Inflight connectivity provider Gogo announced the closing on its previously announced $30 million revolving line of credit today. The move increases the company’s liquidity to approximately $100 million and does so without adverse impact to the stake of its current shareholders.
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SmartSky’s commercial installations begin
SmartSky’s push towards launching its air-to-ground inflight connectivity solution took a significant step forward earlier this month. The first commercial aircraft to carry the company’s kit is currently in the shop getting the system installed.
Spirit’s WiFi Install Woes
Fast wifi, fleet wide and flying in about a year. The original announcement between Thales Inflyt and Spirit Airlines laid out an aggressive plan to fit the low cost carrier's fleet with inflight connectivity service. More than a year later, however, only a handful of planes have the system installed and it is not active for passengers on any of them. What happened and when will it get better??
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Tariffs, 737 MAX, satellite crash hit Astronics earnings
How many different ways can one company get beat up in the inflight entertainment and connectivity market? Astronics faces headwinds in its Aerospace market on three fronts. The 737 MAX grounding has costs on both new production and retrofit efforts, while the loss of Intelsat 29E grounded a connectivity program indefinitely. Add in tariffs related to China suppliers that the company is paying and the numbers are going to be rough in that segment for the foreseeable future.
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Inmarsat’s maturing IFC market
As inflight connectivity products mature and consumers become familiar with the offerings the expectation from suppliers is that they will pay more for the services more often. Just how long that maturation process takes remains an interesting question, however. The latest report from Inmarsat adds more data to consider on this front, but few solid answers.
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Killing connectivity for Garuda, Citilink
It was one of the faster installations and activations for a new inflight connectivity customer. In under a year Indonesia's Citilink went from agreement to contract to installation to activation of its onboard WiFi solution, powered by Inmarsat's GX Aviation and managed by Mahata Aero Teknologi (MAT). Now that deal – and the associated installations on Garuda and Sriwijaya – appears dead.
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Concessions, not collapse
When the government gets involved in any commercial transaction there are bound to be concerns for all parties involved. With two different UK agencies looking in to the proposed deal to take satellite operator Inmarsat private questions are sure to arise about the future of that deal. Fortunately, it appears that concessions and guarantees are in play rather than an outright collapse of the transaction.
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Global Eagle increases liquidity with debt restructuring
Good news for Global Eagle: The company announced this morning that it has extended its liquidity by $61mm over the next 18 months. But there is almost certainly a little more to the story.
The Polar Connectivity Push
Emirates issued a press release touting inflight connectivity over the North Pole, which is interesting since none of the carrier’s aircraft can deliver that today and the service from Inmarsat’s GX Aviation network won’t exist until 2023. But perhaps there’s more involved in the story??
PaxEx Premium: LEO Link Success
The market for antennae with a proven track record of successful connections to LEO satellite constellations continues to grow. This week's news brings another Ka-band supplier into the fold.
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