With more low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellations coming, including Amazon’s Kuiper and Telesat’s Lightspeed, and an emerging trend toward multiorbit satellite services for flexibility and reliability, there are expected to be further developments in satcom systems and antennas announced at this year’s NBAA-BACE.

Starlink broadband internet has arrived in business aviation, and rival OneWeb is coming early next year. Fractional operator Flexjet certified the first Starlink installation on the Gulfstream G650 in September and all large-cabin Gulfstreams and Bombardier Globals are planned to be approved by year-end.

With more than 4,800 K_u-band satellites already in LEO, Starlink Aviation can provide high-speed, low-latency inflight internet via a low-profile electronically steered phased-array antenna (ESA) atop the aircraft.

ESAs are simpler and lighter than mechanically steered satcom antennas developed to connect with geostationary orbiting (GEO) satellites. They are also necessary to generate the agile beams required to track multiple LEO spacecraft as they race across the sky, handing over from satellite to satellite every few minutes.

The launch customer for Starlink Aviation is public charter operator JSX, which began installing systems on its fleet of Embraer ERJ-145s and -135s at the end of 2022. Flexjet developed the supplemental type certificate for the Gulfstream installation with sister company Aerospace and plans to move on to its Bombardier Challengers and Embraer Phenoms and Praetors.

Now owned by Eutelsat, OneWeb has two routes into private aviation. One is Gogo Business Aviation and its Galileo broadband service. Working with Hughes Network Systems, Gogo has developed a pair of ESAs, the small form-factor HDX and HDX for larger aircraft, to enable its Avance air-to-ground connectivity platform to access the OneWeb system beginning in 2024.

The other route is through business aviation connectivity provider Satcom Direct, which has partnered with Israel’s Gilat Satellite Networks to develop a low-profile ESA that is planned to be available from 2025 to provide inflight access to OneWeb.

The ESA will join Satcom Direct’s Plane Simple portfolio, which includes Inmarsat K_a- and Intelsat K_u-band mechanically steered tail-mount antennas manufactured by Germany’s QEST and the Sidewinder ESA being developed by Stellar Blu Solutions and capable of providing hybrid LEO/GEO connectivity.