With the deal closing just a couple weeks ago Intelsat is still very much in the nascent stages of digesting its acquisition of Gogo’s Commercial Aviation business. PaxEx.Aero secured exclusive access to CEO Steven Spengler and Aviation President John Wade to discuss how things are going so far and what the future looks like for the organization.
air-to-ground
Air-to-ground networking coming in New Zealand
New Zealand could be the next country to bring a dedicated air-to-ground (ATG) in-flight connectivity network online. Engineering work is almost complete to develop a trial site for the SkyFive ATG platform in the country.
SmartSky adds SmoothSky turbulence avoidance to software platform
No network? No problem!
SmartSky’s next-gen ATG network remains delayed, but the company continues to work on the software offerings that will run on the new communications backbone once it goes live. SmoothSky turbulence avoidance is the latest such offering.
Gogo sees strong BizAv driving recovery
The business aviation segment shows strong signs of recovery, leading inflight connectivity provider Gogo to a certain amount of optimism as it reports Q3 earnings. The company still lost money in the quarter, but with the private jet market rebounding and demand for wifi on board holding strong, CEO Oakleigh Thorne sees an “encouraging, continued service recovery” on the horizon.
SmartSky appoints David Helfgott as CEO
There’s a new boss in town at SmartSky. David Helfgott takes over as CEO of the company, replacing Haynes Griffin. Griffin will remain as executive chairman at the company as part of the transition.
Addressing two major challenges as Intelsat takes over the Gogo commercial aviation business
When it comes to delivering inflight wifi connectivity Intelsat sees significant upside from its ability to operate the network it is acquiring from Gogo mostly in-house. But that network and the install base also come with very real risks related to Delta Air Lines and the ATG fleet. Here’s how Intelsat plans to respond.
SmartSky triumphs over Gogo in patent challenge
SmartSky scored a legal victory this week with the US Patent Office declining to institute an inter partes review of U.S. Patent No. 9,312,947 (“the ‘947 patent”), a challenge lodged by Gogo in April. The ruling at this stage is based on the USPTO’s believe that Gogo “has not demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of prevailing in demonstrating that at least one challenged claim of the ’947 patent is unpatentable over the prior art of record.” As a result, the issue won’t even make it to a formal hearing for review.
WSS fights back against SmartSky’s legal claims
Wireless Systems Solutions issued a statement late Monday disputing the charges levied by SmartSky in a federal lawsuit. Calling the filing retaliatory, WSS’s Laslo Gross spoke with PaxEx.Aero about the claims and what he expects in the next steps of the case.
SmartSky sues supplier over IP theft, delays network deployment
One of SmartSky’s suppliers is accused of stealing the inflight connectivity company’s intellectual property and trying to sell it as an independent ATG network rather than delivering the contracted goods to the company. This one is gonna get messy, folks.
Digging in to the ATG deal between Gogo and Intelsat
With the infusion of new cash coming as part of the Intelsat deal Gogo is well-positioned to invest in its updated air-to-ground (ATG) network, branded “Gogo 5G.” And the company has high hopes for increased revenue that network will deliver, both from its Business Aviation customers and from Intelsat. The latter secured a 10-year exclusive contract to resell Gogo’s ATG connectivity to commercial airlines and the (mostly) regional jets flying with the system installed as part of the deal to acquire the Commercial Aviation business.