Story ID: 
Duncan Aviation Offering Airtext Satcom Installs
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: System offers lower-cost airborne connectivity services
Word Count: 234
The Send Airtext Iridium satcom system, a lower-cost alternative for airborne connectivity, is now available for installation by Duncan Aviation. Airtext can be used for voice calling, SMS and WhatsApp text messaging, and emails, and it also provides Send’s Oasis moving-map that displays on portable devices or on Send’s bulkhead mounted tablets.
Airtext+ offers all of the above features while the standard Airtext provides the messaging capabilities but not voice calls or email. Both units can handle up to 22 users and they include Send’s FBOLink, D-ATIS, and international weather services. Airtext+ retails for $18,500 and Airtext for $10,950 and service costs $500 per year for the first 2,500 messages and 5 cents per text after that, with voice calls starting at $1.53/minute.
Duncan Aviation has installed Airtext units on company-owned aircraft, including a Pilatus PC-12 and a Cessna Citation XLS and CJ3. According to Duncan Aviation corporate jet captain Michael Kussatz, “Often, during the last few minutes of a flight, when there are a lot of landing-related systems to focus on, we pilots have to shift our focus and notify the FBO of our estimated time of arrival, how many passengers we have aboard, and how many cars we’ll need for them. With Airtext, we can notify the FBO during the cruising portion of the flight, which saves us time and attention when we’re getting ready to land.”