Gogo, the global brand having an aviation connectivity business focused purely on business aviation and serving the military/government sector provides a full ecosystem to its customers. The Gogo Galileo system optimizes LEO connectivity connected with compact flat panel antennas that enables small as well as large aircraft to have high-speed broadband connectivity onboard an aircraft. In an exclusive interview, Dave Falberg, SVP Sales, EMEA&APAC, Gogo shares his insight with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, about how the Gogo systems works and the USP that makes them the leaders in the segment. Excerpts… Q: What products does Gogo have in its portfolio and how does it serve the market? A: Gogo stands quite uniquely in the space with regard to connectivity around business aviation and military aircraft. We offer multi-orbit, multi-band solutions namely LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellites which you can see across the market is changing the way people are using connectivity on the aircraft. The product is available within our portfolio which is designed to be agnostic. Regardless of any platform, budget and mission, our portfolio has a solution which we’ve put together and working with our partners, is best of breed. Be it with Viasat, Hughes, Eutalsat, OneWeb, Intelsat, which is now SES, we have taken all of those different elements to create best of breed standalone solutions. When we blend those solutions it offers unparalleled redundancy, unparalleled performance, all wrapped up in our 24×7 service support. Our expert team which understands the systems onboard the aircraft is there to provide solutions to a customer’s query anytime they need it. From a connectivity standpoint in business aviation, military and government , our portfolio is such, that regardless of what your requirement is and what technology you favour or you’re looking towards, we have that available to us, to offer to our customers. Q: What are the primary sectors that Gogo caters to in-flight wifi segment? A: In Business Aviation, our product is versatile and can be equipped on any category of business jets. It can range from the VVIP head of state aircraft, i.e., ACJ or BBJ or Gulfstream, Bombardier, Global, Challengers, Embraer, Dassault, all the way down to the smaller jets and turboprop aircraft like PC-12s and anything in between. Recently, with the advent of our Galileo solutions, we’ve created the opportunity for high speed connectivity even on smaller jets, which previously either weren’t able to have it or it was cost prohibitive to put those onboard. Q: How does this in-flight connectivity work? Can you brief me on tech details? A: The systems onboard the aircraft connect to different satellite networks effectively, which are either LEO networks, typically comprised of multiple hundreds of satellites flying in a low orbit configuration, around 750 miles from the earth. The technology onboard the aircraft is effectively the antenna, radome and modem units, which actually connect through and then integrate with the onboard cabin Wi-Fi systems. With each of these different elements, we’re able to offer a level of control and create an experience for the customers. It’s as close to using the internet in the office or at home, but on the aircraft. We also offer GEO technology, which are geostationary satellites and typically connect using tail mount antennas or fuselage mount antennas onboard the aircraft. They work in the same way. They’re connecting to the GEO networks, which are made up of a much smaller number of satellites, maybe five or six in number. They are situated around 22,000 miles above the earth so effectively, they have a much larger footprint in terms of their coverage. All of them offer pros and cons in terms of availability, coverage, reliability, performance and budget. Operators can choose between either LEO& GEO technology or equip both. Q: Could you highlight the USP of Gogo Galileo in terms of technology and service support? A: The Galileo hardware and our Plane Simple hardware are designed very much with protection of investment in mind, simplified installation, and ensure that we keep the number of units that are involved in that solution as low as possible. From a cost perspective, its cheaper for customers to install. From a management perspective, if there is an issue onboard, then it’s very simple for us to be able to swap out individual units. We don’t have multiple units in there, and from a troubleshooting standpoint, it becomes much simpler for us to administer and to manage those, and that is both on the LEO side and the GEO side. The Galileo terminal comprises a flat panel antenna and router onboard the aircraft, so there’s only two units. A number of our customers – we have over 2,000 SDR routers flying internationally today – already have half of the Galileo solution onboard their aircraft as the router is compatible with the Galileo and Plane Simple antennas. Q: With new players coming in, do you see any competition in this segment? What factors make you dominant in this sector? A: The main USP for Gogo is that the solutions that we provide are ‘ ours’ and that we can offer multi-orbit, multi-band connectivity globally – we are the only company that can do that right now. Last year Gogo purchased Satcom Direct and before acquisition both of those organisations were focused purely on business aviation connectivity. Gogo primarily on the air-to-ground and LEO market, and Satcom Direct on the GEO sector. The market is in a period of flux at the moment and as such is driving great innovation. There is new technology coming both on the LEO and GEO sides, and what makes us particularly unique is the added value that we wrap around the service. We see the market expanding in terms of choice and innovation which is great for customers. We are on the leading edge as we’re able to take the best of what is coming, make a judgement as to whether our customers are going to benefit from
