SmartSky boosts sales channel with Honeywell Aerospace VAR deal

As the network buildout enters the home stretch SmartSky‘s sales efforts continue apace. Honeywell Aerospace signed on as a value-added reseller for the SmartSky air-to-ground inflight connectivity solution this week. The latest step, announced during the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, adds another integration vendor for the upstart service provide in advance of service availability still expected later in 2019.

This expands the suite of connectivity services we offer airlines operating routes throughout North America. Our agreement with SmartSky strengthens our expansive and diverse global connectivity solutions portfolio, including JetWave, and permits airlines to offer the best connectivity options to meet passenger needs.

– John Peterson, vice president and general manager, Software and Services, Honeywell Connected Enterprise, Honeywell Aerospace.

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For SmartSky the move expands the options for aircraft owners seeking to add the company’s inflight connectivity solution to their planes. SmartSky prefers a VAR approach to the market rather than building out its own sales and support network. For Honeywell Aerospace the move dramatically expands the type of connectivity solutions on offer from the company and the range of aircraft that it can support.

Read More: SmartSky inflight wifi lives up to the promise

Honeywell previously secured a VAR relationship with Inmarsat to support business aviation connectivity on a global basis with the Inmarsat GX Aviation network and the Honeywell JetWave terminal. With SmartSky now on offer the Honeywell portfolio diversifies nicely, allowing for a smaller, lighter, faster and cheaper connectivity solution operating in the USA.

Honeywell brings a world-class approach to the market and we are excited to partner with them, further diversifying the cost, speed and capacity of the broader range of services they support for airlines throughout North America. Honeywell’s leading portfolio of connectivity solutions will permit airlines to balance their capital investment with passenger needs.

– Ryan Stone, president, SmartSky Networks

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An expanded VAR network was not always the plan for SmartSky. In 2014 it signed an agreement with Satcom Direct that was considered an exclusive deal. A lot can change in five years, however, especially in the inflight connectivity market. COO Nancy Walker recently explained to PaxEx.Aero that the multi-VAR approach helps SmartSky deliver the product more quickly to more customers and within existing relationship structures. “We are standing up VARs because that is their market niche. We’re not in a position to be able to do all of the passenger facing customer service and the other things VARs bring to the market to work directly with airlines and aircraft owners. …We’re trying to make it easier for aircraft operators to integrate SmartSky connectivity into their fleet and to do what we do best while allowing VARs to do what they’ve done best for a long time.”

Walker was also clear during that conversation that more VARs are expected to join the SmartSky family in the weeks and month to come. Honeywell Aerospace is the first but is unlikely to be the last.

More from the 2019 Paris Air Show

• Airbus A321XLR: The future of single-aisle long-haul travel
• IAG makes a MAX move in Paris
• SmartSky boosts sales channel with Honeywell Aerospace VAR deal
• Different business models, same aircraft model: American, Frontier and JetBlue take on the A321XLR
• Boom’s supersonic timing slips
• Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet buys Bombardier’s support
• LiFi takes flight with Air France, Latécoère