The Business of Passenger Experience
January and February 2020 showed great promise for Gogo. New aircraft installations continued, particularly of the company’s 2Ku offering for commercial aircraft. And then the bottom fell out.
But the company sees a rebound on the horizon, and also possible a merger.
As a key supplier of systems for commercial aircraft production and retrofit work it is no surprise that Astronics will see a significant hit to its revenue in 2020. The company is not providing formal guidance, but in its quarterly earnings call this week CEO Peter Gundermann spoke to some of the numbers and just how bad the situation looks.
What topics made the cut for The Weekly Wrap this week? Maryann Simson and I recap the incredible Flight Plan event organized earlier in the week by Inmarsat and APEX, health testing at the airport and more!
There was little doubt of the news, but also no formal acknowledgement until now. American Airlines finally confirmed that its newest 787-8 aircraft will fly with the Viasat inflight connectivity solution.
No revenue coming in for Gogo means little money to pay its employees. The company announced a furlough of 600 people, 60% of its staff, as it adjusts its business in hopes of surviving the COVID-19 downturn.
As the inflight connectivity world continues to mature one market remains ever so slightly out of reach for suppliers: China. Eclipse Global Connectivity and Display Interactive are teaming up to launch a new venture based in Shanghai, with plans to capture that markes as “an integral part of the Chinese IFEC ecosystem.”
As it developed a new, high-speed, terrestrial inflight communications platform SmartSky also worked diligently to develop a broad intellectual property portfolio. The company hit 150 patents issued in January 2020 and even hosts a separate website dedicated to tracking the portfolio. The patents are intended, among other things, to help the company fend off competition […]
The final few months of 2019 delivered strong numbers for inflight connectivity provider Gogo. The company saw revenues improve in the business aviation and global segments while the North American market held up pretty well. Things continued looking good into early 2020. But since the beginning of March, similar to airline demand, Gogo saw a “significant decline” in Asia followed by a “more pronounced decline” in recent days.
Getting inflight connectivity gear installed on the assembly line opens up great opportunities for suppliers. It appears that, very quietly, another vendor/aircraft combination recently realized that goal.
With Astronics cutting exposure to the inflight connectivity antenna business some commercial aircraft products are likely looking for new partners. That’s bad news for airlines hoping to see new tech flying soon.
