Sky Connect of Takoma Park, Md., a provider of Iridium-based tracking, voice and communications systems, is at Booth No. 7428 introducing a new satellite phone system. The company calls it the industry’s first in-flight Iridium hardware package to offer two-way text-messaging over a panel-mounted dialer with USB interface.

Wiley Loughran, Sky Connect senior v-p, said that the $14,995 Forté hardware package includes 1,000 free Iridium minutes if ordered no later than December 31. For another $1,000, Sky Connect will include its aircraft tracking addition. “Nobody,” Loughran stated, “has addressed the middle of the Iridium satcom market. We’re looking to provide what operators of the Hawkers, Citations, Piaggios and PC-12s need–a phone at an affordable price for the pilot and the passengers, with Iridium’s worldwide coverage.”