On 13 October, satellite communications company, Inmarsat, celebrated the 1,000th installation and activation of its Jet ConneX inflight connectivity system – a landmark moment for the company that coincided with the fifth anniversary of the Jet ConneX system.
Jet ConneX uses JetWave hardware from Honeywell Aerospace and is powered by Global Xpress, Inmarsat’s global Ka-band satellite network. The system has become a popular linefit option of all major business jet manufacturers, including Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault, having received received type certificate and STC approvals for the service from the FAA and EASA across all popular platforms, OEMs and aftermarket MRO service providers.
A recent survey commissioned by Inmarsat and Corporate Jet Investor (CJI) found that almost 80% of respondents around the world believe that more frequent business aviation flights will be taken in the next year. Some 90% also feel that online activities will dominate principals’ time in the air, almost evenly split between business and leisure.
Kai Tang, Inmarsat’s head of business aviation stated, “The business world has evolved considerably since the onset of Covid-19 and during times of unprecedented turbulence and instability, business leaders cannot afford to be disconnected. As a result, we have experienced a rapid surge in demand for fast, reliable and consistent inflight wi-fi. “We believe this is a long-term trend that won’t level off as we come out of this Covid era.”
“Therefore, the outlook is bright and we look forward to working with our partners to build on the momentum of the past five years, with 1,000 activations now achieved and many more to come. As part of these efforts, we are investing more than ever in several upcoming next-generation satellites, plus significant enhancements to our ground stations, hardware and software, all backed by world-class cybersecurity. This will amplify Jet ConneX capabilities even further and also result in unprecedented new L-band offerings to cement our long-term leadership in business aviation connectivity.”
Part of the company’s future strategy is Orchestra, planned as ‘the communications network of the future’. The network will bring existing geosynchronous (GEO) satellites together with low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and terrestrial 5G to form an integrated solution.