Gogo Business Aviation
Coverage: Global (LEO satellite) and North America (US and Canada, air-to-ground) | Satellites: Low Earth orbit | Hardware types: AVANCE L3, AVANCE L5, AVANCE LX5 and AVANCE SCS. For Gogo Galileo (LEO satellite) there is the HDX antenna (smaller form factor to fit on any size business aircraft) and the FDX antenna (best-in-class performance for large-cabin aircraft). | Orbit/Operating Frequency Range: Ku | Aircraft: All business aircraft of all sizes, globally. From super-light jets and turboprops to ultra-long-range large-cabin jets | Brands: N/A | Partners: Every major OEM (Cirrus Aircraft, Gulfstream, Embraer, Dassault Falcon, HondaJet, Bombardier, Textron Aviation, Pilatus, BBJ, ACJ) | Installers: We work with more than 120 Gogo authorised dealers worldwide
Gogo Business Aviation
Coverage: Global (LEO satellite) and North America (US and Canada, air-to-ground) | Satellites: Low Earth orbit | Hardware types: AVANCE L3, AVANCE L5, AVANCE LX5 and AVANCE SCS. For Gogo Galileo (LEO satellite) there is the HDX antenna (smaller form factor to fit on any size business aircraft) and the FDX antenna (best-in-class performance for large-cabin aircraft). | Orbit/Operating Frequency Range: Ku | Aircraft: All business aircraft of all sizes, globally. From super-light jets and turboprops to ultra-long-range large-cabin jets | Brands: N/A | Partners: Every major OEM (Cirrus Aircraft, Gulfstream, Embraer, Dassault Falcon, HondaJet, Bombardier, Textron Aviation, Pilatus, BBJ, ACJ) | Installers: We work with more than 120 Gogo authorised dealers worldwide
Equipment price:
For ATG: $55K-$72K for AVANCE L3, $141K for AVANCE L5 and AVANCE LX5. For Global: $120K for Gogo Galileo HDX, and $190K for Gogo Galileo FDX.
Installation time:
Contact dealers for this info.
Download, Upload and Latency Speeds:
AVANCE L3 is a 3G experience, AVANCE L5 is a 4G experience (up to 9 Mbps), AVANCE LX5 is 5G with mean speeds ~25Mbps, peak speeds 75-80Mbps). Gogo Galileo HDX 43-60Mbps download and 11Mbps upload with mean speeds 57Mbps, Gogo Galileo FDX 145-195Mbps download, 32Mbps upload with mean speeds 189Mbps. Low latency for both ATG and Gogo Galileo.
Monthly cost:
AVANCE L3 $105/hour, $2,595/month for 2.5 GB/month up to $4,295/month for Unlimited (no streaming). AVANCE L5 $2,595/month for 2.5 GB/month up to $7,500/month for unlimited with streaming. AVANCE LX5 $3,500/month for 25 GB/month up to $8,000/month for unlimited with streaming. Gogo Galileo HDX $7,000/month for 50 GB/month, $10,500/month for unlimited, $11,500/month for unlimited plus ATG. Gogo Galileo FDX $7,000/month for 50 GB/month, $12,500/month for unlimited, $13,500/month for unlimited plus ATG.
FROM A simple idea that originated on a napkin, Gogo has grown to become one of the leading names in in-flight connectivity with more than 7,000 business aircraft using its services.
Launched in 1991, Gogo pioneered air-to-ground connectivity in North America, developing a network of ground-based cellular towers in the US and Canada to provide low-latency, high-speed internet solutions to business and commercial jets. It is in the process of adding a 5G service for a broadband solution for business jets, expected in mid-2025, and that will complement its current 4G offering.
Gogo partners with leading satellite service provider Eutelsat-OneWeb, harnessing its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite fleet to offer low-latency, high-speed Ku-band connectivity with global coverage called Gogo Galileo.
In December it completed its acquisition of leading GEO provider Satcom Direct for $375m in cash and five million shares, plus performance-related add-ons.
Gogo Galileo comes with two antenna options – the more compact HDX designed to fit any size business aircraft from super light jets and turboprops up to large-cabin jets, and the larger FDX for best-in-class service for large-cabin aircraft.
It can be added to any AVANCE system (AVANCE L3, L5, LX5 or SCS). AVANCE comes with multi-bearer capability which means it can manage hybrid connectivity, optimising and switching between different types of networks, such as LEO and GEO satellite and air-to-ground, to provide a seamless in-flight service for next-generation connectivity on a global scale.
AVANCE is Gogo’s hardware and software platform that comes in different hardware configurations (see above) enabling not only connectivity service on the aircraft, but additional services such as Gogo Vision, the leading inflight entertainment service in business aviation with hundreds of movie and TV titles, 30 digital magazines and business news, as well as over-the-air updates which keep the system updated with the latest technology automatically.
Order of magnitude improvements
AVANCE L3 is primarily for light jets but is also installed on larger aircraft, L5 is for small to large jets and offers higher speeds for more data-heavy services and LX5 which will power Gogo 5G. Gogo also offers AVANCE SCS which provides the lightest and smallest configuration to couple with Gogo Galileo HDX or FDX for global LEO broadband service. The HDX and FDX antennas can be added to any AVANCE system.
“We believe 5G and Gogo Galileo will accelerate our revenue growth beginning next year as they deliver order of magnitude improvements in the speed of Gogo service, expand our total addressable market by 60%, and extend customer lifetimes by providing easy and compelling upgrade paths for our AVANCE install base,” said Oakleigh Thorne, Gogo chairman and CEO.
Gogo-ing for gold
Gogo goes on the offensive with multi-network expansion, reports Fayaz Hussain
WHEN CLIENTS need connectivity for everything from “dinner reservations to live streaming Bloomberg to what’s happening on the stock market”, your service better keep up, says Jim Zanino, vice president, Customer Sales, Gogo.
The brand has long been the leading player in air-to-ground connectivity in North America but Gogo is on the march to become a key global presence with services across all systems in business aviation.
Gogo’s partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb to use its extensive low-latency LEO constellation and its recent acquisition of Satcom Direct gives it a significant footprint in the satellite world.
Factor in the 5G upgrade of Gogo’s air-to-ground infrastructure in the US and Canada and you begin to grasp its ambition.
“Our focus is business aviation,” said Zanino in a townhall with Corporate Jet Investor. “That has been our focus for the last five years. We are experts at the business aviation market. We understand the customer. We understand the environment and we understand the demands that people want when the system performs or doesn’t perform.”
Eutelsat OneWeb’s constellation has 630 satellites in orbit, made up of 588 active satellites and the remainder as spares. Despite facing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical disruptions, the company has successfully launched all its satellites and is now ready to open its services to both commercial and business aviation.
“The constellation is live, we’re ready to activate customers very shortly. We’re nothing but excited over here,” says Jason Sperry, head of business aviation at Eutelsat OneWeb.
“It’s not really the number of satellites that makes a difference, it’s how you’re using those satellites…”
Gogo’s alliances and acquisitions aim to significantly boost its firepower in the connectivity arms race and future-proof it in the face of aggressive competition from rivals such as Starlink and potentially Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
The Satcom Direct deal will help Gogo to tap into the “14,000 business aircraft outside North America” and to deliver solutions that “satisfy the performance and cost needs of every segment of the BA market," according to Oakleigh Thorne, Gogo’s former CEO and now executive chairman.
“Together, we are uniquely positioned to deliver unparalleled in-flight connectivity solutions across the underpenetrated global BA and military/government mobility markets,” said Chris Moore, former president of SD and now CEO, Gogo.
According to Zanino, it is Gogo’s “consistency of performance” that makes it stand out in a crowded market.
“It’s not really the number of satellites that makes a difference, it’s how you’re using those satellites and who you’re marketing that connectivity to that drives the performance of the network.”
Sperry adds: “We ensure that when we design future iterations of our satellite constellation that aviation necessities are brought into play. Whereas those other constellations really design aviation maybe as an afterthought.”
Gogo and Eutelsat OneWeb are also working to secure regulatory approvals and market access. “We will now be able to offer the service in India, which is a great benefit,” adds Sperry. “We’ve been working with Gogo on accessing those countries that need specific information to unlock the capability to deliver there.”
The upcoming Gogo Galileo LEO broadband connectivity system will add further clout to its showpiece AVANCE front-end solution. Its versatility to switch between satellites and air-to-ground is unique.
“It gives you that added flexibility and redundancy that’s built into our system like no other,” adds Zanino.
“If something goes wrong you have a second system to fall back on. What you can also do is separate the two systems, so maybe you have the principal on the satellite network and then the pilots on the air-to-ground system, or vice versa.”
Bombardier Challenger 300 with Gogo Galileo HDX antenna.
Bombardier Challenger 300 with Gogo Galileo HDX antenna.
Gogo said it studied the patterns of on-ground data usage and the needs of its consumers and found that on average, its users require about 5GB of data for three-and-a-half hours of connectivity. Then you need to add on 20% to keep files and apps updating in the background.
“That’s the key driver right there - a lot of the technology that we use online now requires a high bandwidth and low latency,” adds Zanino.
Gogo will launch two antenna options with Galileo, starting with HDX (half-duplex antenna).
“This antenna will give you speeds of up to 60Mbps down and 11Mbps up, which for most people will take care of pretty much anything you’re trying to do online while on the airplane, depending on the number of people,” says Zanino.
“And it only weighs 22 pounds. It’s a very small antenna and it fits on any size business aircraft.” Gogo is in the process of getting more than 27 supplemental type certificates (STC) for the antenna. These include Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer, Gulfstream, HondaJet, Pilatus, Textron Aviation (Citation Longitude and Latitude, Hawker) and Airbus Corporate Jets.
The larger FDX (full duplex) antenna, promising speeds of up to 195Mbps down and 32Mbps up, will follow in mid-2025.
“All you need to do is basically add the antenna to the top of the aircraft, then run two sets of wires. Basically, a power wire and an Ethernet data wire to the AVANCE system, so a very easy installation,” adds Zanino.
Software-centric approach
The HDX antenna will be offered as a $120,000 add-on to current AVANCE systems, while the more powerful FDX antenna will be priced at $190,000, says Zanino. He emphasised that service pricing is designed to be competitive in the marketplace, reflecting Gogo’s commitment to providing value to its business aviation customers.
Gogo also says it is working to do away with the need for a hardware retrofit with every update.
“We’re actually basing the same hardware but using a software-centric approach to give new capabilities by simply modifying the software versus going into the aircraft, ripping out a hardware, and putting new hardware in,” adds Zanino.
“And along with a lot of that software are things like our Gogo Dash self-service app. This will give you the capability to look at your account, see how the system’s performing, or look at the network. So there’s a lot of capabilities in this app to show you what’s happening with your connectivity as well as troubleshooting capabilities.”
The company said it recently launched over-the-air software updates, replacing the need to physically access the aircraft, thus reducing the amount of downtime. Zanino says this helps deliver faster and on-the-spot resolution of any connectivity issues.
“Our 24/7/365 support really comes into play here because when you reach out to us, there’s someone there to pick up the phone who is a business aviation connectivity expert and talk to you. We will basically work through the problem. And if you look at our stats, 96% of the cases are solved with the first phone call, and most of these are 98% are done remotely.”
Cybersecurity is a keystone of Gogo’s offering in the face of malicious actors trying to exploit vulnerabilities in interconnected systems.
“Data security is always a big concern nowadays, and the one thing nice with Gogo is we have security built in from the start of our product,” says Zanino. “So, one thing you don’t want to worry about is your data being released. Gogo has secure networks.”
LEO satellites in orbit.
LEO satellites in orbit.
