Inmarsat is poised to announce the service entry of its Jet ConneX Ka-band broadband connectivity solution for the business aviation market, and hopes to be able to offer the solution as a linefit option on aircraft manufactured by all of the main OEMs by the end of the year.
“We’re open for business,” says Kurt Weidemeyer, vice-president of Inmarsat’s business aviation division, adding that he expects Jet ConneX to enter service “at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth”.
Bombardier in March became the first business aircraft OEM to offer the Jet ConneX solution as a linefit option on its new Global 5000 and Global 6000 aircraft, and Weidemeyer says another OEM deal will be announced “in the next couple of months”.
“We hope that by the end of the year [this will extend to] all the OEMs,” says Weidemeyer. “We will have a STC [supplemental type certificate] programme for every platform in the next 12 months.”
He adds that customer demand is “very high”, and Inmarsat’s “schedule is full for the next 12 months”.
Source: Flight Daily News
