Connectivity by the numbers and beyond…

Connectivity by the numbers and beyond…

What’s in a year? Yes, of course, 365 days, 52 weeks, and 12 months, but for us here at SD, the last year has been so much more than just an aggregation of time.  We are marking a significant milestone and celebrating one year since the first variant of our Plane Simple® antenna series, the SD Plane Simple Ku-band tail-mount terminal, began in-service connectivity.

By all accounts, this is the most successful launch of any antenna introduced to the business aviation market. It represents the fastest development and service introduction of an antenna that immediately fulfilled its promise of delivering the fastest bandwidth and consistent global coverage from the get-go. Powered by the Intelsat FlexExec multi-layered satellite constellation, it is still the one-and-only purpose-built antenna created for the distinctive needs of the business aviation sector that connects with the one dedicated airtime service in the industry. 1+1 equals hundreds of happy passengers and crew optimizing internet, video, conferencing, and streaming functionality, thousands of hours served around the world, and millions of megabytes transmitted at 40,000 feet.

Since launch, we’ve rapidly rolled out the service and hardware to a growing number of happy customers. In fact, we’ve transmitted more than 10,000 hours of connectivity from the high throughput network of 58+ Intelsat satellites. The quick adoption from the industry demonstrates that the advanced technology, designed to future-proof our customers’ investment by enabling simplified upgrade pathways, delivers the service that we committed to.  To date, 64 terminals are activated, and 16 installations are ongoing with customers using the service globally.

Our MRO partners confirm that installation can be completed within 50% of the time of other antennas. This has enabled us to generate an impressive suite of Supplemental Type Certificates within our first year. As of today, 47 STCs have been granted approval by four leading agencies, the FAA, EASA, TCCA and ANAC Brazil, for Dassault, Bombardier, and Gulfstream airframes.

The singular design of the SD Plane Simple Antenna System, which was developed and designed by SD Avionics in partnership with QEST, consists of just two Line Replaceable Units, the Satcom Direct modem and tail mount antenna, and standardized cabling that works across all of our planned antennas. This minimizes invasive installation, reduces maintenance fees, and provides a turnkey solution for equipping new technology.

Our customers are happily enjoying uninterrupted services as we continue working with Intelsat to enable high-speed data connectivity through flexible, managed services provided by a single resource, SD. The service is supported by an industry-leading customer support team that follows the sun 24/7/365, sharing their advice and knowledge in multiple languages.

And typically, we are not standing still but are working closely with Intelsat to secure customers’ speeds and continuity of service well into the future. From 2023/2024, Intelsat FlexExec is strengthening its offering by increasing service speed to add more value for our customers.  Our vision and mission are to ensure that our users continue enjoying genuine, uninterrupted global coverage everywhere. We’ll ensure passengers who use a plethora of data-hungry apps streaming, cloud-based applications, large file downloads and email communications, voice, video conferencing, and multi-player gaming apps never miss a beat.

There is only one antenna series that delivers best-in-class performance. For more information on how you can be part of our connectivity revolution, contact [email protected]

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