Milestone JetWave installation announced

Inmarsat and Honeywell have announced that their JetWave inflight connectivity system has been installed for the 100th time.

The milestone installation means that the system, which powers the Jet ConneX high-speed inflight WiFi service, has been brought to 15 popular business jet models from Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Gulfstream in eight months.

Inmarsat, which provides the Jet ConneX Ka-band high-throughput satellite service, and Honeywell, which provides the JetWave hardware, expect to carry out more than 150 business jet installations by the end of this year.

So far the two companies and their installation partners have received more than 25 type certificate and supplemental type certificate approvals for JetWave from the Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency across 24 platforms. They aim to secure another nine STCs for five other platforms in the coming months.

Kurt Weidemeyer, vice president of business aviation at Inmarsat, said: “Manufacturers, maintenance houses and operators saw the value of a reliable, global, high-speed WiFi solution early on and began STC programmes well in advance of Jet ConneX’s service launch. Equal credit goes to the maintenance directors and avionics leads who offered up aircraft for the long and expensive STC process. It’s because of these forward thinkers that we’re in such a great position. Together, Inmarsat and Honeywell have redefined cutting edge in the industry.”

Warren Nechtman, vice president of connectivity equipment at Honeywell Aerospace, said: “Honeywell has seen major interest and rapid adoption of our JetWave system for connected aircraft over the past year. Flight departments and passengers clearly want better inflight connectivity for everything from live-streaming football games to holding videoconferences at 30,000 feet. Honeywell and Inmarsat’s Ka-band technology is improving the quality of air travel for thousands of people.”