Inmarsat certified for Jet ConneX inflight Wi-Fi on G550
Inmarsat announced today that its Jet ConneX business aviation inflight Wi-Fi service has received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplement Type Certificate (STC) for the popular Gulfstream G550 aircraft.
The certificate, awarded by the FAA, approves Gulfstream G550 business jets to be equipped with the exclusive JetWave antenna and terminal, produced by Inmarsat partner Honeywell.
The system enables seamless access to Jet ConneX high-speed Wi-Fi across major flight routes and islands off the beaten path, allowing passengers to browse the web, stream live television, video conference and more.
Following more than a year of investment in development and testing, initial installations on G550 aircraft are now underway. Gulfstream, in cooperation with Inmarsat and Honeywell, is currently conducting in-service evaluation and final terminal Type Approval activities.
Kurt Weidemeyer, Vice President of Business Aviation at Inmarsat, said: “The Gulfstream G550 community has been eagerly awaiting this Jet ConneX installation approvaland has told us about their desire to have a powerful global high-speed Wi-Fi solution for their principals.
Many are heavy users of Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband solution and are happy with the service reliability but are now looking to upgrade to a next-generation network that is fast enough to handle the demands of today’s applications.”
Honeywell is the exclusive provider of JetWave hardware and played an integral role in supporting the Gulfstream G550 STC.
Warren Nechtman, Vice President of Connected Aircraft Systems at Honeywell, commented: “Honeywell worked closely with Gulfstream to successfully integrate the JetWave hardware into the existing G550 architecture. However the real credit goes to the Gulfstream team who worked expeditiously to bring Jet ConneX to their customers. They did it in record time.”
Jet ConneX is the only global, high-speed Wi-Fi option available for business jets today. It offers the same fast and reliable on-board connectivity experience comparable to the mobile broadband services they may receive on the ground. Using Inmarsat’s advanced Ka-band satellite network, Jet ConneX offers data plans up to 15Mbps and consistent global coverage, providing a differentiator to do business whenever and wherever.