photo courtesy of gogo delivering seamless inflight ... · global airline industry’ report from...

www.satellite-evolution.com | May/June 201816

Inflight Connectivity...

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Photo courtesy of Gogo

Delivering seamless inflightconnectivityThe mobility market is broadly expected to be one of the greatest growth drivers in satellitecommunications in the near future, with aeronautical connectivity the largest growth marketwithin that sphere. Providing seamless inflight connectivity (IFC) is no easy task, yet there arequite a range of companies around the world successfully delivering high-quality, in-demandservices.

Inflight connectivity (IFC) may not be a particularly newservice, but demand has boomed in recent years with theproliferation of mobile devices throughout the population.According to the ‘Sky High Economics: Quantifying thecommercial opportunities of passenger connectivity for theglobal airline industry’ report from the London School ofEconomics and Political Science (LSE) in association withInmarsat, inflight broadband has the potential to create aUS$130 billion market within the next 20 years, resulting inUS$30 billion of additional revenue for airlines by 2035. Thereport predicts that broadband-enabled ancillary revenuesfor airlines will come from four main revenue streams:

• Broadband access charges: Providing connectivity topassengers inflight

• E-commerce and destination shopping: Makingpurchases onboard aircraft with expanded product rangesand real-time offers

• Advertising: Pay per click, impressions, sponsorship dealswith advertisers

• Premium content: Providing live content, on demand videoand bundled W-IFEC access

Considering how often we discuss IFC, it’s important toremember that uptake is still quite low. Indeed, according tothe report, only around 53 airlines of an estimated total of5,000 currently offer IFC, although it’s broadly expected tobe ubiquitous on commercial airlines by 2035 off the back ofpassenger demand. ‘Sky High Economics’ also reported thatairlines currently receive an additional US$17 per passengerfrom traditional ancillary services such as duty-free purchasesand inflight retail, food and drink sales; broadband-enabledconnected ancillary revenues are expected to add an extraUS$4 by 2035.

Full service carriers are expected to generate US$19billion in revenues by 2035, or approximately 63 percent ofexpected airline revenues during the period. Capitalising onlonger flight times, additional revenue will come from theability to maximise e-commerce platforms and making dealswith content providers to offer premium packages. The studypredicts that low cost carriers will generate US$11 billion by2035, the bulk of which will come from selling connectivity topassengers. The ‘Sky High Economics’ report also identifiedthe greatest opportunity for broadband-enabled ancillaryservices lies in the Asia-Pacific. Airlines in that region are

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www.satellite-evolution.com | May/June 2018 17

Inflight Connectivity

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Passengers using Gogo

expected to gain US$10.3 billion of revenues through 2035,while airlines in Europe and North America can anticipateUS$8.2 billion and US$7.6 billion respectively.

“The opportunity available to airlines is enormous. TheSky High Economics study predicts the creation of a US$130billion market within the next two decades,” wrote DrAlexander Grous, Department of Media and Communications,LSE and Author of Sky High Economics. “Globally, if airlinescan provide a reliable broadband connection, it will be thecatalyst for rolling out more creative advertising, content ande-commerce packages. We will see innovative deals struck,partnerships formed, and business models fundamentallychanged for new players to lay claim to the US$100 billionopportunity away from airlines. Broadband-enabled ancillaryrevenue has the potential to shape a whole new market andit’s something airlines need to be planning for right now.”

A word from the operators“The IFC market is one of the fastest growing markets forbroadband satellite communication,” confirmed Doreet Oren,Director of Product Marketing and Corporate Communicationsat Gilat Satellite Networks. “According to an NSR reportissued last year, the number of connected aircraft is expectedto grow by an order of magnitude within a decade. In 2016,3,800 aircraft were connected and in 2026, the totalconnected aircraft are projected to be 28,400. NSR furtherreports that the annual aero satellite equipment market-sizeis expected to more than double within this decade, from$280M in 2016 to $590M in 2026.”

Don Buchman, Vice President and General Manager ofCommercial Aviation at Viasat, agreed that there’s still a longway to go: “The IFC market is quickly growing and thecompetition to offer the best on board Wi-Fi service is rising,”he said. “However, there is still a disparity on the servicesoffered, simply because of the capacity, speeds and coverageavailable by each IFC vendor. While some carriers, likeJetBlue or Qantas, are offering unrestricted, high-speedconnectivity at no additional cost, others are still providingslow speeds, often at a substantial premium for the passenger.In this environment, it’s perhaps unsurprising that passengersaren’t so fast to take advantage of the service—meaning wehaven’t yet seen IFC reach its full potential.” Anecdotally, we’dtend to agree with Buchman here – services on most flightsare still so poor that it seems an exercise in futility to handover cash for such patchy connectivity.

Aditya Chatterjee, SVP of Aero Segment Market Solutionsat SES Networks, added: “In a word, the IFC market isbooming. IFC is fast becoming a must have for passengersand airlines across the globe.” He went on to discuss regionalvariations: “North America is certainly leading the market,where the majority of passengers are increasingly selectingairlines based on WiFi availability. As travellers throughoutthe rest of the world see the types of IFC services beingdelivered aboard airlines serving North America, more andmore airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are beingpressed to provide the same levels of capacity andapplications. The Middle East and African aeronauticalsatcom market, for example, will generate US$320 million inretail revenues by the end of 2026. Demand for morepassenger and crew connectivity on routes within the MiddleEast and Africa is the biggest driver of that revenue jump.”

In such a fast-growing market, where are the bestopportunities and what are the greatest driving forces? SES’Chatterjee outlined the five primary driving forces behindtoday’s soaring IFC demand:

• The sheer volume of air travel continues to grow at recordlevels, and this is an indisputable driving force. In fact,IATA projects 7.8 billion people will travel by air in 2036,nearly double the four billion air travellers expected to flythis year, with Asia becoming the biggest driver of thatunprecedented growth in air travel.

• The number of connected passengers is driving thenumber of connected aircraft globally. The number ofconnected aircraft will triple between 2010 and 2026,offering up an incredible opportunity for SES and thesatellite industry to blanket the globe in high-poweredcapacity to enable IFC services virtually anywhere.

• Increasingly ubiquitous global coverage. SES continuesto invest in big quantities of high-powered capacity aroundthe globe, enabling all the leading IFC service providers

Broadband access E-commerce Advertising Premium content Total2018 $822 million $36 million $26 million $39 million $1 billion2028 $9 billion $3 billion $2.9 billion $731 million $15 billion2035 $15.9 billion $6.8 billion $6 billion $1.4 billion $30 billion

Forecasted airline share of the US$30 billion broadband enabled ancillary revenue opportunity. Credit: ‘Sky High Economics:Quantifying the commercial opportunities of passenger connectivity for the global airline industry.’

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. and ultimately the airlines and passengers they servearound the world. SES is the first global solution providerwith multiband, multi-orbit capacity in both GEO and MEO.SES is band and orbit agnostic when it comes to workingwith our customers and IFC partners, which positions usto enable new IFC capabilities tailored to the exciting aeromarket.

• Another fundamental driving force is the rising numberof passengers who are bringing their portable electronicdevices (PED) on board commercial and business aircraft.One in three passengers brings at least three devices onboard and is willing to pay for Wi-Fi. Passengers expectto have all the capabilities they have at home, includingemail browsing, social media and video streaming. Otherdrivers that are becoming increasingly important will bethe ability to stream on demand HD video directly to theirown device and use virtual reality.

• The demand for connectivity that enables airlines to runtheir aircraft and overall operations far more efficiently.The number of sensors aboard new commercial airlinersis mind boggling, and airlines are using connectivity totrack everything from fuel consumption and engine datato the impact of weather on operational efficiencies.Airlines are expected to save billions by monitoring andmanaging operations via satellite connectivity – moneythat could help fund part of the next generation ofpassenger and crew IFC offerings.

Oren, too, opined that several driving forces haveconverged to facilitate the fast growing IFC market: “First,the consumer expectation to stay connected everywhere allthe time with high throughput broadband has expanded toboth domestic and overseas air-travel. Second, satellitecommunication, the only technology capable of such globalcoverage during flight, has taken significant steps forward,both on the ground and space segment; the abundance of

HTS capacity has driven costs down, making satellite afeasible option for IFC; and in terms of the ground segment,there have been significant achievements to the aero modemsin utilizing HTS, optimizing performance and efficiency forIFC. Thirdly, airline travel has never been more popular, andcompetition among the airlines never more fierce. A growingcompetitive advantage today is for those airlines who offerhigh quality high throughput connectivity.”

Buchman believes that the opportunities for IFC aresignificant: “Today, Viasat is providing high-quality, IFC andstreaming that is similar to what we provide to hundreds ofthousands of people in their homes. We’re able to deliverthis type of premium service because we have the mostcapacity on orbit at the most affordable cost as we own ourown satellites. Our service is generally available in the NorthAmerican market, and once the infrastructure is in placeglobally, we will be able to deliver IFC - with the highestspeeds - to every airline across the world. This will in turntransform how IFC is viewed as a service, becoming anintrinsic part of the inflight experience. For instance,entertainment, retail and even destination planning will betransformed – with offerings no longer limited to what movies,duty free goods and travel guides are carried on board anaircraft.”

Delivering IFC is not without considerable challenges, ofcourse. Buchman highlighted the greatest challenge asproviding enough resources to meet demand. “Currently, thereisn’t the global coverage to provide an uninterrupted, high-speed signal wherever an aircraft is flying to and from.However, with new satellites, like ViaSat-3 - offering morethan 1Tbps of network capacity - launching in the 2020timeframe, we should begin to see the reality of anuninterrupted, high-speed connection spanning the globe,”commented Buchman. “With this in place, the next challengewill be agreeing on standards and the best business modelsfor each airline. Eventually the market will decide, but until

Panasonic’s eXO showing HD overhead video

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then, we will see competition between different technologiesand how passengers pay for IFC e.g. does it remain as anadditional cast? Is it limited to just messaging and lightbrowsing? Is it part of the ticket price, or only offered to certainpassengers? Or will it be paid for by integrated marketingpartnerships and sponsorship, leaving it free to thepassenger?”

Gilat’s Oren agrees that the challenges are far from over,and that capacity remains a threat to growth. “Due topassenger’s growing demand for continuous highperformance broadband connectivity, delivery of sufficienthigh throughput capacity to the aircraft continues to be achallenge. To this end, we have seen new aero modems,such as Gilat’s Taurus, delivering aggregate rates of 400Mbps,enabling Internet and multimedia applications for all airplanepassengers,” said Oren. “In addition, there is a lot of workgoing on for next-generation Electronically Steered Array(ESA) antennas. Traditional mechanically steered antennaswill not be sufficient and efficient enough to address themarket transformation. The characteristics of ESA antennassuch as very low profile, instantaneous bandwidth, beamagility, multi-beam connectivity, scalability/modularity andlongevity – are imperative for unlocking new businessopportunities and for the performance of satellite networks.”

“Deciding whether IFC is a free or paid service remains achallenge for many of the airlines today. Ultimately thatdecision will have a big impact on the delivery of popularvideo streaming and social media applications aboard someairlines,” observed SES’ Chatterjee. “As satellite operatorsbring more HTS to the aero IFC market, antenna developersare also bringing more effective platforms to market as well.At the same time, Netflix and others are working on softwaresolutions that enable the delivery of HD, even 4K content topassenger devices using a fraction of the bandwidth requiredtoday aboard commercial and business aviation flights.”

It seems that everyone is fully-expecting the IFC marketto boom in the future, developing into a more mature marketin the decades to come. Gilat’s Oren agrees: “As the

technology matures and demand increases, the market willevolve to include new business models and additional aircrafttypes. Mobility applications and NGSO satellites pose majorchallenges and opportunities to the performance andeconomics of satellite connectivity.” Oren continued:“Therefore, we see significant industry investments in ESAantennas for the aero market to meet a set of imperativerequirements. It is critical to deliver higher antenna gain withlower profile and lower add-on drag.”

Viasat’s Buchman is anticipating increasing competitionas the IFC market develops: “We are already seeing airlineschange their IFC provider as they get a better understandingof which technologies offer the best performance, and thebest experience for passengers and in turn deliver the bestvalue to the airline. We are on the cusp of IFC breaking intothe mainstream and becoming an expected component ofinternational flight, rather than a nice-to-have extra service.This will mean increasing competition, but also increasedcollaboration – as satellite providers and airline partners worktogether to ensure an uninterrupted connection for flights.”

Meanwhile, Chatterjee from SES sees ‘blue skies aheadwith capacity demand soaring’ to meet passenger appetitefor connectivity in flight that compares with what they expecton the ground. “SES is building a global ubiquitous network,much like the cellular networks on the ground that offer upseamless connectivity virtually anywhere around the world.SES has launched multiple HTS satellites in recent years –much of that capacity tailored to meet the growing passengerIFC demands as well as the airlines’ increasing efforts tooperate more efficiently on a global basis,” said Chatterjee.“Just look to Europe and you’ll get an accurate glimpse ofIFC in the near future. There were just short of 550 connectedaircraft in Europe a year ago, and forecasters expect thereto be more than 6,300 connected aircraft over Europe by2026. As the number of connected aircraft skyrockets to meetthe insatiable appetite for connectivity across a mind-bogglingnumber of air travellers – expected to double from four billioncurrently to nearly eight billion over the next 18 years, satellitecapacity in space combined with antenna, modem andapplication services innovations will play a huge concertedrole in meeting very high expectations for inflight connectivity.”North America continues to set the expectations and drivethe demand eastward to Europe, the Middle East, Africa andAsia. “Of the four billion new air travellers expected to take tothe skies over the next 18 years, more than half will comefrom Asia,” added Chatterjee.

Panasonic Avionics upgrades services across the boardPanasonic Avionics Corporation is inarguably a world-leaderin delivering inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC)solutions across the globe. Today, more than 1,800 aircraftuse Panasonic Avionics’ global high-speed IFC service, andmore than 10,000 aircraft are expected to be connected withPanasonic Avionics by 2025.

Upgraded servicesNovember 2017 was an incredible month for PanasonicAvionics in terms of upgrading its service offerings, with twomajor developments announced.

Panasonic introduced a major advance in IFC with thestart of service of its first HTS capacity over the Pacific Ocean.

Aditya Chatterjee, SVP of Aero Segment Market Solutions atSES Networks

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. Utilising the EUTELSAT 172B satellite, Panasonic will deliverenhanced inflight broadband connectivity, live TV and mobilephone services to aircraft flying high traffic routes across theAsia-Pacific region spanning the West coast of North Americato Asia, and down to Australia and the Pacific islands.

Panasonic is layering HTS capacity over key air trafficareas across its global satellite network to meet the growingconnectivity demands of airlines and their passengers. It willcontinue to introduce HTS in every region of the world, sincethe combination of spot beams and high-level frequency re-use provide improved economics, more bandwidth and fasterdata speeds as passengers. HTS also use a broad overlaybeam, which is used to economically deliver up to ninechannels of live TV to passengers in flight. Notably,EUTELSAT 172B is the first HTS to use a multi-port amplifier,which allows power to be dynamically moved among the HTSbeams to meet demand. The ability for the HTS beams to‘follow’ aircraft and other mobile users enables Panasonic tobetter meet customer demand and cost-effectively ensureconsistently high levels of service.

Long-time partners Panasonic and Singapore Airlineshave also announced eight new innovations in personalisationwith the launch of a new IFEC offering, myKrisWorld. Thenew system embraces Panasonic’s vision for IFEC, whichcentres around the concept of ‘the Internet of Me,’ taking allof the things that people care about and bringing themtogether to deliver personalized and contextualizedexperiences. Each of these features is made possible byPanasonic’s ability to deliver actionable analytics, where datais used to improve the quality of the passenger experience.

With myKrisWorld, the experience star ts beforepassengers even board their flight. Passengers can useSingapore Airlines’ app or website to preview content andset up their customized playlist. Once on board, they caneither synchronise their mobile device or log in at their seatto access their pre-selected content. Crowd-sourced data willoffer up alternative titles that are popular. It can askpassengers if they want to finish the movie that they startedon the previous flights and make recommendations basedon a passenger’s individual habits and what content istrending inflight at that moment in time.

“Last year, we helped Singapore Airlines introduce theiraward-winning companion app. Today, we’re taking thatpersonalized experience to even greater heights with a seriesof innovative features that include passenger log-in at theirseat; playlist, bookmark, language preference storage andwallpaper customization between flights; customized andpersonalized entertainment spotlights; popular, trending andrecommended content; and exclusive content based onfrequent flier tier,” said Hideo Nakano, Chief Executive Officerfor Panasonic Avionics Corp. “By embracing the culture ofmobile, we can increase the rate of evolution in the passengerexperience, transforming what was once a passiveentertainment system into another digital channel that airlinescan leverage to better serve their customers.”

What’s NEXT?There was a major flurry of activity in April as Panasonicannounced the launch of NEXT Marketplace in response tothe growing demand of airlines to increase ancillary revenue,and to enable a new generation of revenue-generating inflight

services. NEXT Marketplace provides a complete end-to-enddigital retail solution that incorporates a flexible set ofshopping channels for passengers through seatback screensand mobile devices. It also provides airlines with tools for thecreation of dynamic retail offer ings and inventorymanagement that can be tailored to a variety of retail modelsand promotional scenarios. Panasonic’s strategy with NEXTMarketplace is to partner with industry leaders like gategroup,which serves more than 700 million passengers annually withits retail and catering operations. Gategroup’s involvementwill include its technology partner Black Swan, which willprovide its extensive data analytics capabilities, enablingairlines to develop increasingly targeted and effective inflightofferings.

Panasonic is also setting up a new office in Silicon Valleyand has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help deliverdata analytics and insights from Panasonic’s NEXTMarketplace. The new Silicon Valley operation will focus ondelivering Internet of things (IoT), cloud and data analyticsfor Panasonic’s NEXT platform, while also managingoperations-focused data, such as maintenance and the healthmonitoring of aircraft IFEC systems. Working with AWS,Panasonic Avionics will provide airlines with crucial dataanalytics capabilities, leveraging its Avionics Specific DataLake. The Lake will provide data of any type securely in oneplace, enabling advanced machine learning and deeplearning algorithms to provide airlines with near real-timeinsights into their connected passengers and operations.Panasonic’s new data operation has been established toenable airlines to overcome the challenges posed by currentdata collection and analysis methods, which often took placemanually and post-flight leading to unreliable and outdatedinsights.

“The establishment of our Silicon Valley operationrepresents a major step forward in the cloud and data-basedsolutions we are able to offer our airline partners. More thanever before, it enables Panasonic to connect the businessand pleasure of flying, enhancing the passenger experiencethrough the connected aircraft,” said David Bartlett, Chief

eX3 premium configuration with Altus monitors

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Technology Officer of Panasonic Avionics Corporation. “Theconvergence of enabling technologies has set the stage fortransformational data analytics, giving Panasonic the abilityto provide airlines with invaluable passenger and operationalinsights, which in turn allows them to build brand loyalty andincrease efficiency.”

Many elements of NEXT Marketplace can be leveragedand enhanced by NEXT Cloud-based data analytics. Theseinclude NEXT Theatre, which enables passengers onconnected aircraft to access airline content anywhere acrossthe globe, opening up avenues for new business models suchas near-real time content licensing and usage-basedpayment. NEXT Marketplace utilises the secure NEXT Cloudin providing a global secure payment platform, secure reliableand convenient shopping via a dynamically updatablecatalogue. It also opens up possibilities for airlines to offercloud-based services such as music, transportation and moreto deliver an enhanced passenger experience and thepotential for airline revenue sharing.

During the same month, Panasonic announced the debutof its new airline on board loyalty platform, NEXT Loyalty,with Singapore Airlines as the launch customer. NEXT Loyaltyis Panasonic’s new suite of solutions for enablingpersonalized inflight experiences for passengers and allowingairlines to extend their loyalty programs into their onboardservices. It allows passengers to login or to pair their mobiledevice at the seat via the airline app. Once signed in,passengers will be recognized and provided with a variety offamiliar personalized features including: Resuming unfinishedmovies from previous flights, receiving recommendationsbased on viewing history, unlocking exclusive content andoffers based on loyalty program status, viewing a customizedlook-and-feel of their interactive associated with their profile,saving settings for language/subtitle preferences, preferredgenres and accessibility, and more. Airlines will further benefitfrom the opportunity to understand usage patterns andactivities inflight and utilize those data analytics to better tailorfuture inflight services.

Airline dealsPanasonic hasn’t slowed down its announcements this year,either, with April being a particularly prominent month forarranging new deals with air l ines following theannouncements on the NEXT platform.

Panasonic and Turkish Airlines announced a major dealfor IFEC solutions to be line-fit installed on 50 wide-bodiedaircraft the airline has on order, with options for a further 10.Panasonic’s X-Series IFEC system, along with its rivetMEDIAsolution and a suite of connectivity services including inflightWi-Fi, mobile phone use, and global live TV, will be fitted on25 Boeing 787-9s and 25 Airbus A350-900s, with the firstaircraft due to be delivered to Turkish Airlines in June 2019.

The system will fur ther enhance Turkish Airlines’passenger experience with a personalized home theatreexperience that includes HD screens for each passenger,audio and video entertainment on demand, capacitive multi-touch screens, inflight shopping and hospitality features,route-based IFE, passenger survey functions and USBcharging facilities. It will also include Panasonic’s uniquePassenger Data Integration (PDI) service, which will allowTurkish Airlines to add higher levels of personalization to its

inflight experience, and to seamlessly recognize the travelpreferences of their guests and recommend content, servicesand amenities specific that will enhance their experience bothin flight and in their destination city. PDI will leverage a custom-designed Companion App that will enable passengers tosecurely pair their mobile device to the IFE system andpersonalize and enhance their entertainment experiencethrough capabilities that include custom playlists and a‘second screen’ environment.

rivetMEDIA, which combines one of the aviation industry’smost advanced inflight marketing platform with a dedicatedsales and service team, will deliver all the key advertisingservices needed by Turkish Airlines, their external partnersand paying advertisers. The technology enables airlines totarget by seat class, route, device, language, and passengerdata. This will allow Turkish Airlines to optimize promotionsfor a wide range of optional services, partnerships, loyaltyprograms, and paid advertising all within a comprehensivepassenger experience. The platform delivers video, nativedisplay, and sponsorship options for high-impact, fraud-freemarketing with best-in-class targeting and results.

Turkish Airlines’ aircraft also will be fitted with Panasonic’snew satellite modem, which offers bandwidth up to twentytimes greater than previously available, enabling a host ofnext-generation IFC benefits from high quality live TVprogramming to fast Internet, video streaming, inflight mobilephone service and greater bandwidth for crew applications.The new modem and connectivity solutions are an integralpart of Panasonic’s third-generation network, which usesadvanced satellites to cover all high air traffic areas acrossthe globe with high throughput and extreme throughput spotbeams and wide overlay beams that support Panasonic’sglobal television service.

As part of the contract, Turkish Airlines has the option toequip the A350 aircraft delivering beyond 2022 with its owndirect affiliate’s IFE system, pending line fit offerability. Theconnectivity for those aircraft will still be equipped byPanasonic.

Panasonic also announced a new deal with EGYPTAIRwhich will see six Boeing 787-9 aircraft fitted with Panasonic’seX3 IFE system and its IFEC system. In Business Class,each seat will feature an 18-inch screen, a video touchhandset, a USB jack for high power charging in-seat and anoise cancelling audio jack. In Economy Class, passengerswill each have a 12-inch screen and shared access to poweroutlets. Each aircraft will also be fitted with overhead 16-inchscreens throughout each cabin. EGYPTAIR has also optedfor a range of additional software applications across the fleetthat include passenger surveys, onboard shopping, 3Dmoving map and OneMedia - Panasonic’s advertisingplatform.

Inmarsat – A truly global playerInmarsat is another major player in the global IFC arena withits Global Xpress (GX) network of four Ka-band HTS. GXhas delivered seamless high-speed broadband connectivitythe world over since 2015. GX Aviation is the world’s first IFCsolution with seamless, reliable high-speed global coverageprovided through a single operator. It is reportedly the onlyservice in the market that guarantees minimum data rates,ensuring that airline passengers can browse the Internet,

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. stream videos, check social media and more during flights,with an onboard connectivity experience comparable to themobile broadband services they may receive on the ground.

In April 2018, Inmarsat announced a major milestone forits GX Aviation service after completing the 250th installationworldwide. Within the first year of commercial service, GXAviation has been installed in a variety of aircraft, includingAirbus A320s, Boeing 777s, and Airbus A380s. Customershave included Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, QatarAirways, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Air Astana.

GX Aviation has also won a string of prestigious awardsfor offering state-of-the-art, uninterrupted, global IFC. Theservice enables passengers to browse the Internet, streamvideos, check social media and more during flights, withconnectivity that is comparable to the mobile broadbandservices they may receive on the ground.

“GX Aviation continues to be a major success story, notonly for Inmarsat, but for the global inflight connectivity market.We’re still within our first year of commercial service, so thefact that the service has been installed on 250 aircraft speaksvolumes for its acceptance as the gold standard by airlinesworldwide,” said Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation.“Reaching this milestone so early in the launch of GX Aviationis testament to the industry-leading service levels that airlines

and their passengers are experiencing with the service. Wecelebrate this milestone with our world-class value-addedresellers (VARs), Rockwell Collins, SITAONAIR and Thales,and ecosystem partners such as Honeywell and ZodiacInflight Innovations. Together, we are committed to keepdeveloping GX Aviation, keeping us ahead of other aviationconnectivity solutions in the market.”

Delivering GX Aviation to global airlinesIt’s been a busy few months for Inmarsat as its GX Aviationservice goes from strength to strength, surging in popularityacross the world.

In September 2017, Inmarsat was selected by AirAsiaGroup to deliver its GX Aviation service to more than 120aircraft, covering all existing and future Airbus A320 and A330aircraft operated across the group. The agreement also hasthe scope to include any additional aircraft types due fordelivery in the coming years, such as the Airbus A350. Thefirst installations and the launch of commercial service arescheduled to commence in the first half of 2018, withconnectivity enabled by the JetWave terminals produced byHoneywell Aerospace.

In the same month, Air Astana became the first airline inthe world to offer GX Aviation to passengers on board a

Photo courtesy of Pexels

“In April 2018, Inmarsatannounced a major milestone

for its GX Aviation serviceafter completing the 250th

installation worldwide. Withinthe first year of commercial

service, GX Aviation has beeninstalled in a variety of

aircraft.”

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widebody aircraft after the service went live on the airline’sinitial Boeing 767. GX Aviation will eventually be available onall three of Air Astana’s Boeing 767s. Air Astana passengerswill be able to choose from three connectivity packages: TheLight option will cover 15Mb, the Business option will cover50Mb, and the Super option will cover 100Mb. All servicesare estimated to operate at an average speed of between 2-5Mbps..

In November 2017, Emirates announced plans to installInmarsat’s GX Aviation high-speed inflight broadband serviceon its Boeing 777X aircraft fleet. The new agreement is partof Emirates’ and Thales’ plans to develop state-of-the-art IFECon the airline’s new Boeing 777X fleet. Emirates has 150Boeing 777X aircraft on firm order, with deliveries currentlyscheduled from 2020.

Meanwhile, in April 2018, Inmarsat signed a Memorandumof Understanding with Turkish Technic and HAVELSAN onintegrated IFEC solutions. As part of the collaboration, thethree companies will offer a joint solution for emergingmarkets, which integrates Inmarsat’s award-winning GXAviation inflight broadband solution with the Turkish Technic-HAVELSAN IFE system.

Later in April, Inmarsat’s GX Aviation service wasreportedly being rolled out to Qatar Airway’s Boeing 777 andAirbus A350 aircraft. Qatar Airways is the first airline in theMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) region to offer GXAviation. In total, the service will be equipped on more than130 of the airline’s Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft. Aspart of the service offering, passengers will be offered onehour of free access to GX Aviation, after which full-flightaccess can be purchased.

Jet Connex advancementsIn addition to its GX Aviation service, Inmarsat also offersJet Connex, the only global, high-speed Wi-Fi option availablefor business jets today, delivering the same fast and reliableonboard connectivity experience comparable to the mobilebroadband services they may receive on the ground.

With Jet Connex, business travellers can join a videoconference while flying over the Atlantic, catch the latestmarket reports en route to the next business meeting, ordownload tomorrow’s presentation from the company server.The service reportedly offers passengers the highest speedand most extensive coverage of flight routes available to themarket and is the first worldwide Ka-band network availableto business aviation from a single operator. Operating overInmarsat’s Global Xpress network of Ka-band satellites, JetConnex provides data speeds capable of supporting video-streaming, Voice over IP (VoIP), live TV, file transfer and VPN.

The service has proved incredibly popular; October 2017saw the announcement that Inmarsat and Honeywellcompleted the 100th installation of the JetWave system, whichpowers Jet Connex. Honeywell, Inmarsat and their installationpartners have received more than 25 type certificate andsupplemental type certificate (STC) approvals for JetWavefrom the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and EuropeanAviation Safety Agency (EASA) to date across 24 platforms.The two companies are securing an additional nine STCs forfive other platforms in the coming months, meaning JetConneX will be available for installation on over 29 businessjet platforms. Platforms currently supported by JetWave and

Jet Connex include Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer,Gulfstream, Boeing and Airbus.

In October 2017, Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX business aviationinflight Wi-Fi service received a Supplement Type Certificate(STC) for the popular Gulfstream G550 aircraft. Awarded bythe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the certificateapproves Gulfstream G550 business jets to be equipped withthe exclusive JetWave antenna and terminal, produced byInmarsat partner Honeywell. The system enables seamlessaccess to Jet ConneX high-speed Wi-Fi across major flightroutes and islands off the beaten path, allowing passengersto browse the web, stream live television, video conferenceand more.

Following more than a year of investment in developmentand testing, initial installations on G550 aircraft are nowunderway. Gulfstream, in cooperation with Inmarsat andHoneywell, is currently conducting in-service evaluation andfinal terminal Type Approval activities.

“The Gulfstream G550 community has been eagerlyawaiting this Jet ConneX installation approval and has toldus about their desire to have a powerful global high-speedWi-Fi solution for their principals. Many are heavy users ofInmarsat’s SwiftBroadband solution and are happy with theservice reliability but are now looking to upgrade to a next-generation network that is fast enough to handle the demandsof today’s applications,” said Kurt Weidemeyer, Vice Presidentof Business Aviation at Inmarsat.

In the same month, Inmarsat made additional data plansfor its Jet Connex service available on Dassault businessjets, providing Dassault customers with five-tiered data plansto choose from using their existing non-Ka-band radomes.The highest data plan offers speeds up to 11Mbps. Businessaviation customers are usually required to install theHoneywell JetWave hardware for Jet ConneX with a fullyapproved Ka-band optimised radome. However, thatrequirement has been waived while Dassault Aviation finishesdevelopment of a fully approved Ka-band radome, which isexpected next year. With the installation of an approved Ka-band radome, Dassault customers will become eligible forthe entire Jet ConneX data plan catalogue, which currentlyoffers tiered plans up to 15Mbps.

The European Aviation NetworkWe’ve been hearing a lot about the European AviationNetwork (EAN), the world’s first integrated S-band satelliteand complementary LTW-based terrestrial network build forEurope, in the last couple of years. As of 5 February, partnersInmarsat, Deutsche Telekom Nokia have completed a keytechnological step in the development of the EAN, readyingthe network for launch. Some 300 base stations have beenestablished across all 28-member states of the EU, as wellas Switzerland and Norway, marking it as the first everEurope-wide integrated LTE network.

The EAN is a pioneering technological achievement anda truly innovative European project, providing seamlessconnectivity over land and water, and offering a highbandwidth service to passengers – currently over 75Mbit/sconnection speed to the aircraft – as airlines using the servicedo not share network capacity with any non-aviationcustomers. Passengers will be able to use social media, sharepictures and stream high-bandwidth content at speeds they

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. are used to experiencing at home. The EAN is also designedto fulfil not only current but also future passenger demandfor IFC as the integrated LTE ground network is fully scalableto meet increasing connectivity needs in the coming years.

The EAN is expected to be available for airlines to offercommercially from the first half of 2018. The service has beentrialled during several flights to test the integrated satelliteand complementary LTE ground network; the test flights haveconfirmed that the EAN meets its design performance inpractice, providing an unmatched low-latency performanceof less than 100ms. Airlines will be able to install the smalland light-weight EAN equipment quickly and easily, typicallyduring overnight breaks for individual aircraft and turnaroundtimes for entire fleets of just a few months. InternationalAirlines Group (IAG), which includes airlines such as BritishAirways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, is the launchcustomer for the new service, and has already commencedinstallations of EAN equipment on aircraft.

“With the completion of the first ever integrated pan-European LTE ground network component we are now ableto fully support EAN’s satellite connectivity and maximize theperformance of the EAN system,” said Rolf Nafziger, SeniorVice President, International Wholesale Business atDeutsche Telekom. “The network is specifically designed tomeet future capacity demands for connectivity in theEuropean airspace, with passenger volumes expected todouble in the next 15 years.”

But not everyone is happy about the EAN’s impendinglaunch. Shortly after Ofcom granted Inmarsat a licence forits EAN in October 2017, Viasat announced plans to pursuelegal action against the deal. According to reports, therelevant radio spectrum was initially awarded to Inmarsat in2009 to create a mobile satellite system that could be usedby the emergency services. As a result, the change of use ofthe spectrum into a commercial opportunity allegedly createsan unfair competitive advantage and could create a monopolyin the European IFC market. Viasat argues that, ultimately,consumers will be the ones who lose out as they end uprestricted to a good-but-not-great service, at best.

Viasat has frequently opposed this claimed misuse andis looking to pursue legal action against Ofcom as a result ofits decision. Viasat’s President and Chief Operating OfficerRick Baldridge has issued the following statement:

“We are extremely disappointed by Ofcom’s decision togrant Inmarsat authorization to operate its EAN. The factsare clear: Inmarsat is abusing the initial grant of the 2GHzspectrum, as set forth by the European Commission (EC) bychanging the original tender granted to them with their intentto deploy a Pan-European terrestrial wireless network; andadmittedly missing numerous deadlines as related to theoriginal award.

This blatant misuse of spectrum needs to stop now. Itestablishes precedent for any organization to use spectrumwithout following the rules. As we’ve publicly stated: Webelieve the EAN violates the original decision of the EUlegislature that the S-Band be used for mobile satellitesystems - not a terrestrial wireless network (also known asan Air-to-Ground or ATG). We remain diligent in our efforts tohave the EC halt Inmarsat’s ATG deployments in the S-Band;declare Inmarsat’s ATG plans as inconsistent with EU lawand the original S-Band spectrum award; and retender the

spectrum. And we’re not alone. A number of regulators haveshared their own frustration with the EC’s failure to act, despiterequests for the EC to address this critical legal question. Ifthe EC does not do the right thing and make clear thatInmarsat’s ATG deployment is not a permitted use of theoriginal granted spectrum, we will be left with no otheroption: We will fight the decision in each country thatauthorizes an illegal ATG network deployment.

In recent weeks, Viasat has taken a strong stand in fightingthe EAN across Europe. We have advanced our legal actionsagainst Belgium and the European Commission; and filedchallenges with German and Italian regulators, making clearthat we will take further legal action in Germany and Italy ifthey allow Inmarsat to implement EAN as advertised. We nowfully expect to pursue legal action against Ofcom as a resultof their decision this week.”

According to the latest news, Viasat is not backing downover the EAN. In December 2017, the company took legalaction against Ofcom over its decision to approve the network.Since then, Inmarsat has received permission to intervene,and on 24 January, the Honourable Mr Justice Roth, Presidentof the Competition Appeal Tribunal, has made a further orderestablishing an interim confidentiality ring in the proceedings.Inmarsat has commented that it believes Viasat’s claims ‘tobe entirely without merit.’

There are more recent troubles on the horizon as well. InMarch, the Market Court of the Brussels Court of Appealrevoked approval for the EAN in Belgium following Viasat’slegal challenge. Eutelsat, which is also fighting against theEAN in selected countries, has spoken up in support of thedecision. However, Inmarsat has stated that it doesn’t believethe court’s decision will be a significant problem in the roll-out of the EAN, claiming that the decision was made ‘purelyon procedural grounds,’ and that the complementary groundnetwork will be shown to comply with certain conditions inthe EC framework.

Frederik Van Essen, Inmarsat Aviation Vice-President ofStrategy and Business Development, made the followingstatement to Aviation Week: “The European Aviation Networkis on track, and we believe that these claims are intendedsolely to undermine Inmarsat’s legitimate business interestsand strengthen our competitors’ positions in the competitivetender processes currently under way with European airlines.Although at this point it is highly speculative to predict timeframes against Viasat’s legal challenge, we are confident thatthe courts will ultimately reject Viasat’s claims against theregulators, and so we do not expect a knock-on impact onthe commercial deployment of EAN.”

Viasat deploys IFC with EL AL Israel Airlines and UnitedAirlinesGlobal communications company Viasat has long deliveredIFC solutions to aircraft around the world, increasing itsofferings as the mobility market has boomed. The companyhas specialist products and services dedicated to all aspectsof the market; commercial aviation, business aviation andsolutions for helicopters and light aircraft.

In addition to its roles as a very active participant in thechallenge of Inmarsat’s EAN, Viasat has had a pretty busyfew months of deals in the IFC arena. In September 2017,EL AL Israel Airlines selected Viasat’s inflight Internet system

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to power the airlines’ onboard Wi-Fi experience across all itsnew Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Viasat’s technology will deliverKa-band capacity from Viasat-2 to provide coverage acrossNorth America, the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, as well ascapacity from KA-SAT satellite, jointly-owned between Viasatand Eutelsat, for additional European coverage.

Meanwhile, in February 2018, Viasat signed a newcontract with United Airlines to install Viasat’s latest IFECsystem on more than 70 aircraft, including at least 58 of theairline’s new Boeing 737MAX aircraft. Viasat will serve asthe direct inflight Internet service provider to United Airlines,deploying its most advanced IFEC system, in order to provideUnited customers access to fast, reliable Internet connectionsfrom the air, utilising capacity from VaiSat-1, ViaSat-2 andViaSat-3. Passengers will be able to browse the web andconnect with key business applications such as a corporateVPN and secure email. Viasat’s IFEC system will alsopower United Airline’s Private Screening entertainmentoption, which offers customers access to hundreds ofentertainment titles from its onboard library direct to theirown devices.

Yahsat succeeds in 50Mbps inflight testUAE-based Yahsat provides a variety of satellite capacity andservices through its Al Yah 1, Al Yah 2 and Al Yah 3 satellites,as well as a hosted payload on board the IS-32e/SKY-B1satellite. The company serves the Middle East, Africa, Centraland Southwest Asia regions with a range of solutions,including IFC.

In October 2017, Yahsat announced the successful trialof a 50Mbps inflight connection in partnership with du, EtihadAirways Engineering, Hughes Network Systems and CarlisleInterconnect. The high-speed broadband is expected to beavailable for airlines within the next few months. The testutilised Ka-band capacity on Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite incombination with a simulated environment of an Airbus A320aircraft in Abu Dhabi. Yahsat and partners plan to completethe next key steps in the following 12 months to enablecommercial roll-out of the service across the Middle East

and beyond. The new service will deliver the ultimate in IFC– an experience comparable with the service customersreceive in their own homes, including streaming HD content,accessing social media, online shopping and messagingapps.

“We are incredibly proud to have brought together leadingEmirati and global companies to achieve this milestone. Itpaves the way for Yahsat to bring further breakthroughtechnologies to the markets and segments it serves, addinganother key pillar to Yahsat’s portfolio of market leadingservices and solutions,” said Masood M. Sharif Mahmood,Chief Executive Officer of Yahsat.

SES Networks announces major deal with STECCOMGlobal satellite operator SES has, in recent years, becomemore actively involved in service provisions, utilising capacityfrom its GEO and relatively new MEO satellite network. Fromsecure cockpit communications to cabin applications suchas inflight HD entertainment or virtual office connectivity, SESNetworks provides the next-generation, satellite-enabledmobility solutions trusted by industry-leading serviceproviders such as Global Eagle Entertainment, Gogo, Thalesand Panasonic Avionics.

In April 2018, Sputnik Telecommunications EntertainmentCompany (STECCOM) announced plans to elevate thepassenger and crew IFC experience across theCommonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region andEurope by utilizing SES satellite capacity and associatedservices via SES Networks.

Under the agreement, STECCOM will leverage a high-capacity, global managed services platform built on an openarchitecture. SES Networks’ global mobility solution willenable the service provider to customise and efficientlydistribute bandwidth, adapting their offerings according tothe needs of commercial passenger aircraft and businessjets operating on their network. Additionally, STECCOM’scustomers will benefit from high-speed, high-throughputconnectivity. SES Networks and STECCOM will use eachother’s ground facilities, opening up opportunities for

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THE MAKING OF GOGO’S HIGH-SPEED 2KU IFC NETWORKGogo’s 2Ku IFC service performance was significantly enhanced by upgradingfrom the existing platform to Gilat’s aero modem and satellite ground segment,according to Timor Blau, Director Commercial Aviation, Gilat Satellite Networks.With this new technology, Gogo now has the best-performing IFC systemdelivering seamless high-speed connectivity from take-off to landing. DrivingGogo’s demonstrated achievements in the areas of user experience andperformance is Gilat’s SkyEdge II-c satellite system and its aero modem –known as the ‘Taurus’ modem manager (MODMAN).

The high-speed IFC challengeToday, airline passengers want more than simply staying connected to theInternet during their flights. Recent surveys show that passengers expect theironline experience at 30,000 feet to be the same as what they have on theground. This has put the pressure on airlines to improve the performance oftheir IFC systems in order to offer passengers a flawless gate-to-gate onlineexperience.

The main challenge for IFC service providers such as Gogo is to enable abest in class broadband Internet service to passengers on global commercialflights who seek uninterrupted connectivity on international, trans-oceanic flights.Modem performance was the key to enabling an outstanding passengerexperience for global passengers.

Gilat’s high-performance IFC solution selected by GogoTo enhance the 2Ku service experience for hundreds of concurrent passengers,Gogo decided to replace its existing iDirect Evolution platform with Gilat’s IFCsolution. The components of this solution include a high-performance aero modem (MODMAN) and the SkyEdge II-cmulti-service hub platform, which was deployed in 15 locations worldwide and utilizes bandwidth capacity from over 25satellites.

Reflecting the success of its new service, the majority of Gogo’s fleet was already upgraded to Gilat’s modem duringthe past year, with the remainder expected to be completed by the end of 2018. Gogo announced that the modem iscapable of delivering more than 16 times the throughput of its previous modem, thus easily supporting the increasedcapacity of next generation HTS as they come online.

Speed, coverage and availabilityGogo advertises three numbers that define its high-quality standard for inflight Internet: 15/98/98. These numberscorrespond to three essential elements of IFC - speed, coverage and availability. With respect to speed, Gilat’s solutionenables delivery of minimum throughput of 15Mbps per passenger device on the airplane. The 98 percent coverage offlight routes means virtually nonstop Internet service across the globe. The other 98 percent relates to constantuninterrupted service availability. Gilat’s newest satellite technology, featuring seamless satellite and beam switching,ensures the continuous service operation under complex and changing conditions.

Key differentiators of Gilat’s IFC solutionWith support for HTS and wide beam satellites, Gilat’s next-generation modem has enabled it to optimize the performanceand efficiency of Gogo’s 2Ku service while maintaining full interoperability with existing avionic IFE systems. The datasignal to and from the aircraft is received and transmitted via a flat panel satellite antenna, processed by Gilat’s modemand the data traffic is then distributed via Wi-Fi inside the cabin, allowing passengers to connect via their personaldevices such as laptops, tablets and phones. The speeds supported allow for a diverse variety of applications, such as

live TV and special services for the flight crew.Particularly on long flights, streaming video (e.g,Netflix) is a favourite passenger pastime, now madeavailable with high quality broadband.

As the plane travels along its route, Gilat’s IFCsolution uses advanced algorithms to perform beamload balancing and beam prioritization, thus ensuringtransparent switchover between beams, satellites andgateways while maintaining user application sessions.This provides a seamless coverage regardless of theplane’s location, enabling passengers to enjoy the

“With the upgraded modem, we’re able totake advantage of the new generation HTSsatellites, increase the connection speedbetween the aircraft and the satellite, and

open up additional bandwidth for newservices like Gogo TV,” said Gogo

spokesperson.

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highest quality experience throughout their journey.Gilat’s IFC solution ensures the excellent proven user experience from gate-to-gate, providing passengers with

connectivity as soon as they board and until arrival at the gate of their destination.

More improvements on the wayAs Gilat’s R&D labs continue to develop new features and technologies for its airborne VSAT equipment; new capabilitiesand functionality will become available.

For example, via a simple software upgrade the forward and return waveforms can be optimized to improve spectralefficiency and dynamic allocation of carriers, making the network the most advanced global DVB-S2X network. Gilat’smodem can further be enhanced to process passenger traffic in concurrence with live TV broadcast via a dual-demodulatorcapability, enabling the modem to process two carriers at the same time. These industry leading technologies andcapabilities will enable to achieve the highest efficiency and space segment utilization.

Today, Gogo operates the largest of its kind global satellite network for IFC, built with Gilat’s ground system and aeromodems. The network’s open architecture allows working with any satellite network operator, while a central globalmanagement system and QoS features enable it to provision and manage bandwidth across multiple teleports, satellitesand user beams.

Looking ahead, with current backlog for 2Ku installations, over 2,000 aircrafts are expected to fly with Gilat’s aeromodem.

Gogo IFC Network Powered by Gilat Satellite Networks. Image courtesy- Gogo

enhanced connectivity across Europe, Russia and CentralAsia. This ground infrastructure is key in ensuring efficientdelivery of bandwidth to meet the rising demand for high-quality IFC services.

“Passengers today expect to have quality connectivitywhen they are up in the air, just like they do when they are athome,” said Elias Zaccack, Executive Vice President, GlobalSales, at SES Networks. “SES Networks is delighted to besupporting STECCOM in its ambition to reliably deliver the

highest quality of connectivity and elevate the travelexperience for air passengers in Russia and adjoiningmarkets, and to help airlines in the region expand theirnumber of connected aircraft.”

Gilat readies new IFC terminalsEnd-to-end solutions provider Gilat Satellite Networks is alsoramping up its presence in the IFC market as demand boomsthe world over.

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. In February 2018, Gilat’s dual-band Ku/Ka aero terminalachieved unprecedented performance during a livedemonstration in China. The terminal reached speeds of130Mbps with dozens of concurrent users browsing, videostreaming, video and voice calls as well as various chatapplications. The demonstration took place in a cabin userenvironment together with Air Esurfing, operating with Gilat’sfully integrated dual-band antenna terminal as well as theTaurus Modman. Gilat’s high-performance Modman as wellas the high-gain antenna panel in Ka-band were key factorsin the outstanding results of the demonstration.

Gilat’s fully deployed mobility baseband is alreadyoperational and in use on China’s first domestic HTS Ka-band satellite. The deployed network not only improved end-to-end results, but also significantly reduced the completeIFC system deployment time. Gilat’s Ku/Ka antenna will beundergoing supplemental type certificate (STC) in the comingmonths.

Meanwhile, March 2018 saw Gilat launch AeroEdge 6000,a highly efficient, high-performance terminal for commercialIFC. The dual-band terminal includes Gilat’s Ku/Ka bandantenna, MODMAN, and Wavestream transceivers. TheAeroEdge 6000 high performance terminal operates in bothKa and Ku-band, providing aeronautical broadband satellitecommunication for high-speed Internet and multimediaapplications. The terminal includes Gilat’s ER 6000-A Ku/Kaantenna, SkyEdge II-c Taurus MODMAN, Ku/Ka AntennaNetworking Data Unit (KANDU) and Wavestream’s Ku/KaRadio Frequency Unit (KRFU).

The terminal allows seamless transition between Ka-bandand Ku-band coverage, thus utilizing the best availablesatellite resources for cost-efficiency and performance. Insupport of a high-quality passenger experience, the TaurusMODMAN is equipped with a full set of embedded protocoloptimization and application acceleration features. Highspectral efficiency is delivered via wideband DVB-S2Xcarriers in the forward direction and fast adaptive and spread-spectrum LDPC transmission in the return direction. Operatedover Gilat’s SkyEdge II-c multi-service platform, AeroEdge6000 is a new addition to the family of SkyEdge terminals.

Gogo amps up its service offeringsGogo specializes, quite simply, in delivering IFC servicesacross the world. The company designs and sourcesinnovative network solutions that connect aircraft to theInternet and develops software and platforms that enablecustomizable solutions for and by its aviation partners.

Gogo’s 2Ku solution, which utilises two Ku-band antennasto deliver high-speed IFC, has proven effective in the yearssince its launch. As of December 2017, more than 500 aircraftare flying with its 2Ku technology, while total awards for 2Kuinflight connectivity solution have now surpassed 2,000aircraft. Gogo added more than 550 aircraft awards in 2017alone. Meanwhile, install times have been reduced down to30 hours, less than half the time it typically takes to install abroadband satellite connectivity solution.

By February, more than 200 aircraft were equipped withGogo’s 2Ku solution utilising HTS capacity delivered by SES-15. Due to SES-15’s high-powered HTS beams, all Gogoaircraft outfitted with its next generation modem willexperience an even better customer experience with

improved economics. All new 2Ku installations enter servicewith the upgraded modem, and all 2Ku equipped aircraft areexpected to have the new modem by the end of this year.

“Gogo’s 2Ku technology is delivering industry leadingperformance today, but we designed the technology with anopen architecture, so it could take advantage of numerousenhancements over time,” said Anand Chari, Gogo’s ChiefTechnology Officer. “As we layer in more HTS capacity fromsatellites like SES-15, 2Ku’s performance will get evenstronger without having to touch the aircraft.”

Indeed, the 2Ku service has proven popular across theworld: Cathay Group selected Gogo’s 2Ku solution for itswide-body fleet of Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft inNovember 2017. 2Ku will give Cathay Pacific and CathayDragon’s customers a seamless experience across theirexisting fleet of aircraft once it goes live in mid-2018. Later inFebruary, Aeromexico opted to install 2Ku on an additionalnine Boeing 737-800NGs, on top of its 20 Boeing 737-800NGs the solution is already installed on. Air Canada,meanwhile, has more than 170 narrow and widebody aircraftcommitted to the 2Ku technology, and in April, the airlineselected Gogo’s 2Ku solution for its Bombardier CS300aircraft. The technology will be installed as a line-fit option atBombardier. Air Canada has 45 CS300 aircraft on order withan option for an additional 30 aircraft.

Developing new solutionsAlways developing the next generation of services, October2017 saw Gogo successfully complete its first test flight andbegin nationwide rollout of its new regional air-to-ground(ATG) inflight network.

The next-generation ATG network combined with Gogo’sproprietary aero antenna, in-cabin network and softwareplatform will bring up to 30 times more bandwidth to an aircraftthan its original ATG solution. Once the network upgradesare complete, Gogo will have a North American ATG solutionthat will deliver performance on the aircraft that is comparableto Gogo’s 2Ku global satellite solution. Gogo’s ATG networkwill have peak network capacity of more than 100Gbps. Whencombined with Gogo’s global satellite network, Gogo willreportedly have the highest capacity network ever built that’sdedicated to serving aviation.

The ATG network utilizes unlicensed spectrum in the2.4GHz band as well as the licensed spectrum from Gogo’soriginal ATG network to provide greater bandwidth andreliability. It also leverages Gogo’s existing ATG networkbackhaul and infrastructure of more than 250 cell towers. Onthe aircraft, Gogo has developed a proprietary new antennaand modem that will produce peak speeds of more than100Mbps per aircraft.

Gogo advances AVANCEIn January, Gogo unveiled Gogo AVANCE L3, an innovativenew IFC system that delivers the benefits of the GogoAVANCE platform to passengers in a small, lightweight formfactor, with (reportedly) the most affordable pricing optionsin business aviation. Gogo’s breakthrough technologyplatform lets users customize their inflight experience basedon their unique needs and can be installed on businessaircraft of all types and sizes but is an ideal solution for smalleraircraft including turboprops and light jets. Later in February,

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AVANCE L3 received Supplemental Type Certification (STC)and Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) from the FAA.

The Gogo AVANCE platform integrates a full range ofsmart cabin features, allowing passengers to simply andreliably access and use all available data, voice, maps,entertainment and cabin management system (CMS)services. The new system includes a built-in smart routerand allows for a variety of service offerings to best fit acustomer’s needs. It’s a new level of flexibility not seen beforein business aviation that allows operators to tailor theirpassengers’ experience. With AVANCE L3, they can controland manage the number of devices they allow to connectand can scale their configuration up or down seamlessly asneeds change.

Using AVANCE L3, anyone onboard the aircraft can stayconnected to email; send text messages and make voice callswith Gogo Text & Talk (service plan required); access theirfavourite flight apps such as moving maps, weather and flightinformation; or watch movies and TV shows using Gogo Vision(service plan required). For customers looking for full Internetconnectivity, AVANCE L3 can be enabled to connect to theGogo Biz data network delivering a 3G experience.

Global Eagle Entertainment augments HTS capacityGlobal Eagle Entertainment (GEE) is a leading provider ofmedia, content, connectivity and data analytics to marketsacross air, sea and land with a fully integrated suite of richmedia content and seamless connectivity solutions to airlines,

cruise lines, commercial ships, high-end yachts, ferries andland locations worldwide.

In January, GEE tripled the amount of HTS capacitysecured with SES Networks via its SES-15 satellite toenhance IFC for airline passengers travelling across NorthAmerica. The major increase in Ku-band capacity will enableGEE to deliver high-speed broadband to passengers on boardcommercial flights throughout the USA, including theincreasingly important US mainland to Hawaii routes. Themulti-year agreement is the latest contract to be signed byGlobal Eagle: In the past several years, Global Eagle hasdoubled its capacity with SES Networks on an average ofevery eight months to meet the rising demand for high-qualityinflight connectivity around the world.

Later in March, GEE agreed to a significant investmentfrom funds managed by global investment firm SearchlightCapital Partners, L.P. Searchlight will invest $150 million ofnew capital into GEE and receive $150 million aggregateprincipal amount of the company’s new second-lien notesdue 30 June 2023. Global Eagle expects the net proceedsfrom the transaction to be approximately $142 million afterpayment of fees and expenses, which will significantlystrengthen the company’s balance sheet and liquidity. Itintends to use a portion of the proceeds to repay the full $78million principal balance on its revolving credit facility,following which the full $85 million facility will remain available,potentially for growth initiatives and other general corporatepurposes.

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photo courtesy of gogo delivering seamless inflight ... · global airline industry’ report from...

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