Cabin Interior and Electronics
Innovation, Acquisitions Abound in Connectivity Market
Bizav users have more choices, although consolidation is taking place
Eutelsat low-earth-orbit satellite
Low-earth-orbit satellite communications are gaining significant ground in business aviation. © Eutelsat

This past year has seen extraordinary changes in the airborne connectivity market, with new entrant Starlink making big inroads, SmartSky’s sudden shutdown and resurrection, Gogo buying Satcom Direct, and Viasat consolidating its 2023 purchase of Inmarsat. Competition in the low-earth-orbit (LEO) market is heating up with the arrival of Starlink’s aviation service and the imminent launch of Gogo Galileo on Eutelsat’s OneWeb network, and other entrants such as Telesat and Kuiper planning to enter this space.

Meanwhile, the U.S. air-to-ground (ATG) market, thought to be ceded to Gogo Business Aviation after SmartSky’s shutdown in August, will remain competitive with Apcela’s October announcement that it is buying SmartSky’s assets and relaunching the ATG service. Apcela, which built the network for SmartSky, hopes to complete the acquisition by the end of the year, and plans call to switch the service back on around mid-December. This will be welcome news for aircraft owners who installed SmartSky systems and were facing the prospect of replacing them.