SmartSky’s air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity is now available for more than 300 Cessna Citation Xs and will eventually expand to the Wichita airframer’s other business jets and turboprops, the North Carolina-based company announced today. SmartSky installations on Citation Xs began this quarter and are available at 11 Textron Aviation service centers in the U.S.
The installations follow FAA approval of a Textron Aviation-owned supplemental type certificate (STC) for SmartSky on the Citation X. Charter and fractional operator FlyExclusive and Liberty Partners’ engineering team completed the STC.
SmartSky expects STCs for its ATG connectivity hardware and software to expand to other Citation models, including the Excel and Sovereign, and Beechcraft King Air B200/250/300/350-series turboprops. The company said the Citation X STC also highlights its plans to eventually make its ATG technology available for the more than 7,000 jets and turboprops across 14 models manufactured by Textron Aviation.