SmartSky aims to complete 2021 with coverage activated for roughly 80% of continental US business aviation flight routes on its way to full coverage in the first half of 2022. With STCs covering more than 4,000 aircraft already in hand, it is aiming to challenge the status quo for inflight connectivity and to deliver value to the business aviation community.

It is taking orders through its new early arrival promotion. The launch of commercial operations is supported by its widespread and growing network availability. SmartSky's OEM and MRO partners will begin installations and complete additional STCs, and value added resellers are in place to activate, connect and serve customers.

“Now is the time to introduce our best in class connectivity solution to the business aviation community, new from the ground up,” says David Helfgott, CEO, SmartSky Networks. “COVID-19 has accelerated expectations for inflight connectivity in business aviation, and those who fly have become increasingly frustrated by data that is delivered poorly and is slow, unreliable or not secure.

“SmartSky's high speed network, flexible platform and innovative hardware provide access to data that feels as immediate, fluid and natural at 35,000ft as it does on the ground; dependable, high speed, secure and interoperable.”

In the past year, SmartSky says it has achieved many technical and business milestones on time, to spec and on budget, including operational coverage for the majority of business aviation flight hours in the continental United States (CONUS), FCC and FAA approvals, confirmation of Honeywell and Avionica as authorised value added resellers and raising over $100 million in funding.

“At SmartSky, our products, systems and solutions have been built with technical integrity and excellence, working closely with the industry to provide the best combination of features and functionality. We are ready,” adds Helfgott.

With its patented beamforming technology and network architecture, SmartSky says it delivers a superior air to ground inflight connectivity experience for business aviation. The result is a low latency, high bandwidth and symmetrical service capable of providing responsive internet access for cloud based business applications, video teleconferencing, encrypted communications and supporting the aviation community's operational data and real time telematics needs.