Story ID: 838 Gogo Vision.doc
Gogo Vision Now Available Outside U.S.
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: IFE system allows viewing of hit movies and top TV shows on personal devices
Word Count: 400
Gogo Business Aviation announced here at EBACE its Gogo Vision entertainment system, used on commercial and business jets in North America, has been enhanced and is now available for non-U.S. registered aircraft. The in-flight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) system enables on-demand viewing of some 200 movies from major studios and episodes of top TV shows, along with moving maps and other content, through passengers’ smart devices. New enhancements enable the content to be viewed on iPhones as well as tablets and laptops, and make the system compatible with a greater range of cabin management systems.

Content will be physically uploaded to Gogo’s onboard UCS 5000 Smart Router/Media Server, the hardware behind Gogo Vision. “We ship the director of maintenance or flight department the content on a thumb drive, they stick it into the USB port, and it sucks it all down,” said John Wade, executive v-p and general manager, business aviation. “We’re anticipating this is going to be widely adopted.”

The service costs $400 per month for all the content, and the fee to watch is $10 per movie or $5 per TV show. In the U.S., Gogo Vision content is automatically uploaded and refreshed via Gogo Cloud, available on the ramp at select Signature Flight Support locations. Plans call for instituting similar functionality outside the U.S.

Meanwhile, later this year in the U.S. Gogo will introduce a product for individual hangars enabling automatic content refreshment. “If a customer in the U.S. knows they fly through a Gogo Cloud location twice a month, they would likely select the automated download method,” Wade said. “If they only go to small airports, they would want to use the stick.”

More than 1,900 commercial airliners but only about 40 business jets are currently outfitted with Gogo Vision. NetJets announced last month it will install Gogo Vision on a minimum of 650 of its new Signature Series aircraft.

Gogo (Booth M099) also announced at EBACE that it will add a new suite of services from Honeywell’s Global Data Center to its business aviation portfolio, including Inmarsat Classic Aero in addition to a variety of flight planning, datalink, graphical cockpit and weather information. Additionally, the company introduced a customer loyalty program enabling select existing customers to receive free SwiftBroadband equipment packages when they activate a new, five-year SwiftBroadband airtime contract with Gogo.