Galileo, Galileo
Gogo is taking the fight to Starlink with its own LEO solution and unique multi-orbit approach. Words: Alasdair Whyte
CHRIS MOORE’S first year and a half as CEO of Gogo has been frantic. Not only has he had to manage the merger of Satcom Direct, but three of the company’s key long-term projects have also finally gone live.
Moore joined Gogo in December 2024 after the company acquired Satcom Direct, which he had led for almost six years. He initially assumed that as soon as the sale closed, he would be looking for a new job. Instead, he was appointed CEO.
Last year was always going to be a crucial year for Gogo – even without the Satcom Direct acquisition. As well as adding low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity to its offering, Gogo was also upgrading its air-to-ground network, where aircraft pick up signals from the top of cell towers. As part of all these projects the company received many Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) from regulators around the world.
“It has been nuts,” says Moore. “A year ago, we did not have Galileo kits to ship, now we have the kits. We did not have the 5G chips, now we have the chips. We did not have the 5G network, now we have it. It has been a busy 18 months.”
Gogo announced that it would be offering LEO satellite connectivity with OneWeb (now Eutelsat OneWeb) back in May 2022. It branded this Gogo Galileo. Gogo had hoped to launch Galileo as early as 2023, but the OneWeb constellation of satellites was only completed in March 2024. Gogo then needed FAA approval for its products.
This allowed Elon Musk’s Starlink to beat Gogo to launch. In September 2023, Flexjet announced that it had received an STC to install Starlink on Gulfstream G650 aircraft – the first being Musk’s own. Since then, Starlink has signed up a strong network of installation partners and received many more STCs. Early customer feedback, including from Flexjet, has been good. Starlink is also cheaper than legacy options.
“The industry knows we’ve created products specifically for its unique needs …”
Moore says that Gogo is just as competitive on speed and cost: “We did a flight recently with a customer for the Galileo FDX [antennae for larger aircraft] on a BBJ, and we did 36 Gigabytes – a Gig a minute. They had 36 devices connected and were also having fun gaming.”
By the end of June 2026, Gogo had received 35 Galileo STCs in the US, Europe, Brazil and Canada, with 14 additional STCs in the works. “It typically takes three to six months to get an STC, so we have really been flying,” says Moore. By the middle of 2026, 410 Gogo Galileo units had been shipped.
As well as being the first mover in the market, Starlink also benefits from name recognition among buyers. Many ultra-high-net-worth individuals already use Starlink in some of their homes. Anecdotally, captains also say that they are seeing owners spending much more time on their superyacht now that they have reliable Starlink connectivity
Moore believes that Gogo’s brand recognition, partially driven by the acquisition of Satcom Direct, has similar impact in the business aviation sector. Its growing global sales and customer service network and existing dealers (many of which also offer Starlink) can help it win Galileo customers. “We’ve been supporting business aviation connectivity needs as SD for nearly 30 years, it’s all we’ve done; which means that the industry knows we’ve created products specifically for its unique needs, we’ve not repurposed anything from any other sector. That matters in the tech world. We offer enterprise-grade connectivity, not a repurposed consumer product.”
It is also working with aircraft manufacturers to have Galileo installed on new aircraft deliveries. Deals with Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Textron have already been announced. Its first STC for the Pilatus PC-12 was confirmed in June, adding a new, and first, high-speed option for turboprop connectivity.
The first Gogo Galileo FDX fuselage-mounted antenna installed on a BBJ.
The first Gogo Galileo FDX fuselage-mounted antenna installed on a BBJ.
“When you look at the terminals on their own, they look quite blunt and quite bricked, but we have worked with OEMs and MROs to make the fairings around them aerodynamically enabled,” says Moore. “They are very OEM- and MRO-friendly.”
Moore says that the biggest difference between Gogo Galileo and Starlink is that Starlink is a closed network. It only lets you access Starlink satellites. He believes that customers want options. While Gogo chose the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network for its Galileo antennas, Satcom Direct always used a range of geostationary (GEO) satellite providers – including Viasat, Intelsat and Inmarsat for its Plane Simple antennae. Moore says that with Gogo’s multi-orbit options, customers can access different satellites for best coverage. Geostationary satellites are further from the Earth but can provide global coverage with just a few satellites. By contrast, OneWeb has about 650 satellites and Starlink more than 11,000.
Moore stresses that Gogo will continue to offer a range of options to customers. Gogo also provides air-to-ground connectivity in the continental US.
“Multi-orbit is compelling for customers with larger aircraft that fly globally,” says Moore. “Customers who fly everywhere want multiple systems. We saw this when GEO came out and made L-band systems redundant because the speeds were not competitive. But people kept it because you can still do something with a 20 megabytes-plus backup. It will be interesting to see how the balance works ut between LEO and GEO. And for the technology evolution as well.”
Musk’s high-profile political role has also concerned some international customers. Certain countries – including China – do not allow Starlink to be used. Heads of state and government customers, typically insist on options for this reason. “You should not think GEO is going away. We’ve got a lot of customers, especially the US Department of Defense, who are GEO-centric. Everybody forgets that there is a lot of GEO investment around the satellites as well, they are getting smaller and more capable,” says Moore.
“Privacy is also a core component of our company’s philosophy and privacy considerations are built into Gogo’s entire connectivity infrastructure. We understand that our customers are generating sensitive data, and we are very focused on ensuring transparency around our data practices. If information is not essential to delivering the service, it is not Gogo’s business.”
“Multi-orbit is compelling for customers with larger aircraft that fly globally.”
Starlink has been a victim of its own success and there can often be waiting time for installation kits. Moore says that Gogo can ship antennae the next day: “We have bought all the long lead item parts ahead of time, so we don’t have any supply chain issues. We shipped over 150 HDXs before we even had an STC.”
Before the acquisition, Gogo had just three international salespeople. The Satcom Direct deal added offices around the world. It has used these teams to announce some high-profile Galileo customers including Wheels Up in the US, Action Aviation and Falcon in the Middle East, Avcon Jet and Luxaviation in Europe and a large Brazilian multinational.
VistaJet also announced that it will be adding Galileo to its fleet of 270 aircraft. Vista expects to install Galileo on one of its aircraft every nine days, so will have at least 60 Gogo aircraft by the middle of 2027. Gogo has a 1,000 aircraft Galileo customer pipeline.
Competition for customers is fierce. In 2024, NetJets announced an agreement with Gogo for both air-to-ground and Galileo connectivity, primarily for its Citation X and Embraer Phenom 300 types. Starlink is being equipped on many of NetJet’s 600 larger aircraft, according to a NetJets announcement in December 2025.
As the CEO of a publicly listed company, Moore is wary about giving future guidance on market share. But while he is happy for Starlink to sign-up as many airlines as it wants (Gogo sold its commercial airline business to Intelsat in 2020), he will not let Starlink dominate business aviation.
“There has been a lot of focus on LEO in the last few years and customers have been waiting for us to have a working product,” says Moore. “We have had many big wins with Galileo, and we continue to focus on generating a global portfolio of STCs and getting Galileo out there as we capture market share.”
Satcom Direct always had a significant number of government contracts, but these were never a focus for Gogo. The acquisition has changed this.
“The Galileo products bring the two companies together. So now we have an instant pipeline for Galileo products,” says Moore. “We’ve already got the Gogo Galileo HDX flying on UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]. That is pretty cool. This is something Gogo would never have done.”
Moore says that the biggest difference between Gogo Galileo and Starlink is that Starlink is a closed network. It only lets you access Starlink satellites. He believes that customers want options. While Gogo chose the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network for its Galileo antennas, Satcom Direct always used a range of geostationary (GEO) satellite providers – including Viasat, Intelsat and Inmarsat for its Plane Simple antennae. Moore says that with Gogo’s multi-orbit options, customers can access different satellites for best coverage. Geostationary satellites are further from the Earth but can provide global coverage with just a few satellites. By contrast, OneWeb has about 650 satellites and Starlink more than 11,000.
Moore stresses that Gogo will continue to offer a range of options to customers. Gogo also provides air-to-ground connectivity in the continental US.
“Multi-orbit is compelling for customers with larger aircraft that fly globally,” says Moore. “Customers who fly everywhere want multiple systems. We saw this when GEO came out and made L-band systems redundant because the speeds were not competitive. But people kept it because you can still do something with a 20 megabytes-plus backup. It will be interesting to see how the balance works out between LEO and GEO. And for the technology evolution as well.”
Musk’s high-profile political role has also concerned some international customers. Certain countries – including China – do not allow Starlink to be used. Heads of state and government customers, typically insist on options for this reason. “You should not think GEO is going away. We’ve got a lot of customers, especially the US Department of Defense, who are GEO-centric. Everybody forgets that there is a lot of GEO investment around the satellites as well, they are getting smaller and more capable,” says Moore.
“Privacy is also a core component of our company’s philosophy and privacy considerations are built into Gogo’s entire connectivity infrastructure. We understand that our customers are generating sensitive data, and we are very focused on ensuring transparency around our data practices. If information is not essential to delivering the service, it is not Gogo’s business.”
Starlink has been a victim of its own success and there can often be waiting time for installation kits. Moore says that Gogo can ship antennae the next day: “We have bought all the long lead item parts ahead of time, so we don’t have any supply chain issues. We shipped over 150 HDXs before we even had an STC.”
Before the acquisition, Gogo had just three international salespeople. The Satcom Direct deal added offices around the world. It has used these teams to announce some high-profile Galileo customers including Wheels Up in the US, Action Aviation and Falcon in the Middle East, Avcon Jet and Luxaviation in Europe and a large Brazilian multinational.
VistaJet also announced that it will be adding Galileo to its fleet of 270 aircraft. Vista expects to install Galileo on one of its aircraft every nine days, so will have at least 60 Gogo aircraft by the middle of 2027. Gogo has a 1,000 aircraft Galileo customer pipeline.
Competition for customers is fierce. In 2024, NetJets announced an agreement with Gogo for both air-to-ground and Galileo connectivity, primarily for its Citation X and Embraer Phenom 300 types. Starlink is being equipped on many of NetJet’s 600 larger aircraft, according to a NetJets announcement in December 2025.
As the CEO of a publicly listed company, Moore is wary about giving future guidance on market share. But while he is happy for Starlink to sign-up as many airlines as it wants (Gogo sold its commercial airline business to Intelsat in 2020), he will not let Starlink dominate business aviation.
“There has been a lot of focus on LEO in the last few years and customers have been waiting for us to have a working product,” says Moore. “We have had many big wins with Galileo, and we continue to focus on generating a global portfolio of STCs and getting Galileo out there as we capture market share.”
Satcom Direct always had a significant number of government contracts, but these were never a focus for Gogo. The acquisition has changed this.
“The Galileo products bring the two companies together. So now we have an instant pipeline for Galileo products,” says Moore. “We’ve already got the Gogo Galileo HDX flying on UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]. That is pretty cool. This is something Gogo would never have done.”
Moore says that the biggest difference between Gogo Galileo and Starlink is that Starlink is a closed network. It only lets you access Starlink satellites. He believes that customers want options. While Gogo chose the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network for its Galileo antennas, Satcom Direct always used a range of geostationary (GEO) satellite providers – including Viasat, Intelsat and Inmarsat for its Plane Simple antennae. Moore says that with Gogo’s multi-orbit options, customers can access different satellites for best coverage. Geostationary satellites are further from the Earth but can provide global coverage with just a few satellites. By contrast, OneWeb has about 650 satellites and Starlink more than 11,000.
Moore stresses that Gogo will continue to offer a range of options to customers. Gogo also provides air-to-ground connectivity in the continental US.
“Multi-orbit is compelling for customers with larger aircraft that fly globally,” says Moore. “Customers who fly everywhere want multiple systems. We saw this when GEO came out and made L-band systems redundant because the speeds were not competitive. But people kept it because you can still do something with a 20 megabytes-plus backup. It will be interesting to see how the balance works out between LEO and GEO. And for the technology evolution as well.”
Musk’s high-profile political role has also concerned some international customers. Certain countries – including China – do not allow Starlink to be used. Heads of state and government customers, typically insist on options for this reason. “You should not think GEO is going away. We’ve got a lot of customers, especially the US Department of Defense, who are GEO-centric. Everybody forgets that there is a lot of GEO investment around the satellites as well, they are getting smaller and more capable,” says Moore.
“Privacy is also a core component of our company’s philosophy and privacy considerations are built into Gogo’s entire connectivity infrastructure. We understand that our customers are generating sensitive data, and we are very focused on ensuring transparency around our data practices. If information is not essential to delivering the service, it is not Gogo’s business.”
Starlink has been a victim of its own success, particularly with many airline customers. This means there can be a waiting time for installation kits. “We are desperate to offer Starlink but can’t get hold of the kit,” says one distributor.
Moore says that Gogo can ship antennae the next day: “We have bought all the long lead item parts ahead of time, so we don’t have any supply chain issues. We shipped over 150 HDXs before we even had an STC.”
Before the acquisition, Gogo had just three international salespeople. The Satcom Direct deal added offices around the world. It has used these teams to announce some high-profile Galileo customers including Wheels Up in the US, Action Aviation and Falcon in the Middle East, Avcon Jet and Luxaviation in Europe and a large Brazilian multinational.
VistaJet also announced that it will be adding Galileo to its fleet of 270 aircraft. Vista expects to install Galileo on one of its aircraft every nine days, so will have at least 60 Gogo aircraft by the middle of 2027. Gogo has a 1,000 aircraft Galileo customer pipeline.
Competition for customers is fierce. In 2024, NetJets announced an agreement with Gogo for both air-to-ground and Galileo connectivity, primarily for its Citation X and Embraer Phenom 300 types. Starlink is being equipped on many of NetJet’s 600 larger aircraft, according to a NetJets announcement in December 2025.
As the CEO of a publicly listed company, Moore is wary about giving future guidance on market share. But while he is happy for Starlink to sign-up as many airlines as it wants (Gogo sold its commercial airline business to Intelsat in 2020), he will not let Starlink dominate business aviation.
“There has been a lot of focus on LEO in the last few years and customers have been waiting for us to have a working product,” says Moore. “We have had many big wins with Galileo, and we continue to focus on generating a global portfolio of STCs and getting Galileo out there as we capture market share.”
Satcom Direct always had a significant number of government contracts, but these were never a focus for Gogo. The acquisition has changed this.
“The Galileo products bring the two companies together. So now we have an instant pipeline for Galileo products,” says Moore. “We’ve already got the Gogo Galileo HDX flying on UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]. That is pretty cool. This is something Gogo would never have done.”
Gogo’s Network Operations Centres provide 24/7/365 monitoring, diagnostics and real-time support.
Ideas on a napkin
In 2025, Gogo announced a five-year contract with a US Federal agency covering 5G, LEO and GEO bandwidth services. It is also supplying GEO antennas to SES Space and Defense (the main connectivity companies are often customers, suppliers and competitors to each other at the same time) for US Space Command. A $33m contract.
The US Air Force had announced a target of getting at least 25-megabit speeds on a quarter of its 1,100 non-fighter aircraft by the end of 2025. It failed to do this. Retired General Mike Minihan who conceived this “25 by 25” initiative has joined Gogo’s board.
Gogo’s air-to-ground network was famously conceived in a Texas barbecue restaurant when its founder, Jimmy Ray, sketched his idea on a napkin. That was in 1991. Moore says that 25 years after getting its first US Federal Communications Commission licence, air-to-ground is still needed. Even with LEO options.
“ATG is in a really good place. If you walk in and see the Cirrus Vision Jet, King Airs or PC-12s, the first thing the OEMs will say is that ATG is an option on that plane,” says Moore, who is a piston aircraft pilot. “When you get to those smaller airframes, you are in a different market space from Gulfstream customers. With 5G we can offer very fast speeds at a good price.”
Gogo is in the process of ending legacy contracts with airlines. This will free up more capacity for business aviation and government customers. As part of its air-to-ground upgrades, Gogo has also replaced foreign telecoms equipment. Moore says that now this is completed, they are seeing a lot of interest from US government customers (including existing Satcom Direct customers).
“Air-to-ground is a complementary product for both LEO and GEO. We can combine all of this into the service offering and then manage the network delivery,” says Moore. “So, if you are flying with me, you can do a Teams call on LEO, while I am watching Netflix on air-to-ground – without anyone realising. Everyone also forgets that pilots use a lot of data, so they can be on air-to-ground and the principal on GEO. This has a lot of value. No one cares about the technical aspects as long as they are connected.”
Not just Starlink
Business jet owners are also soon going to have even more LEO options. Viasat has signed an agreement with Canada’s Telesat for its Lightspeed LEO Ka-band capacity. “We believe that the most important thing for business jet connectivity is to have consistency and reliability, which we deliver utilising our high-capacity GEO satellites,” says Claudio D’Amico, vice president, strategic market engagement, Viasat. “By bringing a LEO component to the mix, now we have full redundancy of the existing network and we’re able to improve the performance by intelligently routing the traffic to the best link.”
Viasat is aiming to have this service available in the last quarter of 2027. Amazon is expected to start offering its Amazon Leo (formerly Kuiper) network to business aviation soon. Moore says that Gogo is open to working with a range of providers.
Moore wants customers to know that Gogo is working hard to future-proof technology. “The market is continuing to evolve, and we want to upgrade technology in the future. We are looking at installation like an iPhone case. If the case is fixed to the fuselage, the mounting to the fairing, I should be able to take that phone out and put a new device in,” he says. “When there is a revolution in the technology, we want to upgrade the technology and upgrade the STCs, without large customer upheaval or investment. That is a very different approach from installing a brand-new antenna.”
He adds: “Gogo is all about execution. We offer consistently good customer service around the world and continue to deliver value-adds at every level. In combination with our distinct multi-orbit offering, our additional service options differentiate us from the competition.”
