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.
Intelsat
Intelsat closes on Gogo Commercial Aviation buyout
Gogo is officially out of the commercial aviation in-flight connectivity business. The company closed its $400 million cash transaction with Intelsat early Tuesday morning, making good on a promise from two weeks ago to complete the deal in early December.
Gogo to Intelsat: Speedy Delivery!
When Intelsat announced plans to buy the Gogo Commercial Aviation (CA) business the plan called for an early 2021 closing. The pair now expect the deal to close in December 2020.
Inmarsat launches GX+ North America expansion with Hughes
The Inmarsat network just got a lot larger. The satellite connectivity provider is teaming with Hughes to bring the JUPITER High Throughput Satellite Ka-band constellation into the GX Aviation network, a major boost to capacity as the company seeks to capture more of the North American market.
Cathay Pacific picks Telekom for common portal plan
Delivering a consistent user experience across multiple in-flight connectivity providers is not an easy task. It all starts at the capture portal. And now Cathay Pacific has a plan to deliver a single interface for passengers, in partner with Deutsche Telekom.
Solving the Thales Ka-band antenna conundrum
Rip-and-replace is rarely good news for an on-aircraft hardware system. But there’s at least one big winner with the latest revision to the Thales Ka-band in-flight connectivity offering. The Thinkom ThinAir Ka2517 has been confirmed on an Spirit Airlines A321 headed towards certification.
Clearing the air
On Monday STS Aero Mod announced a big push to fit the Thales inflight wifi connectivity system on aircraft over the next 12 months. It now appears, unfortunately, that some of the details shared by the company and analyzed for PaxEx Premium readers were not accurate. Hopefully the update below helps to clarify some of that information.
Thales Wi-Fi installations begin at STS Mod Center in Florida
The next generation of Thales in-flight wifi service installations are underway. The work is being handled by STS Mod Center, a division of STS Aviation Group, at its facility in Melbourne, Florida. STS indicated plans to fit more than 100 aircraft in the coming year for an unnamed customer. Figuring out who it is was not too difficult, though.
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.
IFEC executive shuffles worth noting
A pair of executive moves atop satellite connectivity providers could alter the landscape a bit. Both Inmarsat and Intelsat saw changes this week, with one departure and one new arrival.