Available on Gulfstream G650/G650ER and Embraer ERJ135/145 jets, and ostensibly in line to be certified on several more Gulfstream and Bombardier large cabin aircraft before year-end, SpaceX’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-supported Starlink Aviation inflight connectivity service continues to snag headlines in civil aviation. But according to air-to-ground IFC rivals Gogo and SmartSky Networks, Starlink isn’t really infringing on their core ATG business.

For SmartSky, the cost of Starlink and its large fuselage-mounted antenna are considerations for many of the mid-size and smaller bizjets and turboprops it is targeting with its streaming class of nextgen ATG connectivity service.

“When considering Starlink, we think the Starlink price point for install and monthly recurring service charges are very high and thus only suited for very large jets,” said SmartSky president Ryan Stone, adding:

If Starlink shrinks to using a smaller antenna to cut costs and try to go down-market, it will also dramatically lower performance. There is no free lunch when solving the combined problem of antenna physics, regulatory obligations, and aircraft-imposed limitations.

Indeed, Morrisville, North Carolina-based SmartSky’s perspective is that its low-latency ATG kit for CONUS operations is complementary to satellite, regardless of which flavor or company is providing the latter.

“The market noise about the new emerging satellite technologies comes up frequently in conversations but seems to be impacting decisions and timing only on large cabin aircraft as to whether they should put on a Viasat/Inmarsat GEO Ka-band system today or wait for one of the LEO systems over the OneWeb or Starlink constellations,” Stone told Runway Girl Network.

“It hasn’t really crossed over to ATG, because ATG is aimed at a lower price point, domestic-focused customer. We have seen interest in SmartSky ATG being added in hybrid as a complement to aircraft that already have a Ka or Ku band system installed.” That enables the operator to exploit SmartSky when flying over CONUS, and satcom when over-water and overseas.

Broomfield, Colorado-headquartered Gogo, which blames “frantically busy maintenance schedules at the OEMs and dealers” and supply chain constraints as the main drivers behind its third quarter 2023 revenue decline, also appears unperturbed by new broadband satcom entrants, with CEO Oakleigh Thorne telling analysts on the company’s earnings conference call that Gogo’s “confidence against potential entrants has really grown” after it engaged in detailed market research this summer and found that North American flyers “generally medium-size jets on down” continue to gravitate to its current and future ATG products.

Said Thorne:

Most people worry about Starlink coming in. I think they’re still trying to find their way.

They keep changing their mind about what they’re going to do. And of course, that just doesn’t resonate very well with the business aviation market, which has long lead times and where people want very steady partners that they know they can trust to actually deliver products, service products, etc. So, we feel good about that.

It’s relevant to note that Gogo is working to launch its own competing OneWeb LEO satellite-powered global broadband service in 2H 2024 in partnership with Hughes, and intends to also offer hybrid ATG/satcom configurations. Branded Galileo, the LEO solution is being pitched at large and small aircraft alike. That, combined with Gogo’s work to deliver 5G ATG — now delayed until 3Q 2024 — and “potential new offerings from others”, means that “customers have extra impetus to wait and see what gets delivered and avoid discretionary spending in IFC in the short run”, Thorne did allow on the Gogo earnings call.

There are some open questions about when Starlink will be certified on a bevy of commercial and business aircraft types, as its own timetable for securing STCs suggests. Though some STCs for large cabin bizjets are expected to be available before year-end and in the first quarter of 2024, Starlink vows availability on a variety of other types in the “2024 and beyond” timeframe. And while the service is enjoying positive reviews at sea, in the air (with an admittedly light rollout thus far), and on board railroad operator Brightline’s trainsets, some of the limitations of a LEO-only service around hub airports are becoming clear, as RGN contributor Jason Rabinowitz recently observed on Brightline’s Orlando-Miami service. Once outside of the Orlando terminal complex, the service was speedy and reliable.

Business aviation is a special beast, requiring a high-touch customer service experience. Gogo provides its own customer support to operators, whereas SmartSky has pursued the route taken by most satellite providers, using a value added reseller (VAR) model for customer support, with Honeywell serving as VAR.

“It will be interesting to see how accepting BizAv customers are of Starlink’s ultra-low touch model,” said SmartSky’s Stone.

Whereas SmartSky and Gogo appear to be mostly on the same page when discussing the threat of new broadband satellite-based inflight connectivity services to their core ATG businesses, the two companies are squarely at odds with each other on a variety of other topics, including on the matter of SmartSky’s litigation against Gogo.

SmartSky in February 2022 filed its patent infringement lawsuit in the US Federal District Court in Delaware against Gogo, alleging that Gogo’s forthcoming 5G onboard Internet service and related hardware treads on four specific SmartSky patents. At that time, SmartSky also filed a motion for preliminary injunction, asking the court to immediately stop Gogo from making, using, and selling Gogo 5G while the infringement case proceeds.

In September 2022, the Delaware District Court denied SmartSky’s motion for a preliminary injunction. But one week later, SmartSky filed an appeal, asking the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reconsider the lower court’s decision on the preliminary injunction. Then, early this year, SmartSky added two recently issued patents to its infringement lawsuit against Gogo, notably including the ‘639 Patent’, which is part of a family of patents that together cover how base stations are arrayed in a wedge-shaped architecture in broadband, ATG wireless communications systems.

“There’s still no decision in their [SmartSky’s] appeal of the lower court denial of a temporary injunction. And we view that as a good sign because it’s been close to half a year now since that was heard,” said Gogo’s Thorne on the firm’s 3Q earnings call. “And if the court really felt that there was an urgent need to grant an injunction, one believes they would have granted that by now. Because when asking for a temporary injunction … time is of the essence. So, we feel good about that.”

Stone disputes this framing. “It would have been easy for the Appeals Court to give a quick rejection if they wanted to; they haven’t done that. We think it means the judges are carefully weighing the key points we’ve made,” he told RGN.

“We hope the Appeals Court will consider that Gogo’s public statements about sales of Gogo 5G are directly contradictory to what they argued before the Appeals Court. Ultimately, we are looking forward to reading what we hope is an insightful opinion in our favor when it is published, whether in whole or in part. Regardless, as we’ve said many times, the bar for a preliminary injunction is very high, as it asks for a decision well ahead of completing the full trial, currently scheduled in April, 2025.

“In the meantime, the next major development in our case is likely to stem from the claim construction hearing this December and the subsequent ruling on how to interpret those claim terms, which would be expected in Q1 2024.”

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