STC Clears Hurdle For Commercial Launch Of New Technology

Gogo has received an STC from the FAA, which is required to launch its 2Ku next generation satellite connectivity service on board Aeromexico's Boeing 737-800 Aircraft.

The certification allows Gogo and Aeromexico to offer service and begin testing the technology. It also clears the way for further 2Ku installations on Aeromexico's fleet in the coming months. 

"We are extremely excited by the progress we've made in bringing this technology to market.  We announced 2Ku and brought it to market in well under two years, which is unprecedented in this industry," said Anand Chari, Gogo's chief technology officer.  "This is a testament to Gogo's leadership at developing, implementing and managing in-flight connectivity services and technologies.  We are excited to work with our industry-leading airline partner, Aeromexico, to bring this technology to its passengers."

Aeromexico selected Gogo to provide connectivity across its entire fleet of 737-800s and Gogo Vision, Gogo's wireless in-flight entertainment product, on its fleet of 737-700s, Embraer 190 and 170 aircraft.

Corneel Koster, Chief Operating Officer of Aeromexico said: "This certification is an important step towards offering 2Ku, the world's fastest satellite based internet connectivity, to our customers on our large fleet of very comfortable 737-800 aircraft. We are proud to be at the vanguard of this industry with the world premiere of this 2Ku offering on 737-800s. We are also delighted to work closely with Gogo, to offer our customers excellent entertainment on their own devices with Gogo Vision on our fleet of E Jets and 737-700s."

2Ku is capable of matching or exceeding the bandwidth of any other system currently offered.  The technology also benefits from the global coverage and redundancy of the more than 100 satellites in the Ku-band.

The service has been flight tested on Gogo's Boeing 737 test plane and is performing better than expected.  In recent tests, Gogo engineers have been able to stream videos on more than 40 devices simultaneously.

(Source: Gogo news release)

FMI: www.gogoair.com