Viasat
Coverage: Global | Orbit: GEO (Ka-band and L-band) and HEO | Brands: Jet ConneX, SwiftBroadband, SwiftJet | Partners: Satcom Direct, Honeywell, Arinc Direct/Collins Aerospace, Orbit, and others | Acquisitions: Inmarsat (2023) | Network: 21 Ka-band and L-band satellites in orbit, providing flexible, resilient, fully-redundant global capacity, with another 10 satellites entering service in the coming years, including GX7, 8 & 9, plus two additional ViaSat-3 satellites. | Aircraft: Bombardier Challenger 300, Challenger 350, Bombardier Challenger 604, Challenger 605, Challenger 650, Falcon 7X, Falcon 8X, Falcon 900EX, Gulfstream G280, Gulfstream G450, Gulfstream G650, G650ER
Viasat
Coverage: Global | Orbit: GEO (Ka-band and L-band) and HEO | Brands: Jet ConneX, SwiftBroadband, SwiftJet | Partners: Satcom Direct, Honeywell, Arinc Direct/Collins Aerospace, Orbit, and others | Acquisitions: Inmarsat (2023) | Network: 21 Ka-band and L-band satellites in orbit, providing flexible, resilient, fully-redundant global capacity, with another 10 satellites entering service in the coming years, including GX7, 8 & 9, plus two additional ViaSat-3 satellites. | Aircraft: Bombardier Challenger 300, Challenger 350, Bombardier Challenger 604, Challenger 605, Challenger 650, Falcon 7X, Falcon 8X, Falcon 900EX, Gulfstream G280, Gulfstream G450, Gulfstream G650, G650ER
Viasat Jet ConneX:
Download Speeds:
Up to uncapped speeds
SwiftBroadband:
Download Speeds:
Up to
432kbps
(per channel, multiple channels can be bonded to increase overall speeds)
Upload Speeds:
Similar, up to
432kbps
per channel
SwiftJet:
Download Speeds:
Up to
2.6Mbps
Upload Speeds:
Approximately
650kbps
Viasat Ka:
Download Speeds:
Up to uncapped speeds
AT 0702 ON August 12th, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. On board were two satellites – ASBM-1 and ASBM-2 – part of Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission. The satellites were deployed in a highly elliptical orbit (HEO) and will extend Viasat’s high-speed global network with dedicated Arctic coverage by mid 2025. In August, the company also put into service its first ViaSat-3 Ka-band GEO satellite after working through antenna deployment issues following its launch in April 2023.
The system is now fully operational over North America and routes servicing Hawaii. Another ultra-high-capacity ViaSat-3 satellite will soon cover Europe, Africa and the Middle East and a third will cater to Asia-Pacific.
"Bringing ViaSat-3 F1 into commercial service for aviation customers will significantly enhance the passenger experience available over North America, including streaming content and staying in touch with the world when flying," said Jimmy Dodd, president, Aviation segment at Viasat.
Combined, the ViaSat-3 satellites are expected to deliver 600% more capacity than Viasat's existing fleet, the company says. The ViaSat-3 constellation will also be able to move bandwidth to where it is most needed at any given time.
Viasat, which was founded by Mark Dankberg, Steve Hart and Mark Miller in 1986, is one of the world’s largest space-based broadband providers. It acquired rival operator Inmarsat for $7.3bn in 2023, combining assets including 19 satellites spanning Ka-, L- and S-bands.
Passing the ‘9am Teterboro test’
Customers’ connectivity preferences are changing, according to Viasat. Here’s how the company is meeting their evolving needs. Mike Stones reports.
VIASAT CALLS IT the Teterboro test. Claudio D’Amico, vice president of Strategic Market Engagement, Business Aviation at Viasat, explains how the test works to ensure the company delivers top quality service to its business aircraft owners and operators.
“The standard for us is delivering the market’s best quality of experience to our operators at Teterboro Airport at 9am on a Monday morning, when there are dozens of jets on the tarmac,” D’Amico tells us. “That’s our focus. That’s how the Viasat consistency and reliability delivers a solution that has the trust of our industry.”
Viasat clients want high-performance connectivity, purpose-built for business aviation. “We have a very high demanding customer base,” he says. “They want to have that exclusivity to connect whenever and wherever they fly, from the world’s busiest airports to the most remote locations.”
The other thing owners and operators prioritise is support. They increasingly look for 24/7 customer service when problems arise. That means having the right level of support easily available at all times to solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Customers’ preferences are changing, says Viasat, highlighting the results of a connectivity survey conducted in partnership with our sister title Corporate Jet Investor Quarterly (CJIQ) earlier this year. “One of the things we saw from the CJIQ Survey is that we had some pain points, beyond cost, associated with unreliability, inconsistency and coverage limitations when it comes to connectivity,” says D’Amico. “The next priority was the overall level of experience that owners and operators are looking for. It’s really that ability to do whatever you want to do during the flight without limitations or interruptions.”
Speed of connectivity, which had previously been considered a top priority for owners and operators, has dropped to a much lower position, only higher than maintenance and latency. “It’s almost like your cell phone. You don’t use speed as a gauge of experience – you just accept it as a given. The days of speed-test decision-making are over. This shows a new level of maturity in the market,” he tells us.
“It’s that ability to do whatever you want to during the flight without limitations or interruptions.”
Passing the ‘9am Teterboro test’
Customers’ connectivity preferences are changing, according to Viasat. Here’s how the company is meeting their evolving needs. Mike Stones reports.
VIASAT CALLS IT the Teterboro test. Claudio D’Amico, vice president of Strategic Market Engagement, Business Aviation at Viasat, explains how the test works to ensure the company delivers top quality service to its business aircraft owners and operators.
“The standard for us is delivering the market’s best quality of experience to our operators at Teterboro Airport at 9am on a Monday morning, when there are dozens of jets on the tarmac,” D’Amico tells us. “That’s our focus. That’s how the Viasat consistency and reliability delivers a solution that has the trust of our industry.”
Viasat clients want high-performance connectivity, purpose-built for business aviation. “We have a very high demanding customer base,” he says. “They want to have that exclusivity to connect whenever and wherever they fly, from the world’s busiest airports to the most remote locations.”
The other thing owners and operators prioritise is support. They increasingly look for 24/7 customer service when problems arise. That means having the right level of support easily available at all times to solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Customers’ preferences are changing, says Viasat, highlighting the results of a connectivity survey conducted in partnership with our sister title Corporate Jet Investor Quarterly (CJIQ) earlier this year. “One of the things we saw from the CJIQ Survey is that we had some pain points, beyond cost, associated with unreliability, inconsistency and coverage limitations when it comes to connectivity,” says D’Amico. “The next priority was the overall level of experience that owners and operators are looking for. It’s really that ability to do whatever you want to do during the flight without limitations or interruptions.”
Speed of connectivity, which had previously been considered a top priority for owners and operators, has dropped to a much lower position, only higher than maintenance and latency. “It’s almost like your cell phone. You don’t use speed as a gauge of experience – you just accept it as a given. The days of speed-test decision-making are over. This shows a new level of maturity in the market,” he tells us.
“It’s that ability to do whatever you want to during the flight without limitations or interruptions.”
It’s a change Viasat regards as creating significant commercial opportunities fuelled, in part, by technical innovation. “We are looking at expanding this concept of quality of experience,” says D’Amico. “We believe this is the true measure of connectivity aboard a business jet.”
Viasat thinks there is a new generation of business leaders who are much more tech savvy when it comes to connectivity. “With that comes a growing sense of maturity in the breadth and depth of the criteria about how things should work,” he says. For Viasat that means a better-connected experience, greater flight capabilities, a sense of value, improved choice and enhanced support. “These are the opportunities and things we are focused on and continuing to evolve to deliver an increasingly customer centric approach.”
The connectivity specialist thinks itself out of step with much of the industry which, it says, is over focusing on technology. It believes clients are better served by concentrating not on technology but on customers and the problems that can be solved by the latest technology. “Both Viasat and Inmarsat [which Viasat acquired last year] have both done this in the past,” says D’Amico. “Now we are one company, we are bringing those things together.”
One example of this customer-centric approach is the ViaSat-3 global satellite constellation, according to the company. With the first satellite entering service in summer 2024 for aviation customers operating over North America, including routes servicing Hawaii, two further ViaSat-3 satellites are currently in the late stages of production and testing. Thermal vacuum testing on ViaSat-3 F3 has recently been completed, as has mechanical environmental testing on ViaSat-3 F2.
Rewrite the rules
Designed to increase the coverage and capacity of Viasat’s network, the new system will enhance the passenger experience even further, including multi-device streaming content and staying in touch with the world when flying, it says.
The company is also delivering new capacity via the GX10A and GX10B Ka-band payloads, which will be used to extend Viasat's high-speed global network with dedicated Arctic region coverage. These highly elliptical orbit (HEO) payloads, which were launched as part of the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) led by Space Norway in August, are expected to enter service in early to mid 2025.
Customers will also benefit from the introduction of three next-generation terminals, including Satcom Direct’s Plane Simple Ka (the first STCs have now been issued and it is expected to enter commercial service in the coming months), Orbit’s AirTRx-30 (recent testing has been successful and it’s expected to enter service later this year) and Honeywell's JetWaveX (the first terminal that will provide access to Viasat’s full Ka-band network including its GX and ViaSat-3 satellites). These innovations will set a new benchmark for onboard communication, productivity and entertainment by delivering secure, uncompromised access to the digital world, including today’s data-hungry applications such as video calls, live TV and HD streaming, VPN and large file transfer, and generative AI.
On the L-band side, Viasat’s SwiftJet in-flight connectivity service will enter commercial service later this year, delivering seamless global coverage across flight routes and up to six times the performance of its existing SwiftBroadband L-band business aviation solution. Flight tests have already been a success and SwiftJet promises to rewrite the rules of what’s possible with narrowband connectivity for business aviation, transforming performance to unlock previously unachievable capabilities worldwide.
The ViaSat-3 payload makes its way to the launch pad.
The ViaSat-3 payload makes its way to the launch pad.
Working closely with partners and service providers – including Satcom Direct, Honeywell and Collins – is also a strategic priority for Viasat. Such partnerships enable the company to deliver the latest technology to clients as soon as possible, it says. This is achieved by the wealth of information provided by the company’s wide network. “Why choose Viasat? I go back to our customers and partners,” says D’Amico. “We have built a successful business by listening to them and involving them in our offer. That’s important – focusing on the problems that need a solution and not simply focusing on technology.”
“Increasingly, they will want to know what the experience will be on the tarmac at Teterboro at 9am on a Monday mornings.”
Supplying all customers’ needs – whether that is video calls, live TV, HD (high-definition streaming) and other services – is increasingly a must for data-hungry clients. Some customers have higher connectivity demand than other customers. Viasat addresses this by offering different service plans that cater for different levels of connectivity.
“We are focused on solving connectivity problems by introducing a lot of additional capacity and flexibility to the market with some of these new solutions – including assets such as satellites and infrastructure that we are bringing to the market,” says D’Amico.
Also, Viasat connectivity solutions are aboard more than 5,000 jets worldwide. The company serves 70% of the satellite-connected market for business jets. “That speaks to the culture of solving customer problems and innovation,” says D’Amico. “It’s how we stand out from the competition because we are focused on the toughest connectivity challenges and have consistently delivered setting the standard for our industry.”
Owners and operators today – particularly of large cabin jets – expect onboard connectivity to be both “seamless and effortless”. A decade ago, accessing emails aboard a business jet was a luxury. Four or five years ago, expectations expanded to include streaming. Now, owners and operators – often C-suite executives – are requiring access to cloud-based applications.
It's meeting those rising expectations – balancing ever more demanding clients with the latest technology – that Viasat identifies as being one of its top challenges. “Customers are becoming ever more sophisticated in what they want, and I think this will continue,” D’Amico tells us. “Technology is part of the new generations’ lives. As they rise to senior leadership positions, they will want to fly in aircraft that continue to grow ever more advanced and sophisticated.”
That’s why the company’s roadmap and service plans are so important, he continues. “They will ensure we can move to do more than just keep up but exceed customer expectations. We will do this by bringing more satellite capacity to market and the flexibility to focus that capacity where demand is.”
That means, taking North America as an example, focusing capacity on New York and the east coast in the morning and having the flexibility to relocate that focus towards the west coast throughout the course of the day.
Staying with geography, while North America and Europe remain the leading connectivity markets, Viasat reports growth in South America and China. The company sees great potential in China although sometimes “geopolitical situations” can hamper that growth. D’Amico adds: “We have the capability to provide connectivity to some of these sovereign nations like China and India and we are working to do that in a way that meets all the regulatory requirements.”
Looking ahead to the connectivity landscape of 2030, Viasat returns to the theme of maturing markets. Customers’ needs will continue to evolve beyond simply the speed of connectivity aboard their business aircraft. By 2030, customer experience not speed will be the major determinant of top-quality service.
“People are growing more sophisticated and will not just believe a speed test of connectivity on an aircraft at one point of time in the middle of the Atlantic,” says D’Amico. “Increasingly, they will want to know what the experience will be on the tarmac at Teterboro at 9am on Monday mornings. That’s where the market will be in a few years.”
