OneWeb and its service provider Gogo Business Aviation are ready for switching on of Eutelsat's low-earth-orbit satcom service on January 1. Gogo has 27 supplemental type certificate (STC) programs under development for installation of its smaller HDX electronically steered antenna. Additional STCs are planned for the larger FDX antenna, which should be available in the second quarter of 2025.

HDX system speeds are 43 to 60 Mbps while the FDX will offer 145 to 195 Mpbs, and this antenna is designed to fit on larger aircraft. At this week's MEBAA show in Dubai visitors have been invited to visit the Gogo chalet and try out the FDX service on their devices.

Earlier this month, Gogo completed the acquisition of Satcom Direct for $375 million in cash and issuance of five million shares of Gogo stock to SD ownership. The sellers could further realize an additional $225 million “tied to realizing performance thresholds over the next four years,” according to Gogo, which funded the deal with $250 million in debt and $150 million in cash.

The acquisition expands Gogo’s airborne connectivity offerings, making the Broomfield, Colorado company “the only multi-orbit, multi-band, in-flight connectivity provider serving the needs of every segment of the global business aviation and military/government mobility markets.” These offerings include Gogo’s air-to-ground network, covering the continental U.S. and parts of Canada and Alaska; Satcom Direct’s FlexExec Intelsat Ku-band and PlaneSimple Ku- and Ka-band geostationary orbit (GEO) satcom antennas and terminal hardware and global broadband customers plus other satellite-related and cybersecurity services; and Gogo’s upcoming Galileo low-earth-orbit (LEO) satcom on Eutelsat’s OneWeb satellite network.