Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

Satellite manufacturer and operator Viasat has raised the bar on the performance of its Jet ConneX business aviation satcom and unveiled the new JetXP service with uncapped connectivity speeds, expanded capacity, and more network prioritization for business aviation customers.
The JetXP service is available to customer aircraft equipped for Viasat’s Ka-band GX satellite network (formerly Inmarsat prior to Viasat’s <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-05-31/satcom-giants-joined-after-viasat-closes-inmarsat-buy">acquisition</a> of Inmarsat in May). This includes airborne terminals sold by Honeywell, Collins Aerospace, and Satcom Direct. No new hardware is required to take advantage of JetXP, although the new service is an optional feature.
In 2021, Viasat uncapped service speeds on its satellite network, resulting in positive feedback from customers. Claudio D’Amico, Viasat's business area global director, said this move “helped inform this enhancement program that we’re bringing to our Jet ConneX customers today. It’s the first step towards a broader harmonization of service and leveraging of assets that Viasat has access to right now.”
“How we’re describing JetXP is an enhancement program for our Jet ConneX customers,” said D’Amico. “We’ve learned over the years, and have been evolving from the legacy Viasat, from extensive market research with OEMs, customers, and partners…that a good connectivity experience doesn’t come from a speed-based plan, especially one that’s just talking about peak data rates. Research shows that what represents that good experience is the reliability and consistency that you can deliver…to an operator to do whatever they want, be it entertainment, productivity tools, [or] applications, all of which require a lot of data.”
To deliver the enhanced JetXP service, Viasat has optimized its satellite network to prioritize business aviation users and added more capacity. Hundreds of customers have tested the JetXP service with positive initial results, according to Viasat. Typical uses of the service include bulk file transfers, real-time entertainment, and web browsing. All of these “have traditionally performed strongly using Jet ConneX, but have become even more reliable, consistent, and snappy,” the company said.
To continue building its network, Viasat has launched more satellites. While its ViaSat-3 had an anomaly with a reflector, he said, “it is in operation and we’re seeing very good performance. The goal is to bring that to business aviation customers in the near future.” Viasat’s GX10A and 10B payloads launched on two Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission satellites on August 11 and they are being positioned in highly elliptical orbits that will enable broadband service in the Arctic.
“There’s a plan to bring that capacity for business aviation, supporting the very few polar routes that we have in our world for those ultra-long-range cabin [jets],” D’Amico said. “We continue to work with different options of satellites and integrating them into our network as we see a specific need in the region or a customer use case that drives that. We have this robust product/satellite roadmap that enables us to continue to bring the capacity that exceeds the demand that we’re projecting.”
Viasat’s satellite assets aren’t just making connectivity available everywhere in the world, including remote areas such as oceans. The company is able to focus the capacity where it is needed and not where there is negligible airborne traffic. “We can translate that into that consistent and reliable connectivity experience that we’re trying to deliver over Teterboro at 9 a.m. on a Monday or Tuesday,” he said.

News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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