A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft.

Gulfstream is now the latest airframer to partner with Honeywell Aerospace on the certification of the JetWaveX in-flight connectivity system.&nbsp;Under the deal announced this week at NBAA-BACE, Honeywell will work with the Savannah, Georgia-based OEM to certify the Jetwave X platform—the successor to the manufacturer’s JetWave system—for the GIV, GV, G450, G550, G600, G650, and G700.
Bombardier and Dassault previously signed similar agreements with Honeywell, and the first installation of the Ka-band system is currently underway on Honeywell’sFalcon 900 demonstrator. “We just have to finish the STC now,” said Honeywell Aerospace president of services and connectivity Jason Wissink.
“I think Dassault may be the first out of the gate in terms of availability, and then I expect Gulfstream and Bombardier to be right behind,” he added. “We’ll be steadily announcing specific dates for STCs throughout the year, but I expect the majority of the large-cabin fleets will have availability by the end of next year.”
According to Wissink, aftermarket installations will begin through the OEM’s factory-authorized service centers as system upgrades before becoming integrated at the production line level.
For those upgrades, Honeywell designed the system to use as much of the existing infrastructure as possible. “The line-replaceable units themselves will change, but what we’re really focused on reusing is the radome,” Wissink told AIN. “The radome is a fairly significant portion of the investment.
“We wanted people to be able to reuse that and then as much wiring and connectors as possible, so that you don’t have to fully rerun all the wires if you already have an existing JetWave system; you have a very economical upgrade path.” Indeed, those savings could be on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars for customers considering an upgrade.
JetWave X is configured to access Viasat’s existing GX and Viasat satellite constellations, but it was designed to avoid the technological obsolescence of past systems.
“The system is provisioned to handle the full Ka frequency range, so that down the road, if a new satellite constellation launches that is applicable to business aviation, and it’s in the Ka frequency—which a lot of the new capacity is—we will have the technical ability to interface with those as well,” explained Wissink.
Honeywell’s new platform will retain the same 24/7 support and, in addition to improved connection speeds of up to 200 megabits per second, will also offer financial benefits.&nbsp;“You’re going to get an economic improvement on the price of your service plans, your monthly fees will go down, so you’re getting more performance for less cost,” said Wissink.&nbsp;
Among the first to install the system will be Florida-based charter provider Slate Aviation, which will feature JetWave X high-speed connectivity in its fleet of 35 Bombardier CRJ-200s and Challenger 850s. Through its Part 145 repair arm, Slate will develop its own STC for those aircraft.

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.

Honeywell Inks JetWave X Deal with Gulfstream

First installations of the new high-speed KA-band system are expected next year

Gulfstream is the latest business jet airframer to partner with Honeywell on the new JetWave X high-speed connectivity system.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Amy Wilder

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Noise settings adapt to every cockpit environment

Bose Continues Quest for Comfort, Clarity, and Quiet

Matt Thurber

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Company has developed six Starlink STCs this year

FAA Approves Starlink for Citation Latitude, Longitude

Charles Alcock

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Comlux America will outfit six leased A220s and a pair of A321s for the start-up

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New developments and products in avionics, specifically about aircraft electronics in the cockpit.

NBAA-BACE 2025

In this article

Gulfstream

Honeywell

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FAA Approves Starlink for Citation Latitude, Longitude

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Magnifica Air Turns to Comlux for VIP Airbuses

Comlux America will outfit six leased A220s and a pair of A321s for the start-up

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Viasat Rethinks In-flight Connectivity Performance and Quality

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