Viasat HEO payloads to soon support airlines with legacy GX hardware

Viasat’s commercial aviation customers whose aircraft are fitted with the legacy Inmarsat Global Xpress Ka-band inflight connectivity system will soon be able to tap into GX capacity via payloads on Space Norway’s’ Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellites to support inflight connectivity for passengers whilst traversing the Arctic.

“There are customers that are flying” the legacy GX architecture, based on the first-generation Honeywell JetWave terminal “that will take advantage of that in the next couple of quarters,” Don Buchman, vice president and general manager of Viasat’s Commercial Aviation business tells Runway Girl Network. “So, we’re deploying that infrastructure as planned.”

Earlier this year, the GX10A and GX10B payloads, which are housed aboard Space Norway’s two Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) HEO spacecraft, were brought into service for Viasat’s government customers. And recently, Viasat demonstrated the satellites’ steerable Mil-Ka beam capabilities to government and military partners aboard a Gultstream III business jet flying more than 600 miles of Arctic territory in Northern Canada.

Next up, commercial airlines and business aircraft operators will be served by these steerable-beam payloads, enabling Viasat to tout multi-orbit HEO/GEO functionality for cabin connectivity, given that the rest of its Ka-band fleet comprises geostationary satellites.

“It’ll be a multi-tenant thing. We have government on there. Then we’ll be taking the legacy aviation,” explains Buchman.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is among the airlines which are expected to benefit from this initiative, as its A350s are fitted with GX.

“And then we’ll be taking the mainline GM-40 customers onto that product as well,” Buchman says of the airlines carrying Viasat’s gimbaled antenna solution that supports its high-capacity IFC service over ViaSat-1, -2 and -3 satellites including several US airlines.

This work is perhaps less pressing, however. Presently, there are no GM-40 customers flying over the Arctic due to Russian airspace restrictions, Buchman says.

Of note, the GX10A and GX10B payloads are not approved to support cockpit communications and safety services. Iridium provides comprehensive global polar coverage, including for the Arctic and Antarctica via its L-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.

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