NetJets has reached an agreement with Gogo Business Aviation (NASDAQ: GOGO) that provides NetJets the ability to upgrade their U.S. aircraft to Gogo AVANCE L5, Gogo 5G, and Gogo Galileo, the company’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite service. NetJets Owners in Europe will also have the benefit of Gogo Galileo.
“We are committed to providing our Owners with an exceptional travel experience, and Wi-Fi is a critical component,” said Brad Ferrell, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for NetJets. “Our Owners require reliable connectivity to continue their workday or connect with entertainment in-flight, which made AVANCE L5 and Gogo 5G the right platform to meet their needs, especially when traveling across America. Meanwhile, Gogo Galileo is an ideal solution for our European jets: It delivers high performance, it can be installed on any of our aircraft, and it’s backed by Gogo’s award-winning global customer support.”
The 10-year agreement gives NetJets the opportunity to upgrade its entire fleet of aircraft to the AVANCE platform, including 5G and Gogo’s global LEO broadband satellite service, depending on the aircraft’s mission.
“Gogo is excited to continue our long-term partnership with NetJets,” said Sergio Aguirre, Gogo’s president and chief operating officer. “With more than 450 U.S. aircraft currently equipped with Gogo’s systems, upgrading to AVANCE L5 will improve performance by three times, and Gogo 5G will improve performance several times that. Meanwhile, we are also bringing an even better experience to operators throughout Europe and around the world with Gogo Galileo.”
Throughout the 20-plus year relationship with the worldwide leader in private aviation, Gogo has created features such as over-the-air software updates to address NetJets’ specific operational needs while also providing services like Gogo Vision to improve the inflight connectivity experience.
Selected for NetJets’ U.S. aircraft, Gogo 5G and LEO satcom services are designed to deliver high throughput with very low latency to address the increased demand in data-heavy services and applications in use today, as well as emerging technologies in the future. Gogo 5G, planned to launch in the third quarter of 2024, is expected to deliver ~25 Mbps on average with peak speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range. And Gogo’s LEO service will be multiple times faster than today’s geosynchronous (GEO) satellite systems; this global service is expected to launch in the second half of 2024.
For NetJets’ aircraft in Europe, Gogo Galileo offers two fuselage-mount antennas: HDX, which is designed with a small form factor that can be installed on any size business aircraft, including super light jets and large turboprops, and FDX, which is designed to fit on larger aircraft and will deliver best-in-class performance.
The AVANCE platform, which powers Gogo Galileo, has been intentionally designed to provide easy upgrade paths to new technologies and networks. In the case of Gogo Galileo, any aircraft with an AVANCE product installed (L3, L5 or SCS), will only need to add the HDX or FDX antenna to the fuselage to access the benefits of LEO satellite network technology.
