On Monday afternoon a CRJ700 landed at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport near Broomfield, Colorado after more than four hours en route from Portland, Maine. Fortunately, no passengers found themselves enduring the “comfort” of that long ride in a little jet. But, thanks to the work happening on board, millions of travelers annually will soon have access to a better inflight Wi-Fi experience.
Satellite
Pricing tweaks ahead for Spirit’s in-flight Wi-Fi
Nearly a year after Spirit Airlines formally launched its on-board Wi-Fi program, new plans dynamic pricing models are slated for trial later this year.
Stellar Blu secures Boeing line-fit agreement
Stellar Blu just secured a significant boost for its Sidewinder electronically steered antenna (ESA) platform. The company executed an Technical Services Agreement with Boeing that will see the terminal kit as an option for line-fit on the 737 MAX, 787, and 777X types, likely before the end of 2024.
Viasat closes on Inmarsat purchase
The deal is done: Viasat now owns Inmarsat, completing the multi-billion dollar transaction.
EchoStar, SkyFive team for S-band dual-link drone control
How do you deliver multiple, diverse command and control links to a small, uncrewed aircraft, fully integrated in controlled airspace? SkyFive and EchoStar have successfully concluded a series of flight tests, in partnership with Airbus, to combine S-band satellite and terrestrial links and deliver that functionality.
Honeywell secures Iridium certification for Aspire 350
Whether for smaller planes, a secondary network for redundancy and true global coverage, or just a solid, lightweight internet link in the sky, business jet owners can now choose Honeywell’s Aspire 350 system, operating on the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation.
Inmarsat boosts speeds with updated Jet ConneX plans
Inmarsat’s new data plans, part of the Jet ConneX Evolution program announced last year, are now live, promising up to 100 Mbps speeds to business jets.
Inmarsat boosts SwiftJet distribution with Collins Aerospace deal
Collins Aerospace is the newest distributor for Inmarsat’s SwiftJet inflight internet service. Expected to enter service later this year, SwiftJet offers upgraded performance for the global business aviation market over L-band satellite links.
ViaSat-3 Americas launches successfully
The first ViaSat-3 satellite successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on Sunday night, beginning its short ride to geostationary orbit where it will open the next generation of satellite communications, including the inflight market.
Inmarsat suffers L-band outage over Asia-Pacific region
Thousands of miles from shore the most reliable communications link typically comes over satellite. That came to an abrupt end over the Pacific this week as one of Inmarsat’s satellites went offline.