Commercially available for just under three years, Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX (JX) inflight wi-fi solution for business jets has surpassed 600 installations and activations. The service utilises Inmarsat’s global Ka-band satellite network. The number of installations increased by 50% in the past year.
The latest installation milestone follows a series of announcements in 2019 detailing Inmarsat’s fully funded development roadmap for its global Ka-band network, Global Xpress (GX), which currently consists of four high-throughput satellites. The next evolution of the network will deliver eight additional payloads. As part of this programme, Inmarsat will also expand its service to offer connectivity in the Arctic region.
The company says its GX network will offer enhanced, focussed, ultra-high-power capacity that can be immediately relocated in line with high-demand flight patterns and seasonal demand surges across the globe.
“Today marks a significant milestone both for Inmarsat and the business aviation industry as a whole,” said Kai Tang, senior vice president at Inmarsat. “By successfully achieving more than 600 Jet ConneX installations in just under three years, we have highlighted the ever-increasing demand for global, reliable and high-speed wi-fi for business aviation users. Jet ConneX has already established itself as the gold standard for business aviation inflight broadband services. Looking ahead, our ambitious plans to build on these capabilities will introduce unprecedented new opportunities to our market and also for our global network of value added resellers – Collins Aerospace, Honeywell and Satcom Direct.”
Jet ConneX is a linefit option on business jets from manufacturers including Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault. In addition, Inmarsat has received type certificate and STC approvals for Jet ConneX from the FAA and EASA across all popular platforms, OEMs and aftermarket MROs. Aircraft connect to the service using JetWave hardware, offered by Honeywell Aerospace.
