Hughes Network Systems and Gogo have reached key milestones in their partnership to enhance in-flight connectivity for business aviation. The companies have completed on-time delivery of the Gogo half-duplex (HDX) and full-duplex (FDX) Aviation electronically steerable antenna (ESA) terminals.

This progress follows the first FAA-approved supplemental type certificates (STCs) for the Gogo Galileo FDX terminal on a Boeing BBJ and the Bombardier Challenger 600 series, expanding coverage for more than 9,000 business jets.

“With two Hughes ESA models for Gogo now in production and flying, business jet operators across the full range of aircraft types can fully leverage the advantages of the Eutelsat OneWeb Low Earth Orbit satellite network to stay connected,” says Reza Rasoulian, SVP and GM of the aviation business unit at Hughes. “Gogo’s expert validation of our ESA technology underscores our industry-leading capabilities, and we’re excited to support the business aviation sector with robust, scalable solutions that ensure high-throughput, low-latency and uninterrupted in-flight connectivity.”

The HDX and FDX ESAs enable the Gogo Galileo system, providing reliable connectivity across business, VVIP, head of state and military aircraft. Built at Hughes’ AS9100 certified facility in Maryland, each ESA features a design with no moving parts for ease of maintenance and installation.

Chris Moore, CEO of Gogo, says: “Hughes is a highly capable and dependable technology and manufacturing partner. Its on-time delivery of both the HDX and FDX electronically steerable antenna systems has been instrumental in advancing our certification efforts. We’ve successfully obtained 19 STCs for HDX with another 21 in development, and now with the first two STCs for FDX and eight more underway, we are enabling scalable deployment across multiple airframes and accelerating our connectivity roadmap.”