On Thursday, July 28, SmartSky marked its greatest milestone as the leading connectivity provider for business aviation by announcing its network is live nationwide. Availability of the newest, state of the art solution for the entire aircraft that makes connecting to what’s most important as effortless at 35,000 ft in the air as it is on the ground is fantastic news on its own. The ability to experience SmartSky performance in the air in real-time coast-to-coast makes this milestone that much more significant.
With hundreds of sites deployed, SmartSky’s network density far exceeds competing ATG networks to enable consistent superior performance for business aviation across the continental United States. View the current coverage map here. “This is a momentous achievement,” said SmartSky CEO Dave Helfgott. “Our service brings a new level of connectivity and capability to the business aviation industry that transcends any solution previously available, particularly in the ATG sector.”
Utilizing the unlicensed 2.4GHz spectrum band, SmartSky’s network employs patented know-how that combines advanced 4G and 5G technologies to optimize scalability, transmission range, and power to and from the aircraft even in the high-interference environments over congested urban areas.
Adds SmartSky President Ryan Stone, “As we complete entry-into-service, our initial customers are flying and using the service to send data off the aircraft as easily as they stream it on. In concert, our world-class engineering team is using our software-defined network infrastructure to continuously fine tune for optimal performance and coverage.”
Further demonstrating the network’s capability, on July 29, SmartSky hosted a demonstration day with sales and installation partner Global Aviation Technologies in Wichita. The day included 45 minute demonstration flights where passengers were able to livestream, post photos, upload large files, connect to VPNs and hold video conference calls, as effortlessly as on the ground. Devices used in flights outnumbered passengers by two to three times, showcasing SmartSky’s patented technology with beamforming that assigns a separate connection to each aircraft on the network so that users enjoy dedicated capacity for their use as well as unparalleled connection privacy. Here is just one of the passenger quotes from the day:
“I thought it was incredible. What you have in your system is low latency, it had high bandwidth, I was able to do everything I wanted to do. The people I know that want this technology want to have meetings in the sky, and this would definitely allow them to do that. We had the bandwidth capability to do a lot of stuff. Chris had multiple movies going on at once as well as others using multiple devices and I didn’t see any latency.”
Watch the full Global Aviation Technologies Experience Day video here. SmartSky expects to hold more events like this in the coming months.
SmartSky’s enhanced air-to-ground network enables aircraft to use 60 MHz of unlicensed spectrum for consistent, responsive data flow to and from the aircraft for passengers, flight crews, and aircraft operations. Designed with input from aviation industry partners, SmartSky’s antennas and on-board radio are lightweight and easy to install.
With STCs complete for many popular business aviation aircraft, SmartSky’s partners are installing the Company’s innovative hardware on individual and fleet aircraft. Additional STCs for more aircraft types are nearing completion with the FAA, most recently announced was certification of the Citation X installed by and on a flyExclusive aircraft. Customers have their choice of service plans with monthly data allowance levels from 5GB to unlimited and discounts for pre–payment and multi-year commitments. It’s time to experience the SmartSky difference for yourself.[inline-image=217314]
