At the AEA Convention new-products introduction session yesterday, Send Solutions president David Gray unveiled the company’s low-cost Airtext Iridium satcom text messaging system for aircraft. Priced at $9,750, Airtext is a permanently installed Iridium system that should receive its first FAA supplemental type certificate in May on a Cessna Citation X, according to Gray. More airplanes will be added to the STC following that certification, and the target market is owner-flown turboprops through light jets.

Airtext is designed solely for texting via the Iridium network, although once the faster Iridium Next begins service, Send Solutions will add more features, Gray explained, because the system is already fitted with two Arinc 429 and two CAN bus connections, one serial port and three discretes. 

Texting is done via an app on passengers’ Android or iOS mobile devices. Passengers will each have a unique Airtext telephone number for texting, and every Airtext unit comes with two dedicated numbers. Additional dedicated numbers can be purchased for $25 apiece.

A passenger could provide one of the dedicated numbers as a contact number for text message while the passenger is airborne. Otherwise, the only way for a person on the ground to get in contact is for the passenger to first send a text message, then the person on the ground can respond. After the flight lands, Airtext sends a text to everyone on the ground who has communicated with that passenger to let them know the airplane has landed and to use that passenger’s regular mobile number.

Gray said that the Airtext system should be easy to install, though it will need a connection to an external Iridium antenna. If the airplane is already Iridium equipped, the Airtext unit can tap into an existing antenna, he said. Airtext contains two Bluetooth radios, each of which can handle eight passengers texting at once, so a total of 16 passengers can use the system at the same time. 

Airtext will work anywhere in the world, and there is no altitude limit before it can be switched on. Messaging prices are five cents per text but must be purchased in packages starting at $600 per year for 12,000 text message and topping out at $3,000 per year for 60,000 messages.