Inmarsat has appointed Raytheon Technologies’ Collins Aerospace business as the latest global distribution partner for its ground-breaking new SwiftJet inflight connectivity service. SwiftJet, which enters commercial service this year, will offer the fastest ever speeds over L-band for the global business aviation market.
The agreement marks an expansion to the companies’ long-standing partnership. Customers can now talk to Collins Aerospace, along with their preferred installation providers and aircraft manufacturers, about SwiftJet price plans, service contracts, upgrade feasibility, and more. All this means the service’s advanced capabilities can be added to their fleet as soon as it becomes available.
Powered by Inmarsat’s ELERA satellite network, SwiftJet offers seamless global coverage across flight routes and maximum speeds of 2.6Mbps, up to six times faster than Inmarsat’s existing L-band business aviation connectivity service, SwiftBroadband (SBB).
This provides operators with certainty that their passengers will enjoy consistent, reliable connectivity for both business or leisure purposes, wherever and whenever they fly.
SwiftJet will allow passengers to create a secure office in the sky, with enhanced capabilities for video calls, web browsing, email, texting, cloud-syncing and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams. It is also fast enough to enable social media and video streaming like YouTube, which was previously challenging over L-band, the company says.
The service will use advanced hardware that can be equipped on a broad range of aircraft, including smaller jets, and also supports cockpit and safety services. For thousands of existing business aviation customers using Inmarsat’s SBB service, there will be a seamless, natural upgrade path through minimal changes to the installed equipment. New customers will also experience the same ease of installation as with any Inmarsat L-band terminal.
SwiftJet is the latest addition to Inmarsat’s growing portfolio of business aviation connectivity services, and will be available alongside SBB and Jet ConneX (JX) — the most popular premium, high-speed broadband solution on the market, powered by a global Ka-band satellite constellation and installed on more than 1,350 aircraft worldwide. Collins Aerospace is also a JX distribution partner.
Kai Tang, Inmarsat’s head of business aviation, said “We know that our business aviation customers crave the certainty that quality inflight connectivity can provide, whether their passengers are working, streaming or video-calling from 30,000 feet. We are thrilled customers can now talk to one of our most trusted partners, Collins Aerospace, about bringing SwiftJet’s ground-breaking capabilities onto their jets later this year.”