Camarillo, California-headquartered private jet charter and management company Sun Air Jets has named Satcom Direct as its preferred supplier for flight deck datalink connectivity services for its fleet of managed and charter aircraft. Activations of the SD FlightDeck Freedom (FDF) communications platform, which supports secure and reliable datalink services between crew, air traffic control and ground personnel, are already underway.

The majority of the mixed fleet, which includes Bombardier Global and Challenger types, Gulfstream models, Citation X aircraft and Hawker airframes, will be using the new FDF services by the end of the year. Sun Air is optimising the power of FDF flight tracking and benefiting from significant automation pushing real-time information about hazardous weather, geo-notifications, security events and other critical flight path data. The immediacy and accuracy of these vital updates were significant factors in Sun Air's selection process

SD director of flight deck services Nick Cook explains: “FDF improves situational awareness, reduces pilot workload and enhances safety as it conveys real-time data that might impact a planned route. It also meets compliance requirements for aircraft operating in international airspace. The platform's open architecture design allows for integration with third-party services, including trip planning. This all contributes to facilitating a streamlined flight experience for our customers and their passengers.”

This follows Sun Air's confirmation of its adoption of ForeFlight's flight planning services to support its international charter activity at NBAA. The seamless integration of the flight planning product with the FDF service adds immediate and tangible value to Sun Air operations and consequently its customers.

“We undertook a review of our existing services and recognised the benefit of selecting a solution that meets our fleet's specific needs, missions and budget requirements," says Sun Air director of operations Ed Fares. "We wanted a comprehensive flight deck datalink service that could give us better flight tracking information and also integrate with our selected flight planning solution. SD delivers a technologically advanced suite of services that improves our efficiencies and is underpinned by impressive customer support. We're investing in technology to enhance our customer services and know that SD is doing the same. This heavily influenced our selection process.”