Inmarsat has announced that 75 corporate and government aircraft have now been activated with Swift64. The system offers users a high-speed in-flight communication service for e-mailing and browsing the web. “The speed we’re offering allows customers to do a great deal more than the average

in-flight system.

“We’re really replicating what passengers do in their offices and moving towards establishing that same kind of office communication in an aircraft environment,” said marketing manager Simon Tudge.

Inmarsat owns and operates a global mobile satellite network and delivers its communications solutions through a worldwide network of around 260 distributors. “We’re enabling customers to use

our service with a range of avionics manufacturers and service providers. Inmarsat provides two variants of the service, one of which is a mobile ISDN (a 64K single channel unit) and we’re also introducing a new mobile packet data service,” explained Tudge.

EMS Technologies is one of the partners selling the product onto its clients. Raymond Larkin, director of sales and marketing, told us: “We chose Inmarsat to partner with because it’s a known quantity and the company’s earned its roots in the market place.

“The system has worked very well and we have a number of business jet customers who have installed a router (which allows multiple laptops to connect in and have an office like layout).

“The installations can include a number of other components, such as file sharing and print sharing. The customers have found it very satisfying because they’ve gone from 9.6 kilabits per second to 64K on one channel and up to 128 kilabits per second on the two-channel system.”

Other Inmarsat partners include Thales Avionics, Thrane & Thrane and Stratos. “With our partners

it’s about giving choice to the customer, because they all have different needs. We’re providing an overall system, which various people can then add their value and expertise to.

“For the business aviation market, we work carefully with the operator to see what the customer needs rather than just taking something straight off the shelf,” said Tudge.

“This is a tool which supports both ends of the aircraft. People in the back of the cabin will be using it for office type applications, but it can also support the people in the front for weather briefings and weather maps. Pilots can call into weather services and download detailed information, plus the cabin crew can make arrangements for the passengers down line,” added Larkin.

Imarsat said that the Swift64 utilises existing company satellite communications antennas, which are currently installed in more than 1,400 private jets, minimising installation time and cost. “You don’t have to replace the existing infrastructure, so each avionics manufacturer is then looking how to approach that with either a stand alone module or integrating with the existing system.

“There are 75 terminals for the Swift 64 on the market place at the moment, but this is growing rapidly all the time with the deliveries coming out of EMS and the range of other avionics manufacturers,” said Tudge.