Inmarsat has installed and activated its Jet ConneX (JX) inflight wi-fi solution on over 600 business jets worldwide. Powered by its global Ka-band satellite network, installations have been growing rapidly, with a 50 per cent increase in the past year alone.

The latest installation milestone follows a series of announcements this year detailing Inmarsat's fully-funded development roadmap for its global Ka-band network, Global Xpress (GX), which currently consists of four high-throughput satellites. The next evolution of the network will deliver eight additional payloads, marking a transformative step-change in inflight broadband capabilities. As part of this programme, Inmarsat will provide inflight connectivity in the Arctic region.

The GX network will offer enhanced, focused, ultra-high-power capacity that can be immediately relocated in line with high demand flight patterns and seasonal demand surges across the globe. This future-proofs the ability for business aviation customers to invest in a consistently high quality of service into the future.

Senior vice president Kai Tang says: “By successfully achieving more than 600 Jet ConneX installations in just under three years, we have highlighted the ever-increasing demand for global, reliable and high-speed wi-fi for business aviation users.”

He continues: “Looking ahead, our ambitious plans to build on these capabilities will introduce unprecedented new opportunities to our market and also for our global network of value added resellers, Collins Aerospace, Honeywell and Satcom Direct.”

JX is the preferred linefit option of manufacturers such as Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault. In addition, Inmarsat has received type certificate and supplemental type certificate approvals for Jet ConneX from the FAA and EASA across all popular platforms, OEMs and aftermarket MROs. Aircraft connect to the service using JetWave hardware, offered by Honeywell Aerospace.