Gogo has now started flight testing its next-generation 5G air-to-ground connectivity network for the company’s North American customers.
The trials utilise a Pilatus PC-24 trials platform, and according to Gogo, the company’s test team is flying on alternate days during the campaign to fully test the potential of the unrestricted Gogo 5G ATG broadband access. This employs well-established trial techniques which start with simple procedures and culminate with fully loaded tests running multiple applications, including video calling, video streaming, and internet browsing, on multiple devices simultaneously.
Gogo’s towers in eastern Colorado and Nebraska are being used for the campaign before it moves on to connect with towers around Broomfield, Chicago, New York, Miami and areas in between. The company’s engineers will monitor every flight on the ground while gathering data from across the 5G network and aircraft hardware platforms.
Gogo says the flight trials are anticipated to corroborate data gathered during months of ground testing and substantiate numerous performance models.
“This is a true walk before you run-type methodical test plan,” Chris Moore, CEO, Gogo commented. “We’ve started out by establishing an end-to-end call in flight, and we’re rapidly progressing to the critical in-flight connectivity use cases that will validate readiness for 5G product launch, including simple validation, continuous connection, call setups, handovers, and application testing.”
The test programme has already validated the 5G chip’s functionality on the ground, Gogo has confirmed. This followed the delivery of the new 5G chipset to Airspan in May. Airspan provides network deployment solutions and is Gogo’s 5G partner.
“Having the product perform in the air for the first time is a major accomplishment for Gogo and represents a significant advancement in bringing next-gen ATG broadband to our customers. Once in service, the Gogo 5G service will deliver never-before-seen ATG connectivity with speeds of up to 80Mbps for business and military aircraft of all sizes, allowing them to seamlessly surf the net, stream video calls, and satisfy the data demand from our customers now and into the future.”
Following the completion of the flight testing, Gogo says it will lock in the 5G AVANCE software and apply to the Federal Aviation Administration for the final minor change approvals for the Gogo AVANCE LX5 and Gogo X3 products, which have already been approved with the earlier 4G chip.
Gogo then expects to achieve full service activation before the end of 2025, which will trigger client activation and revenue generation in Q1 of 2026. Some 400 aircraft are already pre-provisioned for the new 5G service.
