an ESA?

From our perspective we don’t think the discussion should be around which antenna or network an operator should install and connect with. Optimizing combinations of different technology and satellite constellations that meet the needs of the end user is what we recommend. The ESA will open the connectivity market for smaller airframes for the first time. For larger jets they provide a good second connectivity system too. The LEO, GEO and even MEO, mid earth orbits are all valid and complement each other. We welcome more options for our customers and believe the ESA technology adds a valuable new component in terms of customer choice.

The interest in the potential offered by ESA antennas is matched by the enthusiasm of connectivity providers recognizing the opportunity to deliver meaningful connectivity from take-off to touch-down to a new audience of aircraft owners.

EutelsatOneWeb

OfferingaLEO-basedConnectivity SolutionForallBusinessJetsSizes

Jason Sperry, Head of Business Aviation at Eutelsat OneWeb answers EWM questions about the new LEO offering

Eutelsat OneWeb is teaming up with business aviation connectivity leaders Satcom Direct and Gogo Business Aviation to offer its highly anticipated LEO-based connectivity solutions by the end of the year

In September last year, Eutelsat and OneWeb announced their merger to create Eutelsat Group, can you walk us through the new group space communications capabilities?

At Eutelsat Group we are bringing together two very complementary satellite technologies – geostationary satellites (GEO) and our low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network to deliver global, impactful connectivity experiences. Our satellite service connects hard to reach places connecting communities, schools, health care centers but also planes and ships – where satellite is the only connectivity solution. Our combined satellite solution offers customers the benefits of both networks including GEO’s highbandwidth capabilities coupled with the global, low latency and high-speed service of our LEO network enabling applications – video streaming, video calls, financial transactions, enterprise network operations and more.

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

VISWANATH TATA

For business aviation, our low Earth orbit constellation is really the focus. Our 634 satellites are now fully deployed, ready to provide high performance connectivity to business jets regardless of when and where they are flying. Facilitated by the next generation ESA antenna being developed by our distribution partners, we will be able to connect both heavy jets and lighter business jets and turboprops. The advantages of Eutelsat OneWeb’s LEO-based connectivity solution is consistent and robust global coverage, including oceanic and polar regions, and of course low latency which drives a number of productivity and entertainment applications that are not able to perform optimally or at all on a GEO-based connection.

Can you give us an overview of how the combined multi-orbit GEO-LEO services can be a game changer in the global mobile connectivity market especially for inflight applications?

Outside of the business jet space, a multi-orbit GEO/LEO approach is resonating well with commercial airlines, and will provide airline passengers with faster, more consistent, and truly global broadband service with a variety of capabilities, leveraging the power of existing networks and augmenting them with the clear benefits of LEO. The demand for consistent, reliable connectivity from gate to gate, pole to pole, may require a combination of technologies where there could be hundreds of passengers on board.

There are applications which work expertly in GEO (e.g. Live TV) on large commercial airliners, and other applications such as gaming, cloud computing – and to an extent seamless browsing that require the benefits of low latency that is only achievable with a LEO constellation. With the combined technologies, we can deliver the ultimate in passenger experience; a true home-broadband experience in the sky with no limitations; allowing passengers to work, play and consume content as they would in the comfort of their couch.

For business jet customers with significantly smaller passenger counts, our LEO-based solutions offer a truly home or office connectivity experience.

Business aviation has always prided itself and sold itself as an invaluable business tool. The benefits of travelling by business jet are many and well known, including reducing lost time in airport queues or delays, more productive and secure workspaces and offering the ability to visit multiple destinations in a

day. But, in order to be truly classed as a business tool, business jets need to ensure that their principals and passengers can remain seamlessly connected to the world below them. Connectivity to the office, to colleagues, to the markets, to the cloud are now simply a necessity for any executive. Today’s connectivity solutions frequently fall short of delivering the truly global, consistent, and enterprise grade connectivity needed to do business. Our constellation of over 600 low Earth orbit satellites – circling the globe at an altitude of 1200kms, will deliver seamless, high throughput and truly global connectivity to business jets of all sizes – from turboprops to light jets to bizliners. What’s more, because our satellites are in low Earth orbit, the latency of the connection is significantly reduced. What does this mean? Well simply a far richer user experience – no buffering pages, no audio lag on video conference feeds, real time market access and cloud computing. In essence a truly ‘office equivalent’ experience. With speeds consistency above those possible today, principals and their guests will be able to remain as entertained or as productive as if they were on the ground.

Eutelsat OneWeb LEO connectivity solutions are getting ready to enter service in both the business and general aviation markets, what makes the OneWeb LEO network offering a good fit for these markets?

To answer the specific question regarding the benefits that Eutelsat OneWeb’s LEO solution will bring to the IFC experience in the business and general aviation sectors, we refer to the 5-C’s of connectivity. These are coverage, capacity, connection, consistency, and community.

Coverage. Our LEO satellites are in a Polar orbit, meaning Eutelsat OneWeb’s coverage will be provided globally – truly globally – including polar regions and across all oceanic regions. Where GEO is restricted by physics and look-angles, LEO can provide excellent line of sight everywhere, all the time – which will result in more consistent performance, regardless of aircraft position and direction – even at low latitudes.

Capacity. The Eutelsat OneWeb network will initially offer a useable global capacity of over 1Tbps, equating to bandwidth speeds that simply can’t be globally delivered by existing satellite systems – which in turn means a richer user experience. Furthermore, as LEO satellites are significantly closer to earth, physics delivers us the additional benefit of low latency – less

LEO-Based Connectivity Offering Update

than 100ms to be precise – which, in the advent of modern user applications that typically require low latency to function, opens up a whole new area for passenger, crew and IOT solutions that simply can’t be met with 600ms+ limitations of GEO. Eutelsat OneWeb plans to evolve this initial offering, meaning a growth path of significant additional capacity and capabilities in the coming years.

Connection. The revolutionary ESA antennas that are being developed by our Distribution Partners Satcom Direct and Gogo Business Aviation are the connection between the aircraft and the OneWeb constellation. These ESAs offer significant advantages over traditional GEO antenna. Firstly, they are electronically steered, which means no moving parts – and therefore are more reliable with a far higher MTBF ( Mean Time Between Failure). They are also smaller and lighter than legacy antenna. This means we can connect smaller platforms such as light jets and turboprops for the first time.

Consistency. The lack of a globally consistent satellite connectivity experience is one of the key flaws of the current solutions, as is often complained by IFC users around the world. At Eutelsat OneWeb, delivering a consistent experience is the cornerstone of our network – and our promise to our distribution partners and end-customers alike. Firstly, our extensive ground infrastructure of Satellite Networks Portals and Points of Presence means that we’re able to consistently deliver the capacity of the network-to-end users regardless of their location. Secondly, we backup our promise with comprehensive Service Level Agreements.

And finally, community. Eutelsat OneWeb is creating a connected ecosystem with world class partners to deliver our solution to business jet owners and operators worldwide. We have appointed world class distribution partners in Satcom Direct and Gogo Business Aviation for an IFC solution for the business aviation industry, by the business aviation industry. We’re leveraging decades of experience and expertise in developing, deploying and delivering flexible, scalable inflight connectivity solutions – and then supporting them – globally.

Can you provide us with the latest update on the OneWeb LEO constellation deployment and service activation?

Our constellation of 634 Low Earth Orbit satellites is

complete and has been since our 18th launch from India on March 26, 2023. The constellation comprises 588 active satellites and 46 in orbit spares. We continue to accelerate the build out of our ground stations and are on schedule to offer aviation services from later this summer. Both Satcom Direct and Gogo Business Aviation will be flight testing and certifying their antennas this summer with business aviation aircraft coming online towards the end of 2024. In the meantime, our partners Aloft are installing a Stellar Blu commercial aviation terminal on a BBJ in May 2024.

OneWeb LEO services have proven very popular in the Business Aviation connectivity market gaining a large adoption by key connectivity service providers and installation centers, can you provide an overview of your latest offering for this market segment?

With aviation services coming online later this year, we are very much at the start of our journey in bringing globally consistent, high speed, and low latency inflight connectivity to business aviation. We have partnered with some of the best organizations in the connectivity business to deliver a superior connected experience to principals, owners and operators of all business jets – from light jets to VVIP Bizliners. Our philosophy and approach of deploying an IFC solution for the business aviation industry, by the business aviation industry, is resonating well with OEMs, operators and owners.

Gogo Galileo HDX Antenna Testing Gogo designed and engineered the OneWeb antenna in close collaboration with Hughes Network Systems.

Photo courtesy of Gogo

IN-PRODUCTION

BUSINESS JETS

CORPORATE HELICOPTERS

SUSTAINABILITY BIZLINERS

2024 is a transformative year for Gogo as the business aviation connectivity leader is getting ready to launch both its latest Air-ToGround (ATG) broadband offering for the Continental US and Canada markets, Gogo 5G, and its global broadband inflight connectivity Gogo Galileo

GogoOffering

Update

A conversation with Sergio Aguirre, President &

Chief Operating Officer

of Gogo Business Aviation

FREDERIC MORAIS

With all these new services you are launching this year, do you foresee a shift in Gogo’s customer base?

We see a few areas of impact for our customer base. The first is globally where we are providing a new option for aircraft that currently don’t have any broadband connectivity solution available because the geosynchronous (GEO) systems are too big and heavy – and expensive – and other options provide only dialup speeds. So, Gogo Galileo with the HDX will be revolutionary to midsize and smaller aircraft globally. Within North America, we expect 5G to be a popular choice for aircraft that fly primarily in North America. Today, we have the largest share of large aircraft in North America, with more aircraft using our solutions in this category than all the GEO systems combined. We believe that many of those customers who also fly internationally will add Gogo Galileo because it’s a simple upgrade to any AVANCE system that’s already installed. And, it’s a more affordable, better performing and reliable option than GEO service provides. Additionally, current customers operating midsize and super-midsize business jets that are currently equipped with our air-to-ground system also now have the option to have Gogo Galileo with the addition of a single antenna mounted on the fuselage to provide coverage when they fly internationally, or to a destination like Hawaii. We anticipate that this configuration will be very popular in these business jet segments, and we see this as a growth opportunity for Gogo in terms of customer expansion and demographics.

I would also add that Gogo has never withdrawn from the international market. Since we launched our Iridium and SwiftBroadband products, we have had thousands of customers outside of North America using those systems. Gogo has customers in about 80 different countries around the world. However, with the adoption of the ATG, Gogo’s largest customer base is concentrated in North America because of the technology, but we have never left our international footprint.

It is very interesting to hear that Gogo equips the largest proportion of large jets in the North American market.

Of all business aviation travel, over 80% of flights start and terminate within North America, so our air-toground (ATG) solution is a good system for these flights

and that is why we have such a large market share even in the large jet market. There is a major technological shift in the connectivity market that will definitively trigger a wave of connectivity system upgrades. Do you think this technological shift will also trigger a wave of first-time installations?

Internationally, there are about 14,000 aircraft that operate around the world, regionally or fly transcontinentally that, for the most part, have never had a broadband solution that meets their needs. For this market only the ultra-long-range jets are large enough to install a broadband GEO satellite system. The Gogo Galileo antennas are small enough to fit on all business jets from the light up to the ultra-longrange category. So, we believe there is going to be a lot of growth of in-service aircraft installing our connectivity systems, in addition to new production aircraft that are destined to operate outside North America that will now be able now to get a factoryinstalled global connectivity solution. GOGO BUSINESS AVIATION

During and post the COVID pandemic, we saw major supply chain perturbations that put a lot of pressure on connectivity installations, followed by labor shortages at MROs and installation centers. Where are we now in terms of perturbations especially if we are getting ready for a new wave of installations?

From a Gogo supply-chain standpoint, we do not see that impacting us, thanks to our excellent supplychain organization. In fact, during the COVID pandemic, in the very early part of 2020, Gogo went out and procured large inventories for our supply chain. We may have had some lead time issues, but Gogo never had any supply issues in terms of not being able to deliver or get parts. We actually increased our production and deliveries throughout the COVID pandemic. So, while that limited how many aircraft were available for upgrade, Gogo's number of orders and shipments actually increased significantly through that period.

Gogo does not have demand or supply-chain issues, but we’re still impacted by aircraft being delayed for delivery out of factories or not being able to find maintenance slots because of dealer supply-chain and labor issues.

That situation, however, now appears to be better, because, unlike last year, these issues are built into the OEMs’ and MROs’ forecasts, and I don’t think we will see OEMs lowering their production numbers like they did last year because the current supply-chain issues are currently already taken into consideration. From my discussions with other industry leaders, people believe this situation with the supply chain as it relates, for instance, to precious metals and some of the other issues that have been impacting parts and

production rates will probably continue to linger through the third and fourth quarters of this year, and potentially even into Q1 next year.

Gogo is a unique player in the business aviation connectivity market as you are both a network operator with the ATG network and a services provider for the new LEO offering from OneWeb. What are the advantages of having that wide scope of capabilities?

I think it is going to be significant. So, the first thing one should know is that flight departments or people who use the internet on an aircraft are less concerned about the technology and more interested in the performance, cost, and support. I say emphatically “nobody” understands inflight connectivity as well as Gogo because of the data that we have collected over the past 15 years from thousands of customers, which translates into millions and millions of internet sessions in aircraft. Gogo has insights that nobody else has in terms of what customers are doing in the air with connectivity, how they want to be supported, how the different segments both within North America and worldwide operate, how the utilization changes from a Part 91-owned and operated aircraft versus a large fractional or a charter organization. For example, how does the internet experience change from a business trip to a leisure one, or how internet usage changes from flights going from North America to Europe or from Europe to North America. Nobody else has that level of insight.

And so, I don't view Gogo as just an air-to-ground network operator, I view Gogo as an inflight connectivity company and the addition of the LEO technology is not going to change that insight.

What that is going to do, along with our 5G solution, is satisfy operators whether they operate in South America, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, or North America.

With these new technologies, operators will now have a high-performing affordable broadband connectivity solution that they will be able to put on any size of aircraft. Therefore, Gogo is in the best position to satisfy market demand across the full breadth of business aviation aircaft.

When you look at the North American market, we have something else that is extremely valuable strategically – all the aircraft that operate in North America will now have the possibility of installing our ATG and satellite solutions for redundant systems that can be combined both from a hardware and a services standpoint.

With our new 5G plus Gogo Galileo, having dual Gogo systems on board will provide redundancy, which many operators like, and added capacity that can be customized to meet the needs of a flight department at an affordable price point. I believe the amount of flexibility and the options that customers will have with our solutions are going to be unmatched by anybody else.

Do you believe then that combined system installation will become the norm in business aviation?

I won’t say that this will become the norm, but for many aircraft models, I think it will be a very appealing solution. I also think that these redundant system installations will be very appealing to our current customer base. We will have to see what the market does, but Gogo anticipates offering both single and combined hardware packages that will enable both technologies in addition to a single bill for services that will make it very attractive to flight departments from a cost, capacity, redundancy, and network-management standpoint.

Has Gogo been offering this combined system installation in the past?

These solutions have been offered both at aircraft OEMs as line-fit solutions and as aftermarket retrofit solutions for many years. As soon as Gogo came to the market with our air-to-ground system, many customers combined that system with either a SwiftBroadband system or even an Inmarsat JX system to supplement the coverage when flying outside of North America. Although operators have installed

combined technology systems in the past, it's not to the extent that we foresee with our new solutions in the future that work through the same SSID (Service Set Identifier) and through the same in-cabin network, with one price. I expect it will become a much more popular selection going forward, and not just limited to very high-end flight departments that operate large aircraft as we see today.

As soon as we launched our AVANCE system back in 2017, we explained to our customer base, our OEMs, and our dealers how the in-cabin network architecture was set up in such a way that you could easily upgrade. We explained that we will be going to the market with combined solutions for these different applications.

The free inflight Wi-Fi model is gaining more and more traction in commercial aviation and may dramatically shift the usage and put high pressure on satellite networks capacity. Is there guaranteed capacity that will be dedicated to business aviation? And what kind of projection you have modeled for satellite capacity vs usage?

To be clear, it is free to the passengers in the commercial aviation world but It's not free to the airline. So, there is still a high cost associated with providing the service.

We are excited about LEO technology. It will deliver increased capacity, lower cost and faster implementation of new technologies on the satellite side and with ESAs. We are just in the beginning stages of that evolution.

I don’t believe that there is going to be a capacity issue at the holistic level. There may be certain regions of the world, and certain networks that may be challenged, but I don’t think that is going to be within the next 7 to 10 years. I also expect there will be there may be some focused areas where airlines may be challenged like flights going into major hubs, but I am confident that the LEO technology and satellite technology in general are evolving fast enough that there will be a short-term solution, and in the long term, holistically, there'll be enough capacity to handle customer needs for quite some time, and at a much more affordable price point than has historically been available with the GEO technology.

Gogo is unique because we provide a global broadband service designed for aviation by aviation professionals and supported by aviation

professionals. Through this new revolutionary LEO satellite technology, in partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb, that Gogo's mission corporately is dedicated to satisfying inflight connectivity for business aviation. In February, Gogo announced a new 10-year agreement with NetJets, the worldwide leader in private aviation. What do you believe makes Gogo a good choice for large fleet operators?

Gogo has been in business for more than 30 years and we have been doing business with NetJets specifically and other fractional operators for the last 20 years.

First, I think there is a level of trust and confidence that we have gained not just with NetJets but with other large charter and fractional organizations because of our ability to introduce new technologies to them in the past. Gogo has a track record of being able to support them. Something else that's unique is we understand their operations, their business model, and their mission which is very different from other business-jet operators. Therefore, from a support standpoint, and an account-management standpoint, we can provide them with services and support that are unique to their needs and business models and that is very different compared to a Part 91 operator. Gogo has a deep understanding of fleet operators, and our support reflects that.

I would add that the only thing that operators like NetJets or other large fractional or charter organizations have in common with an individual or a corporate flight department is that they both try to duplicate that high-touch and high-service support to the principal or the passengers flying those aircraft.

But operationally, it is a lot different to operate 50, 500, or even 700 aircraft compared to one or two, and Gogo understands those differences and we have gained operators' trust and confidence over the years through our good track record.

What about your 5G solution and how scalable will this solution be?

First, the Gogo 5G network will be dedicated solely to business aviation and it is expandable the same way terrestrial cellular networks are. When you deploy a ground network, the first thing you do is cover your geographic footprint, then, based on the quantity of aircraft on the network and routes, you densify that network with additional cell sites that add capacity and make the sector smaller. When Gogo launched its network 15 years ago, we started that network with 92 cell towers to cover all of North America. Today we have about 250 cell towers covering that same geographic area and the capacity has highly increased. As our fleet grew and as the demand profile grew, we simply added more cell sites to add capacity to the network. It is a very expandable technology from that standpoint.

SKYTRAC

Photo courtesy of Iridium

| ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

VISWANATH TATA

Iain Ronis, Director of Product Management, Aviation Connectivity Solutions, answers EWM questions

Since 1986,Skytrac has pioneered the development of flight data acquisition and transmission technologies, can you provide us a quick overview of your past and current line of products?

The company started in 1986 before the launch of the Iridium satellite constellation, offering some early versions of connectivity solutions for the local aviation fleet in Canada, particularly in British Columbia. With the advent of Iridium and the promise that presented to provide lightweight equipment for tracking and telephony service, especially for helicopters, Skytrac became more focused on providing Iridium technology-based solutions. I would argue that there are just a handful of companies today that have been involved with Iridium for aviation since those earliest days of Iridium launch. With the advent of the Short Burst Data (SBD) service, which Iridium introduced about 2002, this is when we saw a large interest in these solutions.

One of the challenges for a variety of mission types like air medical or firefighting is the requirement for continuous autonomous tracking of those aircraft. Before having a service like SBD, for instance, the air medical crew had to follow the routine of checking in every 10 to 15 minutes via typically VHF radios or by telephone. SBD made that tracking requirement much easier. The addition of a Satcom-based telephony system also greatly improved these kinds of missions. The range capability was increased as these aircraft could now operate beyond VHF line-of-sight networks and the overall safety protocol improved significantly. Since then, Skytrac has been very involved with these critical mission operators, trying to better understand their requirements and regulatory and/or contractual obligations. That is what led us to where we are today in terms of product offerings.

We offer a large range of flight data collection, flight data acquisition, and flight data monitoring solutions, and the way that ties in with connectivity is the ability to provide real-time monitoring of key metrics and any urgent conditions that may be taking place with an aircraft and that could be shared autonomously with the operator or dispatch centers with no involvement

of the flight crew. Especially in case of an emergency, the dispatch can directly send rescue teams to the tracked position of the aircraft.

Our data acquisition business also quickly evolved to cover the provision of Safety Management Systems (SMS) especially in support of Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA).

And today, across all our product lines, we have over 800+ customers on all seven continents.

Skytrac is a key aviation partner to Iridium, bringing the LEO-based connectivity solution to many aviation markets. Can you walk us through your Iridium Certus offering?

The Iridium Certus is a distinct mode that is supported by the Iridium satellite constellation. So, all the Block 1 capabilities that include telephony, push to talk and Short Burst Data (SBD) services will still exist on the new constellation and will continue to be supported well into the future because Iridium has well over two million devices deployed that use these legacy services. I know many people may be wondering what's going to happen to their old equipment and the fact is that these systems will continue to operate just fine.

Certus introduces new radio technologies and capabilities to be able to offer a new broadband connectivity service. Under the new Certus offering, Iridium has classified three distinct levels of service:

▪ Iridium Certus 100 provides specific speed ranges of 22 Kbps and 88 Kbps. This service is supported by two modems produced by Iridium as well as Jacobs. The Jacobs modem provides 88 Kbps bidirectional data transfer.

▪ Iridium Certus 200 which is 176 Kbps bi-directional.

▪ Iridium Certus 350/700 with 350 Kbps transmission and 700 Kbps in reception

The Iridium Certus service is mainly segmented that way because they are determined by the antenna technology that is different for each service.

Skytrac offers products that fit into each of those Iridium Certus service categories. Some of them are more optimized for helicopter and firefighting applications like our Certus 100 offering. We are also developing an Urban Air Mobility optimized product in the Certus 200 service category.

Skytrac offers the SDL-350 in the Certus 350/700 service category which is highly appealing for Business Aviation applications. The SDL-350 transceiver is a two MCU ARINC 600, designed specifically for commercial air transport and business jet aircraft. The system provides 350 Kbps transmission and 700 Kbps in reception mode. The SDL 350 requires a powered beam-steered antenna. The antenna is 8” long and 2”1/2 tall.

This Iridium solution is very appealing for Business Aviation as it offers a separate telephony channel for the flight crew but also with the advent of Certus, you can have a dedicated connectivity network for flight crew usage allowing them to connect their Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) for flight planning or real-time weather updates.

Today Iridium Block 1 is certified for safety services, and we are currently working with Iridium and another avionics manufacturer to certify Certus for safety services as well. Skytrac will be able to offer a safety service SDL-350 version shortly after this certification and this is what is also driving a lot of interest from commercial air transport and business aviation operators.

The Iridium LEO-satellite-based network not only offers truly global coverage but is also one of the most reliable networks in service today, making it a very attractive connectivity solution for medical evacuation operators. Can you walk us through this market segment's connectivity needs?

Absolutely. Our lower-end Certus Connectivity service is very appealing to that market, although we are in discussions with a few of our air medical clients who are interested in the higher bandwidth capability of the SDL-350 as Certus is now providing a readily available IP data connection.

For medical evacuation, being able to transmit in realtime the patient monitoring information, what is often referred to as the 12-lead “the 12 electrocardiogram monitored heart activities” is a critical part of their mission. Connectivity enables doctors in a hospital to receive the condition of the evacuated patient in realtime and to have phone conversations with the flight medical team to advise for preliminary treatment and procedures. With a dedicated satcom connectivity service, this can be done privately and securely versus a VHF radio link, so adding a satcom connectivity service to an air medical aircraft is a game changer. Now with Certus service, we can go even further with the addition of a real-time video transmission solution that is supported even at 22 Kbps.

Skytrac has a large customer base in the medical evacuation market, and we often hear from the medical staff of these fleets that it's great to send medical data and talk to doctors by phone. But if doctors can see the patient, that’s a game changer because the visuals help them to understand the full scope of the situation. We are not talking about highresolution video broadcasting but more like a controlled resolution and a frame rate that allows you to see what's going on. Doctors could manipulate the imagery, for instance zooming to see the patient eyes, etc., and get higher resolution data without asking the flight medical crew to do anything.

We are introducing software that will enable these functionalities and are currently performing some initial trials with some of our customers.

We also have customers that are performing Search and Rescue (SAR) missions and they're installing the SDL 350 with this software so that they can share surveillance videos captured by aircraft cameras including infrared information in real-time.

Earlier this year, Skytrac announced the certification of the installation of an SDL350 Iridium Certus transceiver onboard a VIP AW139 in collaboration with helicopter cabin completion leader Mecaer Aviation Group (MAG). Can you provide us with more information about this particular installation and how Iridium Certus is particularly appealing to the corporate helicopter market?

Yes, we are very excited to work with MAG on this project. The SDL-350 is used to provide telephony as well as IP data access for that corporate helicopter. This will be one of the first Certus installation STCs for AW139 helicopters, which is a very popular platform. Satcom installation in helicopters remains very challenging because of the need to operate through the rotor disc and this is why our customer base in the helicopter market is very excited to get Certus installation even at the lower end of the service. LEObased satcom solutions have proven less sensitive to rotor shadowing than GEO-based satcom solutions and we are currently doing flight testing research with the Canadian National Research Center to further optimize Iridium Certus antenna installation on helicopters as one of the other challenges in

helicopters is the limited space for fuselage top mounted satcom antennas.

With the arrival of a large number of connectivity solutions, the corporate aviation market is gearing up for new onboard connectivity system architectures featuring multi-orbit, dissimilar solutions. How do you foresee Iridium Certus complementing some broadband cabin offerings for customers in need of high-availability solutions?

Certus system is not designed to replace the cabin broadband connectivity solution but can perfectly complement it. It is the ideal solution for the cockpit allowing the crew to have a dedicated network for flight planning, and graphical weather updates, etc. In addition to these applications, we foresee a large scope of applications for flight and maintenance operations. A good example of that is what we are currently exploring with a transcontinental operator that wants to provide its crew with a constant IP connection to their company intranet. So, the flight crews can be aware of company communications in real-time, adding that kind of constancy as part of the company culture.

Phenom 300MED Medevac jet solution by Embraer

Photo courtesy of Embraer

SmartSky® Offering Update

Jana Rucker, Vice President Marketing & Communications at SmartSky Networks, chats with Abdelmajid Jlioui

SmartSky’s next-generation ATG network has been in operation nationwide for nearly two years now, can you provide us an update on the network performance and customer feedback?

SmartSky customers and users are raving about SmartSky performance inflight. It is rare for an inflight connectivity provider to invite customers to speak publicly about their experiences. Even though it can be challenging to get execs and flight departments of larger companies to speak publicly due to corporate communication policies, numerous pilots, operators and users have gone on record, describing their delight.

David Natinsky, the owner and pilot of a SmartSky LITE equipped CJ3+ shared his journey from selecting a provider to installation and using the service, “…calls, text messaging, live streaming in HD, FaceTime, all work with no issue. One time, my son FaceTimed me from the cabin and when I looked back at him I could see the latency was tiny, even though the call was going to the ground and back up. It’s awesome!”

Earlier this year, Davinci Jets Services replaced a Gogo Avance L3 onboard a King Air 350 with a SmartSky LITE system. When the pilot was asked about the user experience compared to the L3 system, Captain Greg Mashburn stated, “So far it’s been way better, obviously. Gogo was pretty spotty and half the time our passengers or the crew couldn’t even connect, let alone send a text. Now we can send photos, FaceTime, and stream videos really easily. Everyone’s excited.”

Davinci Jets also completed a SmartSky Flagship first

article installation on a Citation Latitude. And on the first flight following the Latitude’s return to service, the passengers connected six devices simultaneously to Facetime, participate in a video meeting, send pictures from phones, stream Netflix, and Fubo TV, email large attachments, use Salesforce, access documents on Microsoft Teams, make phone calls, and run speed tests verifying the multi-Mbps capability of the system which moves data to and from the aircraft with equal ease. Passengers described the experience as “connected freedom.”

Flying a SmartSky LITE equipped PC12, Captain Barry Blackwood stated that “SmartSky has developed a system that is highly capable and reliable, which my passengers have all mentioned after flying. Its ability to power many devices at the same time, with no system degradation, is truly impressive,” said Barry Blackwood, veteran pilot of the aircraft that is managed by Davinci Jets of Charlotte, NC. “Once you fly with a SmartSky-equipped aircraft, it’s hard to think about a world where you don’t fly with it.”

Since achieving nationwide coverage in 2022, SSN has been busy developing its vendors’ network and securing installation STCs. Can you walk us through your installation network and STCs availability?

SmartSky has a nationwide sales and installation network of world-class MROs. Our MRO partners have completed numerous STC projects and have many more installations in progress now. The full list of completed STCs and in progress can be found in our website under the STC section. At this writing we have more than 6,000 tails covered, with projects to cover nearly 10,000 more.

ATG Connectivity Offering Update

SSN announced several fleet operator selections in the last few months. What makes SSN ATG's offering so attractive to the fleet market?

For fleet operators, reliable inflight connectivity is no longer a desirable option, it is an imperative. We have heard of executives that will not fly on their own planes that are not equipped or have sub-par IFC. Volato is a particularly exciting fleet partner because of their use of the legendary HondaJet. Until now, there was no streaming-level inflight Wi-Fi solution for smaller jets and turboprops. SmartSky LITE has made this possible and has earned a 2024 Aviation Week Laureates award for advancements in aerospace in the business aviation category.

SmartSky’s unique SkyTelligence® aviation data exchange platform is gaining momentum with the addition of several digital services partners; can you provide us an update on the platform and the recent data partners?

SmartSky not only offers the best performing inflight connectivity network for all sizes of business aviation aircraft, but we also have solutions that go beyond the cabin, which is where SkyTelligence and our Digital Solutions capabilities come in. At AEA in March we announced

the development of SmartSky Fleet Monitoring Tool which enables fleet operators (including commercial airlines) to see the status of all their aircraft while on the ground or in the air, including connectivity and aircraft health information, in real-time whether inflight or weight on wheels.

Another key capability is the SmartSky Predictive Weather Data Suite which is designed for aviation and brings together weather data not available from other sources. This offering can significantly improve safety and sustainability by reducing route changes and flight delays.

SmartSky also announced the launch of SmartSky Private Intranet (PI) allowing for a secured cockpit connectivity through the use of an AID. How can this new data segregation solution enable further flight operation digitalization?

Not only does SmartSky PI enable the aircraft to function as a true node on the customer’s corporate enterprise network instead of as an exception, but airlines can also use SmartSky as a separate network on the aircraft for crew and aircraft health data. We are currently working with an air transport provider for this very application as a proof of concept for wider adoption.

ConnectivityInstallations AndUpgrades

A conversation with Justin Vena, Senior Installation Sales Representative with Duncan Aviation | ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE VISWANATH TATA

DUNCAN AVIATION Connectivity Installations & Upgrades

Can you walk us through the Duncan Aviation MRO network and your connectivity installation capabilities?

Duncan Aviation operates three full-service MRO facilities in Battle Creek, MI, Lincoln, NE, and Provo, UT with many other satellite facilities dispersed across the country. Some of these satellite facilities are limited to a smaller team mostly focusing on avionics, troubleshooting, and inspection works, but some other satellite facilities such as Teterboro, Houston, and Denver have large avionics shops that are almost as big as the ones we have at Provo or Battle Creek. Our Lincoln MRO facility is the largest and is home to five hangars located centrally in the United States.

Many of our facilities are able to perform connectivity system installation depending on which system is selected by our customers.

Duncan Aviation is also known for developing a large number of connectivity installations STCs. Can you give us more details on your capabilities?

Duncan Aviation has an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), allowing us to develop STCs and we are also one of the few organizations that hold a Major Repair, Alteration, and Airworthiness (MRA) ODA approval. This allows us to approve data for major repairs and alterations. What that means is that we're responsible for most of our certification efforts, whether they be minor installations or major installations that require an STC. We work very closely with Wichita’s FAA Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) to develop these modifications.

We also work with foreign certification authorities to validate some of our STCs such as Transport Canada (TC), the European certification agency (EASA), and the Mexican Civil Aviation Authority.

Duncan Aviation is an authorized dealer for many connectivity service providers, can you give us an overview of connectivity solution evolution in the past few years?

We started seeing connectivity installation around 2008 with the launch of Swift 64 and then SwiftBroadband (SBB) installations. These “high-speed” connectivity solutions were providing dial-up internet speeds and were already much lower than the consumer market available speeds, but they allowed for most of the long-range jets to be connected all through their flight missions.

When Cobham introduced the AVIATOR series, it allowed that kind of capability to be expanded to some of the smaller but still large and midsize airplanes. But nothing revolutionized the business aviation connectivity market in the United States as Gogo did with the original Gogo Biz, as this was really the first usable internet at a 3G speed, which was then, phenomenal in comparison to satcom-based solutions. Duncan Aviation performed a lot of Air-toGround (ATG) installations across all of our core aircraft groups, not to mention that we developed many STCs.

We also did a lot of system upgrades when Gogo updated their equipment for the 4G systems with the introduction of the AVANCE in-flight connectivity platform. And once again we developed quite a few STC's across the core model fleet to support that. We also got a lot of those STCs validated with Transport Canada as Gogo expanded its network coverage to Canada. Duncan Aviation has performed over 650 Gogo AVANCE system installations.

Around 2015, we started seeing more and more Ku and Ka-band satcom-based solution installations as they started coming online with more STCs. By 2017 and 2018, we were well underway doing plenty of Ku/Kaband installations from different service providers mainly Inmarsat and Viasat and we still have a large number of installations booked for these systems and their future upgrades.

And now, we have the advent of the SpaceX Starlink LEO-based connectivity solution, this disruptive technology built up a lot of market enthusiasm. With the Starlink system entering service earlier this year, and all the other developments in the industry, we see

the biggest issue now is the MRO capacity to handle all the connectivity installation requests we receive on a daily basis. We need to ensure we have hangar space and labor for these installations.

What’s interesting at Duncan Aviation is that we do have many satellite facilities that are able to perform some connectivity installations such as Starlink standalone installations allowing us to be flexible and offer additional options to customers looking for some challenging installation windows.

Do you foresee a wave of connectivity system installation or upgrade in the short term?

With the new technologies coming to the market, we certainly foresee more demand. First, we have the Starlink early adopters’ wave who have been waiting to get that specific solution on their aircraft. Today we see a lot of requests from customers enquiring about the system as they get notified about the availability of STCs for their aircraft models. This wave will be certainly sustained by the arrival of other connectivity solutions that will be similar in performance, functionalities, and price point.

In addition to Starlink, Duncan Aviation is currently doing a lot of Ka/Ku-system installation and many updates are coming to these offerings that will make them a good option depending on customers need. Starlink is currently demonstrating a great internet connection speed, but some alternative systems are more optimized from a security standpoint. And this is very important in the business aviation market.

Starlink is a great internet system and it's giving great speeds, but for certain applications, that's not the only concern, there are a lot of operators out there, where having a specific data center

DUNCAN AVIATION

that provides aircraft-level security is an equally or even more important requirement.

There are many reasons why operators install or upgrade their on-board connectivity systems and my role at Duncan Aviation is also to advise our customers on the ideal solution for their aircraft depending on their requirements, needs, and priorities.

The level of digitalization in business aviation operations is still lower than what we can see in the commercial airline industry. Do you believe that the democratization of high-speed connectivity may change that?

I think the answer is definitively yes! I think when you're talking about internet pipes being put on airplanes that can support a lot more functionalities than what people are used to doing at home or in their office, you’re going to start seeing enhancements in the cabin to take advantage of that as well as people using it just from their carry-on devices. The combination of large and fast internet connectivity pipes at lower usage price points will definitely change the way business aircraft operators will use their connectivity in the future and should enable more digitalization and applications.

If we take for instance cockpit applications. Today we see pilots primarily using connectivity for weather updates using apps directly on their handheld devices or mounted iPad. This for instance has changed the need for specific weather receiver installation such as XM Weather hardware. This is a great example of how connectivity has changed digitalization in the cockpit, and I believe we will see more of this with new connectivity solutions. The same is true for maintenance, where the dispatch can have access to real-time malfunction data that will boost collaboration between the flight deck and the maintenance crew. With low latency connectivity, we can even foresee the possibility for maintenance crews to be virtually present in the flight deck through video conferencing applications and get real-time maintenance data from the aircraft. We are seeing now more and more smart airplane applications coming out from aircraft OEMs where the airplanes start to talk to the ground and update the maintenance crews in real-time. I foresee a lot of digital enhancements along those lines.

Can you tell us what to expect in terms of aircraft downtime for a connectivity installation or update?

The average window is three to six weeks, depending on the scope and what the project looks like. Three weeks is definitively achievable in one of our satellite facilities for a standalone connectivity system installation such as Starlink, then you start needing more if you combine that with other interior and avionics upgrades or maintenance tasks.

The Starlink connectivity system is a straightforward standalone connectivity installation that doesn’t require any interface to the aircraft avionics other than power. The system has an internal GPS for electronic antenna steering, it doesn’t interface with the cabin CMS and has its own wireless access point and router.

On the other part of the spectrum, Duncan Aviation does also a lot of interior refreshes and upgrades. Usually, we will also do cabin management system upgrades with major cabin refurbishments. These are often a very good opportunity to install or upgrade the connectivity system because of the number of modifications that can be done simultaneously. This also allows for cost savings between the two modifications.

ConnectivityInstallationsAndUpgrades

A conversation with Edward Diaz, Avionics Manager at Clay Lacy Aviation

Can you walk us through Clay Lacy’s MRO facilities and capabilities?

Clay Lacy operates FAA Part 145 repair stations at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles, and Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Connecticut. Our capabilities include airframe and engine maintenance, line maintenance, heavy inspections, avionics and cabin entertainment, interior upgrades and refurbishing. We also have 24/7 AOG mobile response teams and an extensive in-house parts inventory. Clay Lacy employs nearly 60 mechanics and technicians, servicing all major business jet models including Gulfstream, Dassault Falcon, Bombardier, and Hawker Aircraft. We are also an Embraer Authorized Service Center, and Authorized Dealer for leading jet avionics manufacturers including Gogo, Honeywell, Garmin, Universal Avionics, to name a few.

ELITE WINGS MAGAZINE

ABDELMAJID JLIOUI

Can you give us a quick overview of connectivity installations at Clay Lacy?

Clay Lacy is an Authorized Gogo Dealer, so over the past decade, we have completed a large number of Gogo installations on aircraft ranging from the Phenom 100 and 300, up to Gulfstream and Bombardier Global jets. This includes both the legacy ATG systems and the AVANCE L3 and L5 systems. We are now quoting the new Gogo 5G system provisions and anticipate future installations of their Galileo global connectivity system. We have also performed Honeywell JetWave system installations on larger aircraft. In addition, Clay Lacy is a Smartsky and Viasat dealer, offering the Viasat Ka-band system.

Can you give us an overview of your connectivity customers?

Clay Lacy is one of the largest business jet management companies in the U.S. We manage over 150 aircraft across 35 airports. We support many connectivity installations for our management fleet, as well as retail customers. Because we are an Embraer Authorized Service Center for the full range of their business jets including the Embraer Legacy 450, 500, 600, 650, Praetor 500 and 600, and Phenom 100 and 300, we complete many installations on these jets.

What are the best opportunities for connectivity installation or upgrades?

Most of our customers will not ground their airplane strictly for connectivity or avionics modifications, they will use the downtime to couple the modification with other maintenance.

Usually, connectivity installations are planned to be performed during heavy maintenance events. We will

CLAY LACY AVIATION

Connectivity Installations & Upgrades

assess the aircraft’s interior and suggest beneficial upgrades, or they will approach us knowing they are going to have sizable downtime and request that we perform some interior refurbishments in parallel. Take Starlink for instance, we are quoting 15 to 19 days of downtime on most airframes today based on our assessment of the required labor hours. Some airplanes like the G650 will require more downtime based on the interior and the need for more access.

The Starlink installation is a straightforward connectivity installation. The kit includes one power supply unit, the Aero Terminal antenna, and two Wi-Fi access points for the medium and larger jets. There is only one access point for the King Air turboprop and lighter jets.

The COVID-19 pandemic-related factory shutdowns led to a massive reduction in the supply of electronic components, which highly impacted the industry. Can you give us an update on the current situation?

The impacts of COVID-19 have greatly improved. Throughout COVID, we experienced a large shortage in parts, mainly driven by the shortage of electronic chips used on most avionics' components. At Clay Lacy, we have maintained a stock of parts so that we're able to support our customers at a moment’s notice. The lead times have also significantly improved. For example with the Starlink system, we're looking at around two to three-week lead times to get the complete kits delivered to us. This includes everything, the STC documentation, STC hardware kit, and the Starlink electronic components. As many learned in the past few years, we have to anticipate customer innovation needs by early adopting dealership opportunities, like with Starlink.

2024 BUSINESS AVIATION

CONNECTIVITY QUICK GUIDE

SATCOM LOW EARTH ORBIT (LEO) NETWORKS

Gogo Biz 4G

SERVICEOFFERING

Gogo Business Aviation was launched in 1991 as Aircel, offering analog-based voice communicationon private aircraft flying over the continental USA.In 2006, Gogo won a 3 Mhz FederalCommunicationCommission(FCC) frequency license auction to operatean air-to-ground (ATG)network over the US.Using this frequency license Gogo was able to offer internet connectivity to all major US airlines and develop the most competitive connectivity offering for business aviation. The Gogo Biz Network offers a 3G Wi-Fiand voice calling serviceusing the light AVANCEL3 system compatible with the majority of turboprop and light jets. The Gogo Biz 4G Network uses uses the AVANCEL5 system,a backward-compatibleimprovementto the previous legacy ATG systems(ATG 8000, 5000, 4000, 2000 and 1000) allowing an increasein the downlink speed from 3.1 Mbpsto 9.8 Mbps.The improvementisachieved through advanced wireless communicationsprotocols maximizingthe network throughput capability.

NETWORKCATEGORY:Air-To-Ground(ATG)

Service Launch 2016

Coverage ContinentalUSA + Canada Speed 10 Mbps

$1,9K - $4,6K

Hardware Weight 22 lbs

NETWORK

Gogo has morethan 250 cellular towers coveringthe continental U.S,portionsof Canada,and Alaska. The stations areconnected to two data centers for redundancy.

HARDWARE

Gogo offers two system configurations to access its ATG Network. The compactAVANCEL3 is designed for turboprop and light jets. The system is based on a single 3MCU LRU and two fuselage-mounted omnidirectional antennas.

The AVANCEL5 is designed to connect to Gogo Biz 4G ATG network. The system is based on a single 5MCU LRU and two dual directional fuselage-mounted antennas. The AVANCEL5 also offers a terrestrial modem allowing for complimentary interneton the ground in 200+ countries and Gogo Vision, a wireless in-flight entertainment system.

COVERAGE MAP

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Gogo Business Aviation

NETWORKCATEGORY:Air-To-Ground(ATG)

Service Launch 2022

Coverage ContinentalUS(CONUS)

Speed > 20 Mbpsbi-directional

Plan Cost $995 - $9,995

Hardware Weight 19 – 32 lbs

NETWORK

In July2022 SmartSkyannounced fullcontinentalUS coverage. SmartSky operates a nationwidenetwork of more than 330 cell sites providing denseoverlappingcoverage.Each aircraft is assigned aseparateconnection to theaircraft. With more than 30,000 beams nationwide,no bandwidth is shared with other aircraft so thatflyers enjoyunprecedented performanceand privacy. SmartSky operates 3 private data centers across theUS in the East,Central, and Westregions, reducing latencyand providing network redundancy.TheNOC is equipped with a Service Monitoring Platformand integrated with HoneywellForge and its world-class 24/7 support.

COVERAGE MAP

SmartSky

SERVICEOFFERING

Formed in 2011 byseniortelecommunications and aviation executives,SmartSky Networks is transforming aviation through disruptivecommunicationstechnologiesand advanced tools to makeconnected aircraft a reality. Its next generation Air-to-Ground network is builton thelatest technologies,enabling software-defined upgradesand harnessing thepowerthebestavailable capabilities forthe current “G” (Generation)with enhanced 5G and LTE technologies patented by SmartSky and offered exclusivelyto SmartSky customers.Using 60Mhz of radio spectrumin the unlicensed 2.4Ghz band, SmartSky offers unprecedented inflightbroadbandspeedsand bandwidth without interferencein high trafficareas. This enables all the functionalityyou expecton theground and need in theair, including cloud applications,businessproductivity applications,aircraftperformancedataand situational awareness tools in addition to text,voice,and video calls,live streaming,and large filetransfer.

HARDWARE

The SmartSky Flagship systemincludes thefollowing components:

▪ Aircraft Base Radio (ABR) LRU

▪ High-PerformanceBladeRx Antenna(HPB)

▪ Full-Duplex Quad (FDQ)Rx/Tx Antenna

The SmartSky LITE systemincludes thefollowing components:

▪ Aircraft Base Radio (ABR) LRU

▪ Full-Duplex Quad (FDQ)Rx/Tx Antenna

Both can interfacethrough a1Gbps ethernetto cabin routers and wireless access points.

Gogo 5G

SERVICEOFFERING

Sincethe sale of its commercialaviationconnectivity division to Intelsat in 2020, Gogo has focused on building the world’sfirst 5G network exclusively dedicated to business aviation usage, which it completed in 2022.

The Gogo 5G solution will adopt the same 5G technology that is currently beingdeployed by other ground operators.The ability to augment 5G with their existing licensed spectrum network, gives Gogo a distinct competitiveadvantage. The network will rely on the unlicensed spectrum at 2.4GHz and its licensed spectrum at 850MHz.

The Gogo 5G network will benefit from a large number of technologies developed by anetwork of carefully selected strategic partners.Core 5G ATG network components will beprovided by connectivity solutions leader Cisco. Airspanwill provideits carrier-gradeRadio Access Network (RAN),Air5GOpenRange. This advanced beamformingand tracking technology is a key enabler to connect high-speed jets to the ground network without performancedegradation.

HARDWARE

Gogo 5G airbornehardware willbe provided through the AVANCE L5 + X3 LRUs orthe AVANCE LX5 singleLRU.

The AVANCE L5 is an in-serviceLRU designed to beeasily upgradableto 5G with the X3 LRU,or by swapping the AVANCE L5 outwith an AVANCE LX5 and swapping of theL5 antennas to the Gogo MB13 antennas.AVANCE L5 can be installed todaywith 5G provisions,including theMB13 antennas,fora simpleLRU swap to the AVANCE LX5 oncethe LX5 is available.

NETWORK CATEGORY:Air-To-Ground(ATG)

Service Launch 2024 (Expected)

Coverage Continental US + Canada

Mbps Average | 75-80 Mbps(peak)

NETWORK

Gogo has morethan 150 5G cellular towers coveringthe continental U.S and has begun expandinginto Canada. The stations areconnected to two data centers for redundancy.Gogo operatesa Network Operations Center at its corporateheadquartersin Colorado whereit monitors the network and the quality of inflight connections.

COVERAGE MAP

NETWORKCATEGORY:SATELLITE | LEO | Ku-band

Service Launch 2019

Coverage Global

Speed Up to 704 Kbps

Plan Cost TBD

Hardware Weight 10 – 14 lbs

NETWORK

The Iridiumconstellation is based on 66 satellites orbiting in 11 planes.The service’s high availabilityis achieved bythe addition of 15 on-orbitsparesatellites.

At only780 kilometers fromtheEarth, Iridium’s LEOnetwork means pole-to-polecoverage,shortertransmission paths, strongersignals,lowerlatency,and shorterregistration time than with GEOsatellites.

COVERAGE MAP

Iridium Certus

SERVICEOFFERING

Sincelaunch in 2002,Iridium’s uniqueconstellation of low Earth orbitsatellites has delivered high-qualityvoiceand data services.The completeconstellation upgradein early2019 enabled the launch of IridiumCertus,an award-winning advanced multi-serviceplatformwith speed capabilities ranging from22 to 1408 Kbps.

Offering thehighestL-Band datathroughput,IridiumCertus provides theflexibilityto scaledevicespeed,size, and power requirements,both up and down,based on the needs of endusers.

HARDWARE

Iridiumis the onlyglobalnetwork thatcan deliverreliable broadband connectivityto smallformfactor,low-profile antennas.With a heightof less than 6cm, Iridiumantennas producealmostno drag and can be installed justabout anywhere on theaircraft. Iridiumsmallform factorhardware is ideal forhelicopters,turboprops,and lightjets.Thesystem can also offera very attractive backup systemforlarger airplanes looking forhigh availabilityand fullyglobalcoverage including polarroutes.

Eutelsat OneWeb

SERVICEOFFERING

Eutelsat OneWeb has deployed asatellite communications network of 634 satellites in 12 synchronizedpolarorbits operating in lowEarth orbit(LEO)at an altitudeof 1,200km. Each satellite operating in theKu-band willoffer8 Gbps of bandwidth foraglobalusablenetwork capacityof over 1.1Tbps.The LEOnetwork promises alowlatency of less than 100ms and a trulyglobalcoverageincluding polarroutes. With globallyconsistentperformancecomparableto terrestrial services,delivering hundreds of Mbps peraircraft and latency of less than 100ms –over every continent,every ocean and even in thepolar regions,Eutelsat OneWeb aims to transformtheairborneconnectivityexperiencenowand for the futurebyenabling businessjetoperators to offertheir passengers and principalsan in-flightconnectivityexperience that is limited onlyby theirimagination –notbandwidth

At EBACE 2022,both Gogo BusinessAviation and Satcom Direct announced thelaunch of aglobalservicepowered by the OneWeb network.

NETWORK CATEGORY:SATELLITE| LEO | Ku-band

Service Launch 2024 (Expected)

Coverage Global Speed Up to 195 Mbps

Plan Cost TBD

Hardware Weight 33.9 – 53 lbs*

NETWORK

As of March 2024,OneWeb has completed its full constellation of 634 satellites,including the588 active satellites needed to deliver truly globalcoverage,plus 46 inorbitspares forresilienceand redundacy.Aviation services will be launched in late 2024.Eutelsat OneWeb is a subsidiaryof the EutelsatGroup,thegloballeader in satellite communicationsdelivering connectivityand broadcast services worldwide.The Group was formed through the combination of Eutelsatand OneWeb in 2023,becomingthe firstfullyintegrated GEO-LEOsatelliteoperatorwith a fleet of 37 Geostationarysatellites and alow Earth orbitearth constellation of morethan 600 satellites.

HARDWARE

OneWeb is partnering with leading avionics suppliers to create next-generation userterminals and antennas uniqueto businessaviation and uniqueto OneWeb.Thesefuselagemounted electronicallysteered antennas (ESA)promiseto be considerablylighterthan traditionalmechanicallysteered antennatechnologies,with asignificantlyreduced profile, reducing drag and fuelburn.

In 2022 Gogo announcedthedesign of its OneWeb ESA antennain conjunction with HughesNetwork Systems. SatcomDirect is also developing asmallform-factorflatESA to be available in late 2024.

COVERAGE MAP

NETWORKCATEGORY:SATELLITE|LEO |Ku-band

Service Launch 2023

Coverage Global

Speed Up to 220 Mbps

Plan Cost

$2K / 20GB Plan| $10K Unlimited Plan

Hardware Weight < 60 lbs

NETWORK

In 2018,theFCC granted SpaceX permission to flyup to 12,000 Starlink satellites and as of August2023,SpaceX’s Starlink constellation had 4500+ activeLEOsatellites.In 2023, SpaceX also announced thestartof its Gen2 network with more capableV2 satellites.Starlink’s LEOconstellation operates at an altitudeof 342 miles aboveearth which highly improves thesatellite transmission latency.Starlink advertises a latency of less than 99 MS.

Starlink is testing opticalspacelasers (OpticalIntersatellite Links orISLs)usageon its satellites,which could allowthe spacecraftto transmit datawithoutlocalground stations, providing trulyglobalcoverage.

COVERAGE MAP

SpaceX Starlink

SERVICEOFFERING

Developed and operated byprivate spaceflightcompany SpaceX,Starlink aims to providelow-costinternetto remote locations.

Starlink has been highlypromoted forresidentialservicein remote and rural locations and on theroad RVinstallation. SpaceX branded its satellite-supported inflightconnectivity serviceas Starlink Aviation.

On February2024,SpaceX dramatically lowered the monthly pricing structureforits Starlink Aviation inflightconnectivity servicepackages forbusinessaviation,offeringa20 GB packageat $2,000 and an unlimited dataplan packageat $10,000.This compares to the$25,000 monthlypackage previouslyoffered to operators.

HARDWARE

The Starlink installation packageincludesan Aero Terminal Antenna,a powersupplyunitand two WI-FIaccess points.

The Aero Terminal Antennais an electronically-steered phased array antennaoperating in the Ku frequencyband.The RX channels operatefrom10.7 to 12.7 GHz and the TX channels operatefrom14 to 14.5 GHz.

Stralink provides a5-year hardware warranty.

Viasat (ex-Inmarsat) SwiftBroadband (SBB)

SERVICEOFFERING

SwiftBroadband (SBB)is oneof Viasat's flagship business aviation services,offering reliablein-flightvoiceand data connectivitywith globalcoverageto meet the core needs of users.It is a proven, dependablewayto stay connected, regardless of which aircrafttype is being operated or which routeis being flown across theworld.This helps to ensurethe needs of businessaviation passengers and creware being met, fromin-seatmobilephoneand textservices to emails and web browsing.

With consistencyand performancebydesign,SBBhas been the world’s leading L-band serviceforbusiness aviationsince 2009.It is activated on thousands of businessjets and offers speeds up to 432Kbps,using smallerantennas thatare suitableas primary connectivityforsmalleror olderaircraft, or a complementarysystemto Ka-band connectivity.

SBB customers can also upgradeto SwiftJet, Viasat's advanced new L-band business aviationconnectivityservice that offers maximumspeeds of 2.6Mbps,up to six times faster than SBB.

NETWORKCATEGORY:SATELLITE| GEO | L-band

Service Launch 2009

Coverage Global Speed Up to 432 Kbps

Plan Cost Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription

Hardware Weight 44.5 Lbs

NETWORK

Viasat owns and operates theworld’s mostreliable and resilientL-band satellitenetwork,which powers the SwiftBroadband serviceusing smaller,low-costterminals. Including Viasat’s award-winning I-4 fleet,each satellitecan generate up to 19 widebeams and more than 200 narrow spot beams, delivering seamless,always-on connectivityto every cornerof the world. Viasat continues to develop and innovate its secureL-band network to meet the needs of customers, including thosefromthebusinessaviation industry.The company’s next-generation L-bandsatellites willsupporta new wave of capabilities,as well as globalsafetyand mission critical services,fordecades to come.

HARDWARE

SBB satcomhardware is available fromfouravionics manufacturers:Thales, Cobham,Honeywell,and Collins Aerospace.The service data speed is dependenton the categoryof the installed antenna:High Gain Antenna(HGA): 432Kbps perChannel;IntermediateGain Antenna(IGA): 332Kbps perChannel;LowGain Antenna(LGA): 200Kbps per Channel.

COVERAGE MAP

Viasat L-Band Coverage Map | Updated

Viasat (ex-Inmarsat) SwiftJet

SERVICEOFFERING

Viasat's ground-breaking newSwiftJetin-flightconnectivity servicedelivers seamless globalcoverageacross flightroutes and maximum speeds of 2.6 Mbps,up to six times faster than its SwiftBroadbandL-band business aviationsolution.This allows passengers to stayconnected with colleagues,friends and family wherever and wheneverthey fly, with the abilityto communicateoveremail, text, instantmessaging and video calls, browsetheinternet and socialmedia, and even enjoy singledevicestreaming.

NETWORK

Viasat owns and operates theworld’s mostreliable and resilientL-band satellitenetwork,which powers the SwiftJet serviceusing smaller,low-costterminals.

Including Viasat’s award-winning I-4 fleet,each satellitecan generate up to 19 widebeams and more than 200 narrow spot beams, delivering seamless,always-on connectivityto every cornerof the world. Viasat continues to develop and innovate its secureL-band network to meet the needs of customers, including thosefromthebusinessaviation industry.The company’s next-generation L-bandsatellites willsupporta new wave of capabilities,as well as globalsafetyand mission critical services,fordecades to come.

COVERAGE MAP

SwiftJet uses enhanced hardwarefrom Viasat's partner Honeywellthat can be installed on a broad rangeof aircraft. SwiftBroadband customers that migrateto SwiftJetwill benefitfroma simple, convenientupgradeto Honeywell's existing terminals,withoutneeding to replaceanyexternally mounted aircraftequipment.New customers,meanwhile,will experiencethe same ease of installation as with any Viasat Lband terminal.

Viasat has three distribution partners for SwiftJet -Collins Aerospace,HoneywellAerospaceand SatcomDirect.

HARDWARE

Existing customers of Inmarsat’s SBBservicewill benefitfrom a natural upgradepath fortheir Honeywellhardware without needing to replace anyexternally mounted aircraft equipment,whilenew customers willexperiencethe same ease of installation as with any Viasat L-band terminal. All available SwiftJetterminals are class 6 with High Gain Antenna(HGA).

Viasat L-Band Coverage Map | Updated 03/13/2024

SES LuxStream

SERVICEOFFERING

Powered by Luxembourg-based SES,theworld’s leading GEO satellites operatorwith over 70 satellites, LuxStream promises to deliveran exceptionalprivatejet connectivity experience. The new high-end servicecapitalizes on SES’s next-generation Ku-based satellitetechnology –both highthroughputsatellites (HTS)and widebeam – and ground infrastructureto bring business aviationcustomers thefastest broadband speeds availablewithin theUnited States. Developed In collaboration with CollinsAerospace, LuxStreamsecured VistaGlobalas a launch customerforthe servicethat will be installed on 35 of thecompany’s BombardierGlobalbusiness jets.

The exceptionalpartnership between CollinsAerospaceand SES allows fora turn-key solution offering,combining both hardware and service with flexiblepricing models to meet the sophisticated operator’s mission.

NETWORKCATEGORY:SATELLITE| GEO | Ku-band

NETWORK

Luxstream delivers uninterrupted global connectivity via SES high-throughput satellites (HTS) overlaid withwide-beam coverage

SES operates three latest generations GEO HTS satellites:

▪ SES-12: Launched in 2018 providing coverage for MiddleEast and Asia Pacific regions

▪ SES-14: Launched in 2018 providing coverage for the Americas region

▪ SES-15: Launched in 2017 providing coverage for North America and the Caribbean

HARDWARE

Collins Aerospace delivers LuxStream through the KuSAT2000 tail mount satellite terminal developed with Astronics. The system is composed of four aircraft LRUs:

▪ A Gimbal Antenna Unit (GAU)

▪ Antenna Control & Modem Unit (ACMU)

▪ A Block Up Converter (BUC)

▪ A Block Down Converter (BDC)

COVERAGE MAP

NETWORK CATEGORY: SATELLITE | GEO | Ku-band

Service Launch 2018

Coverage Global

15 Mbps

Plan

Hardware Weight 48 lbs

NETWORK

Intelsat FlexExecis specificallyengineered to coverhigh traffic routes with High ThroughputSatellite(HTS)Ku-band coverage, with layers of widebeam capacityforadded resiliencyand redundancy.FlexExecallows formaximum flexibility,efficientuseof bandwidth,and managed services which are critical when routes and passengerrequirements shiftunexpectedly.Theopen architecturedesign of FlexExec allows SatcomDirect to analyze network demand and usage to ensurethat capacity is available, with the abilityto add additionalcapacity,as necessary.

COVERAGE MAP

Intelsat FlexExec

SERVICEOFFERING

At the 2018 NBAAconvention in Orlando,Intelsat,theworld’s largestsatellite fleet operator,launched its own end-to-end managed service FlexExecdedicated to businessaviation. FlexExecprovides dedicated bandwidthnotshared by commercial aviation orconsumerbroadband users.

Intelsat FlexExecis a global,secure,multi-layered broadband satelliteconnectivityservicethatdelivers consistent,highperformancecoverage. The serviceis designed to offera reliable and consistentconnectivityexperienceto business aircraft passengers.

Offered exclusivelythrough SatcomDirect, FlexExecoffers an Industryfirstserviceplan flexibilitytailored to meet sophisticated flightdepartmentneeds.

HARDWARE

FlexExecis available with the compact Satcom Direct manufactured PlaneSimple® tail mountantennasystem. The advanced Plane Simple®features onlytwo-Line Replaceable Units (LRUs),simplifying installationand configuration.

Viasat (Including ex-Inmarsat) Viasat Ka & Jet ConneX (JX)

SERVICEOFFERING

Viasat's Ka-band offering forbusiness aviation,consisting of Jet ConneX and Viasat Ka, is the onlysatcomsolutionthatis standard orpreferred on all large cabin and super-midsize jets. Purpose-builtforbusinessaviation,ithas setthe benchmark forhigh-performingconnectivity. The powerfulcombination of Viasat’scapacityand performance,with the coverageand reliabilityof its recently acquired Inmarsatbusiness,supports an increased focuson customerexperienceand fulfilling marketdemand,anytime and anywhere. Service plan flexibilitysatisfies alllevels of demand,including thosethatneed thehighestbandwidth to simultaneouslyconnectmoredevices and enjoy unchallenged access to themostdata-hungryapplications, withoutcompromising on Viasat’sproven characteristics of consistency,reliability,resilience,and seamless global availability.Viasat’s distributionpartners –Satcom Direct, Honeywell and CollinsAerospace -offerinnovative experience-based serviceplans,24/7 technicalsupport, billing and value-added services.

NETWORK CATEGORY:SATELLITE| GEO | Ka-band

NETWORK

Viasat’s Ka-band business aviationofferingis powered byits globalKa-band network,including theGX satellites fromits recently acquired Inmarsatbusiness.Thenetwork's already impressivecapabilities willbefurtherenhanced in the coming years as part of Viasat's technologyroadmap,with theaddition of ultra-high throughputsatellites suchas GX7,8 & 9, plus the ViaSat-3 series.This will ensurethe Ka-band offering will continueto meet the needs of business aviation passengers fordecades to come, protecting theoperator’s investmentfor as long as theyown their aircraft.

HARDWARE

Customers can selectfromthe Honeywell JetWave, Satcom Direct PlaneSimple Ka, and ViasatGlobalAero Terminal 5510 (GAT-5510).These will soon bejoined byOrbit’s AirTRx-30 and Honeywell's JetWave X terminals.

Viasat Ka-Band