Countdown to Connectivity

Gogo Business Aviation, the American provider of in-flight broadband Internet and similarly vital connectivity services for business aircraft, announced on 15 May 2023 that its global Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband service has gained momentum by virtue of significant program-related achievements actualized both in-house and by strategic partners OneWeb and Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

OneWeb, Gogo’s LEO satellite network provider, completed deployment of its 588-satellite LEO constellation at the end of March 2023. The London-based communications company expects its constellation to be operational and aero-ready in 2024’s first quarter, with Gogo’s global broadband service coming online prior to the end of 2024.

In February 2023, Gogo and its antenna provider, Hughes Network Systems, completed preliminary design review of a proprietary, electronically-steerable antenna (ESA) assembly, thereby bringing Gogo one step closer to realizing its vision of delivering an order-of-magnitude improvement in inflight connectivity for all sizes and manner of global business aircraft—many of which currently want for a viable broadband solution.

Gogo president and CEO Sergio Aguirre stated: “Because we have strong partners in OneWeb and Hughes we’re ahead of schedule, and we continue to make tremendous progress on the development of the system components. Gogo’s global broadband service will deliver best-in-class global performance that is faster, smaller, more affordable, and easier to install than other global satellite solutions.”

Gogo 5G is expected to deliver an average of 25-megabits-per-second (Mbps), with peak-speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range. To address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services the likes of video conferencing, the network has been designed to deliver high throughput with low latency.

The multi-bearer capability and software-centric design of Gogo’s AVANCE platform allows customers to future-proof their inflight connectivity investments, and offers upgrade paths to Gogo’s 5G and global Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based networks.

At the 2019 NBAA-BACE, Gogo declared its commitment to building a 5G network embodying bleeding-edge aviation connectivity. At 2022’s NBAA-BACE—in an instance of commendable follow-through—Gogo announced it had completed and deployed the entirety of its 150-site, nationwide 5G network. 

Regrettably, Samsung announced soon thereafter that it had discovered a manufacturing error in the first production run of its 5G chips—a salient component of Gogo’s 5G aspirations. The South Korean tech giant subsequently estimated initial deliveries of subject chips would be delayed until mid-2023.

True to its word, Samsung announced in January 2023 that its 5G chips had passed a critical design review and were in fabrication with deliveries expected to commence midyear.

As of March 31, 2023, Gogo reported 3,447 business aircraft flying with its AVANCE L5 or L3 system installed, 7,046 aircraft flying with its ATG systems onboard, and 4,485 aircraft operating with the company’s narrowband satellite connectivity installed.

The commercial launch of Gogo’s LEO broadband service—by offering a product capable of serving every segment and every customer within the business aviation sector—stands to democratize in-flight connectivity to a degree formerly unimaginable.

Gogo will participate in 2023’s European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland. The event spans the week of 22 May.

FMI: www.gogoair.com