In response to a greater-than-anticipated demand for its Jet ConneX Ka-band services, Inmarsat has released a new package, JX-Pro, that will provide unlimited usage and speeds up to 33 percent higher than previously available to business aircraft users. The package is available to new and existing customers and comes as Jet ConneX has passed the 500th installation—a milestone reached just a few years after the broadband service became available.
“Jet ConneX has received an extremely positive response from the business aviation market. More than 500 installations have already been completed and take-up rates show no signs of slowing down,” said Kai Tang, senior v-p of channel at Inmarsat Aviation. “We strive to evolve the service in response to market feedback, as the launch of JX-Pro today has shown. Demand is expected to be strong and we look forward to rolling out the groundbreaking new capabilities of this package offering with our global network of partners.”
Noting the service drew the first couple hundred customers in the first year and that grew to 400 within the first two years, Tang said, “We’ve been pleasantly surprised. We are pleased to see our strategy play out.”
Jet ConneX went live in late 2016, providing seamless global coverage of in-flight broadband services that offered speeds of up to 15 Mbps. It initially launched with a network of three geostationary satellites that provided global coverage. Inmarsat has since added a fourth to help reinforce demand and provide backup capacity and is planning the launch of a fifth later this year to provide additional capacity over Europe and the Middle East.
Tang told AIN that rather than taking a typical approach of providing regional coverage and then spreading globally, Inmarsat strives to provide global coverage and then provide regional reinforcement. The roadmap sees the launch of two more satellites, in the I-6 constellation, in 2020 and 2021 that will serve to provide support for both its Ka-band and SwiftBroadband services. For Ka-band, the additional satellites will enable Inmarsat to manage “hot spots,” rolling areas of increased demand, as well as set up Jet Connex for increased services in the future, Tang said.
