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.

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Viasat has enhanced satellite communications coverage for customers flying super-midsize business jets in South America and the Middle East. The optimized service targets aircraft such as Bombardier Challenger 3500s, Embraer Praetors, and Gulfstream G280s equipped with Viasat’s compact GAT 5510 Global Aero Terminal.
“We needed to make sure that we have this coverage for this category to the Middle East, and for customers based in North America all the way to South America continuously,” said Viasat business area global director Claudio D’Amico. “That's deployed now with good feedback from our operators and our OEM partners.”
Customers can have the service enhancement installed via an over-the-air software download and remote configuration. Already available in North and Central America, the Caribbean, North Atlantic tracks, and Europe, the high-speed broadband connectivity provided by Viasat’s geostationary orbit satellite network is transitioning from the Viasat Ka-band product line to its JetXP brand, which now has more than 600 customers.
“This started as an enhancement program late last year where we were improving and changing our service offering to remove speed caps and manage the network to deliver more capacity and more capability to our customers,” D’Amico explained. JetXP is the service that Viasat distributes through its channel partners Collins Aerospace, Gogo, and Honeywell. “It provides much better network management and network allocation tools,” he said.&nbsp;
Viasat has removed service speed caps, he added, but “we do not emphasize top speeds. We don't think that's a good representation of the overall customer connectivity experience. Although we see speeds of more than 100 Mpbs, we don't think that's what the overall message should be. The overall message in terms of JetXP is that we would like to make sure customers can do what they need to do without having to run a speed test. The experience is not just on the connectivity side, it also comes in terms of the support. If there's some sort of issue, do you have the right infrastructure in place? [JetXP is] that all-encompassing improvement in terms of performance and delivering to the operator the capability and white glove support that comes with the support infrastructure that we're still offering through our channel partners.”&nbsp;
“This sentiment has also been reflected by insights from our annual industry survey, which asked business aviation professionals to share their views on in-flight connectivity,” added Viasat head of business aviation Kai Tang. “Reliability, coverage, consistency and overall experience—including white-glove customer service and 24/7 global support—were found to be the most important factors, followed by speed. So while we’re consistently seeing speeds that exceed 100 Mbps over Europe and other regions, these survey results highlight the market’s understanding that beyond a certain bandwidth threshold, high-speed tests do not reflect the actual passenger experience. Instead, you need a combination of several different factors and that’s where JetXP excels.”
The Viasat network includes 20 Ka-band satellites providing near global coverage, including more capacity in high-demand areas in Europe and North America, according to D’Amico, combining assets from Viasat and its 2023 acquisition of Inmarsat. ViaSat-3 satellites will soon begin serving the business aviation market, with -3B and -3C coming online late this year or early next year, followed by additional GX satellites. These include GX-10, which will provide polar coverage.
“We have a lot in the pipeline,” D’Amico said. “The name of the game is to stay ahead of the demand. That's what these satellites enable us to do in the long term.”

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