Honeywell Aerospace signs on as Inmarsat GX Aviation reseller

Honeywell Aerospace is no longer just the manufacturer of the JetWave hardware for Inmarsat‘s GX Aviation offering. The company now is a reseller of the service as well. The deal adds another VAR to Inmarsat’s global network and comes on the heels of the deal bringing Panasonic Avionics on board just weeks ago.

The agreement builds on Inmarsat’s long-standing partnership with Honeywell. Honeywell serves as the exclusive manufacturer of the JetWave hardware for GX Aviation, though that is expected to change. The company also sells Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX inflight wi-fi service for the business aviation market through its GoDirect retail services business.

Inmarsat and Honeywell have an extremely successful track record of working together in the fast-growing inflight connectivity market. We are delighted to now extend this partnership. Honeywell’s unique depth of experience in this field and their close relationships with airlines make them a perfect fit as a value-added reseller of GX Aviation. – Philip Balaam, President of Inmarsat Aviation

As part of the agreement, Honeywell will now market GX Aviation to airlines worldwide through its rapidly growing GoDirect retail services business. This increases the company’s focus on end users, allowing it to tailor smart connectivity solutions directly to individual customers – whether in the airline or business aviation space. It addition, Honeywell will continue to manufacture and sell the JetWave hardware to airline and business aviation customers.

Honeywell’s role in the commercial aircraft connectivity space sat historically on the infrastructure side, not as a VAR. The company’s significant experience in the BizAv market, however, helps offset the novelty of adding the product line. And it opens up significant opportunities for Honeywell, beyond just providing a data pipe to the aircraft. Ben Driggs, Honeywell Aerospace’s President of Services and Connectivity focused on those opportunities in describing the new partnership. “A shift is underway in the aviation industry, focused on higher margin opportunities in software, services and predictive data analytics. Today’s announcement gives us the ability to market our multitude of GoDirect Connected Aircraft services in addition to hardware directly to future airline customers.”