Viasat’s JetXP Boosts Middle East, South America Capacity

Viasat’s transition to the JetXP brand continues to gain momentum, building on the integration of the Inmarsat business aviation segment. As part of that effort the company announced increased capacity available for aircraft in the Middle East and South America when flying with Viasat’s GAT-5510 terminal on board.

Viasat has a successful track record of delivering high-performance connectivity to a large number of super-midsized private jets, allowing passengers to seamlessly access the most data-hungry applications, such as high-definition video conferencing, content streaming and bulk file transfers.

– Kai Tang, Head of Business Aviation at Viasat

Viasat previously launched JetXP with updated service plans delivering uncapped speeds over North and Central America, the Caribbean, North Atlantic flight tracks and Europe. With this shift aircraft owners have an expanded footprint for those uncapped service speeds. Expansion into the Middle East and South America comes via optimizing the use of Viasat’s satellite network assets and management tools. Existing JetXP customers can enable the improved performance via an over-the-air software download and remote configuration.

Viasat began the transition of customers from Inmarsat Jet Connex to the JetXP service plans last year, focusing on uncapped speeds and unlimited data consumption. Roughly 400 customers made that switch, and another 200ish from the Viasat Ka BizAv market are now on board.

As part of the JetXP program Viasat is shifting away from talking about top speed towards conversations around consistently delivering for its customers. “In terms of how we differentiate our offering, we want to make sure that from an experience standpoint, we’re not talking about top speeds,” explains Claudio D’Amico, Vice President of Business Aviation at Viasat. “We think that the market is evolving, and they understand that top speeds is not what is going to deliver on that consistent experience. So we’re avoiding that conversation. What we’re saying is, ‘Hey, we want to deliver your capability over areas where you have a lot of demand, New York, Teterboro, London.’ And then deliver that consistent, quality experience in those locations.”

D’Amico also remains unflustered by Starlink’s rapid rise in the business. “Competition as a whole is good,” he shared with PaxEx.Aero. “It forces us to innovate and forces us to think about how can we continue to add more value.”

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Viasat’s primary focus with this week’s announcement is the super-midsized private jet segment. The terminal is available as a line-fit option on the Gulfstream G280, Bombardier C3500 and Embraer Praetors. It is also available as a retrofit via a number of STCs.