Cabin Interior and Electronics
SmartSky Shuts Down Connectivity Network
Move leaves owners of SmartSky systems with orphaned hardware and no more service
Citation Excel
SmartSky used this Citation Excel for airborne testing and demonstrations. © Matt Thurber/AIN

After spending years and hundreds of millions of dollars building an air-to-ground (ATG) airborne connectivity network to compete with industry pioneer Gogo, SmartSky Networks announced that it “has ceased business operations effective August 16, 2024.” A company statement posted on its website blamed lack of additional financing for the shutdown.

Like most in the business aviation industry, an aviation manager in New York was taken by surprise by the shutdown. His company had installed a SmartSky system in the principal’s airplane in February at a total cost of $150,000. “[The] system performance is great,” he posted on Facebook. “[It] blows away Gogo L5. [I’m] not looking forward to this conversation with the owner on Monday.”