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It reads like a famously hedonistic Rolling Stones tour from the early 1970s: 10 cities visited across four continents and 80,128km travelled. Rest assured, however, Inmarsat Aviation’s 38-day global trek during summer 2016 was anything but retro.

The GX for Aviation Tour was, in fact, a showcase of the future of connected flying. Together with onboard hardware partner Honeywell, our aviation team took to the skies in Honeywell’s Boeing 757 test aircraft. This saw them successfully complete system integration in preparation for the launch of GX for Aviation, the world’s first truly global high-speed broadband service from a single provider.

As the flying test lab made its way across the world’s busy skies, GX for Aviation was put through a series of trials in real-time that allowed our team to fine-tune this game-changing breakthrough in aviation connectivity.

What is GX for Aviation?

The GX for Aviation service provides passengers in the sky with the same fast and reliable connection that they expect on the ground. The result of a proprietary network of three satellites, it’s engineered to meet the specific needs of the aviation industry.

The culmination of five years planning and billions of dollars spent in research and development, GX for Aviation and the subsequent summer tour was, for Leo Mondale, president of Inmarsat Aviation’s business unit, a momentous occasion.

“It was highly gratifying on many levels,” he says. “And I’m happy to report that the tour confirmed everything we promised — we are now ready to deliver a reliable, consistent, high-speed and transformational Wi-Fi experience to airlines and their passengers.”

The test of GX for Aviation has made high speed, global internet a reality for the industry. Now it is the turn of the passengers to experience the next level of onboard connectivity.

This article appeared originally on inmarsataviation.com

Source: FlightGlobal.com