Story ID: 
Purpose-built to deliver unparalleled performance.
By: Greg Rzekos
Caption: Covering 99% of the globe, Intelsat’s FlexExec and FlexAir are the only high-speed connectivity solutions “purpose-built” to meet the rapidly increasing bi-directional throughput needs of today’s data-hungry business, personal, and governmental aviation passengers.
Word Count: 507
According to a report by Euroconsult Prospects, the connectivity capacity demand for business aviation will increase up to 60 Gbps by 2030. That’s a tenfold jump from today’s usage.
While that number may seem extraordinary, consider that a business aircraft’s data usage is expanding to not only meet increasing passenger needs but also include a growing array of high-demand applications that manage the critical aircraft and engine health monitoring information flowing to and from the airplane.
“Not long ago, higher-down load speeds were the end goal, but today, there’s a greater need for much higher upload speeds,” explains Tuomo Rutanen, Intelsat’s director of business and government aviation. “Video conferencing alone requires much higher bi-directional throughput speeds. Passengers won’t settle for poor network performance just because they’re in an airplane.”
The right way to get connected.
Rutanen says that Intelsat has created its dedicated business aviation network “from the ground up” to deliver the high-quality user experience its customers expect.
“We’ve ‘purpose-built’ our network of satellites and ground stations to accommodate that fact that we’re connecting to jets traveling at 600 miles-per-hour,” he explains. “The jet is going from beam to beam very quickly, so our network anticipates the aircraft’s track to make sure the beam capacity is ready to pick it up.”
“We own and operate the largest constellation of Ku-band satellites, which means we have plenty of capacity worldwide,” Rutanen continues. “And because we have multiple layers of satellites in key locations, we can turn up the number of beams to add capacity in high-demand areas to ensure the data flow doesn’t get slowed down.”
“That’s unique in our industry. Some of our competitors try to do it with a single-layer of satellites, but in times of high usage, they don’t have access to the added capacity to meet the needs quickly,” he adds. “That flexibility is one of the big benefits of our FlexExec and FlexAir solutions. We deliver when others can’t.”
The future is faster and more flexible.
Rutanen says that today, Intelsat’s network consistently delivers speeds of 25 Mbps download and two Mbps upload speeds, but there’s more to come.
“By the end of this year, we’re going to double our bi-directional speeds to 50 Mbps on and three Mbps off the airplane,” he explains. “We have a roadmap that will take us to 100 Mbps and beyond in terms of the capacity we will deliver to the aircraft.”
“Our flexibility extends to giving us the ability to offer our providers and their customers a range of service options,” Rutanen concludes. “No matter what they want in a connectivity solution, we can deliver what customers want.”
The Solution	Global, enterprise-grade connectivity solution purpose-built for business aviation	Multi-orbit satellite network delivers consistent performance in high-usage situations	High-capacity, bi-directional throughput provides seamless global voice and video streaming	Offered through Intelsat’s partner Satcom Direct