SmartSky Resurrected as Apcela ATG

Apcela, the network systems developer that built and operated the air-to-ground airborne connectivity system created by SmartSky Networks, has relaunched the service and rebranded it as Apcela ATG. The move follows Apcela’s purchase of the ATG network from SmartSky earlier this year and enabled operators that installed SmartSky systems to switch their systems on again after the network abruptly shut down in August 2024.

After years of delays, SmartSky launched the ATG service at the end of 2021 and into early 2022, eventually operating more than 300 ground stations in the U.S., providing full coverage in the continental U.S. and up to about 100 miles offshore.

Last October, Apcela announced an agreement to acquire the SmartSky network. “It was essentially an acquisition and restructuring agreement,” said Apcela CEO Mark Casey, “to benefit all the former SmartSky creditors, and that is structured with SmartSky principal debtholder BlackRock. We worked with SmartSky and BlackRock to come up with a solution that could benefit all.”

After sorting through all the financial issues with creditors and investors, Apcela had to restore and upgrade the ground station network. “We had to visit all 300-plus sites, restore the power, restore the baseband units, and essentially restore and upgrade backhaul [capabilities],” Casey said.

At the same time, Apcela added a software-defined wide-area network (SD WAN) platform to improve performance and security. While SmartSky didn’t use that SD WAN, he added, “We are a global enterprise networking firm that’s been using SD WAN for a better part of a decade, so it just made sense for us to add that layer to the network. It gives us a lot more capability and allows us to serve both leisure travelers on private aircraft, as well as corporate fleets.”

During the shutdown, Apcela kept the dozens of former customers who had original systems installed informed. They were excited, he said, and eventually became beta testers for the revamped ATG network, which relaunched not all at once but from east to west as ground stations came back online over the summer.

Apcela did not purchase SmartSky itself, just the network that SmartSky built before the shutdown. SmartSky filed a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against ATG operator Gogo in December 2024. Earlier, SmartSky filed a lawsuit regarding intellectual property against Gogo. Both lawsuits remain active, but Apcela is not involved in either other than indirect claims as a creditor.

The rebranded ATG systems that Apcela is offering include the Apcela One and Dual ATG systems. The One is a single-antenna system designed for smaller aircraft, and Dual provides higher performance with two antennas. Both systems are on display at Apcela’s NBAA-BACE exhibit, and Apcela is offering “Sign and Fly” incentives for new installations, similar to the way consumers buy smartphones or cars. These include dealer incentives and rebates on the hardware, according to Casey, and low-interest-rate financing. “Essentially, we are making it very low cost out of pocket to reduce friction for ATG upgrades,” he said.

Apcela ATG has relaunched its dealer network, and three preferred dealers are co-exhibiting at its NBAA-BACE booth: Altus Aerospace, Brunswick Aviation Services, and Davinci Jet Services. Davinci had installed many of the original SmartSky systems. “Our clients demand the same speed and reliability in the air that they enjoy on the ground,” said Davinci Jets CEO Eric Legvold. “Apcela’s next-generation ATG technology delivers exactly that—streaming, communications, and real-time data without interruption and at a tremendous value.”

Skyward Aviation has selected Apcela ATG and will install the One ATG system in its fleet of 11 Learjets by early 2026. The installations will be done by Brunswick Aviation at Skyward’s Washington, Pennsylvania maintenance facility using Apcela’s Hybrid Installation Program. This streamlines installations by combining the expertise of the dealer and local maintenance resources and by scheduling the installation during regular maintenance events.

The original SmartSky supplemental type certificates (STCs) are still active, and Apcela owns many of these, while some are owned by dealers. Many new STCs are in process, but Apcela is also promoting the installation of the simpler One system under the field approval process as a major alteration.

“ATG has a place for U.S. domestic flight operators,” Casey said. “It also has a place in the corporate fleet.” He explained that for operators that require high-availability airborne connectivity, there is only one way to guarantee near 100% uptime. “We [Apcela] operate as a global network operator for large enterprises, and we never put a single connection into a place, because a single connection, just like your home broadband, tends to not work 10% to 15% of the time. We refer to it as network physics.

“When you drop in a second connection, the availability goes to 99.9%. For very critical locations in the enterprise networking world, we’ll put three or four, or we’ll look at diversity or lots of different things so that we can get to what is referred to as five-nines availability. Certain corporate locations require near-100% availability.

“Now a corporation doesn't require 100% availability on their aircraft, but they certainly would like it, and if they have two connections, they’ll get 99.9% reliability. They’ve done that historically with dual dissimilar satcom systems. Another way to do that, particularly for the corporate fleet that’s predominantly U.S.-based, is to integrate ATG and satcom.”

This could mean running ATG along with a geostationary orbit satcom or a Starlink Aviation or Gogo Galileo low-earth-orbit system or ATG and a Starlink Mini system in a smaller aircraft.

For turboprop singles, while the Apcela One could be installed in these aircraft, Casey recognizes that the cost may not be attractive for some owners of these aircraft, and the Starlink Mini is a viable option. Many aircraft owners are carrying Starlink Mini systems as portable equipment.

In recognition of the benefits of Starlink Mini, Apcela is giving some of these away this week at its NBAA-BACE 2025 exhibit, which happens to be next to the Starlink booth. Apcela will have a drawing for a Starlink Mini system but is also giving them away to qualified customers.

Apcela ATG is ready for an influx of new customers, Casey said. “It was built originally to be infinitely scalable. It’s been a long and difficult road, working with large creditors to get this thing restructured and relaunched and upgraded. We’re super excited.”