The global inflight connectivity revolution—Gogo Galileo

Gogo Business Aviation has been providing premium inflight connectivity to business aviation operators for more than 30 years and the company has never stopped innovating. But with all the innovation in its illustrious past, 2024 is looking to be one of the most pivotal years in its history.

For operators in Europe and elsewhere around the globe, the company is building momentum leading up to the launch of Gogo Galileo, its new global broadband satellite service, later this year. And Gogo believes the new inflight connectivity service will change the industry like never before.

“Gogo Galileo and LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite connectivity will revolutionize business aviation inflight connectivity by delivering a solution for aircraft of all sizes, especially small jets, which have limited options today, and no broadband options outside North America,” said Sergio Aguirre, Gogo’s president and COO. “Our HDX antenna is small enough to fit on any business aircraft, something no one else is offering. We will begin flight testing with the HDX terminal this summer and everything is progressing as we expected.”

At the end of March, Gogo announced it had achieved a major milestone with Gogo Galileo when it completed an end-to-end connection using the HDX antenna on the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO satellite network. It was the first major step required for the company to prove the functionality of the antenna with the network, and ultimately the entire Gogo Galileo ecosystem, including the AVANCE LRU.

“The Gogo Galileo program is progressing so well, and we expect it to provide a home or office-like experience in the sky to meet the lofty expectations for fast inflight connectivity in business aviation, with very low latency thanks to the transformative power of LEO satellite connectivity,” Aguirre continued. “The electronically steered HDX antenna is unlike anything else on the market worldwide. It’s a technological marvel. Gogo Galileo will serve the entire breadth of business aviation.”

When considering an inflight connectivity solution and provider, Aguirre says there’s more to consider than fast data speeds and low latency. It’s important to understand if the company is committed to business aviation for the long term. When it comes to the onboard equipment, the difference between aviation grade versus consumer grade is critical to understand.  

“When you’re making the kind of investment to add inflight connectivity to your aircraft, you can’t afford to make the wrong choice,” said Aguirre. “Does the company have a history of proven, reliable performance for business aviation aircraft? And what kind of customer support will you receive if something goes wrong?

“Gogo only does inflight connectivity for business aviation, and we do it very well. Our singular focus on business aviation means no compromises. Your inflight connectivity is our only concern. We provide customer support from real people who are experts in this industry, and they are available 24/7/365, including every major holiday.”

Gogo also offers some unique benefits to operators that other inflight connectivity providers don’t. Those include features like Gogo Vision – the industry’s only inflight entertainment service offering hundreds of movies and TV programs, a 3D moving map, 30 leading magazines in digital format, and business news – along with service such as over-the-air (OTA) software updates to keep all Gogo AVANCE LRUs current with the latest technology.

“We implemented over-the-air software updates for our AVANCE systems recently which was an incredible achievement by our team,” said Aguirre. “AVANCE customers can now receive automatic updates to their system software, for one aircraft or an entire fleet, from anywhere in the world, over the air. No one else in business aviation can update their system software so efficiently.”