Gogo Business Aviation isn’t just a manufacturer of inflight connectivity systems for business aircraft but is also a service provider for its Inmarsat SwiftBroadband satcom systems. “We see the Middle East as being a very interesting market,” said John Wade, Gogo Business Aviation’s executive vice president and general manager. “We have been selling SwiftBroadband successfully for several years, and now we’ve stepped into the service arena. We’re hoping to extend that into the Middle East, and [want customers to] know that Gogo Business Aviation can solve their equipment and service needs.”

Gogo (Stand 415) has also expanded its presence in the Middle East, with an agent based in Abu Dhabi and the opening of a new office in Dubai.

Passengers on Gogo-equipped business jets will appreciate a new feature that Gogo is launching next year, Text & Talk for SwiftBroadband. Text & Talk is a software upgrade that allows Gogo customers to use their own smartphones to send and receive text messages and make telephone calls, without having to dial special numbers or codes, just like using their smartphone on the ground. Text & Talk has been available on Gogo’s air-to-ground network, which is available only in the U.S and Canada, so the expansion to Gogo’s Aviator SwiftBroadband system opens Text & Talk to the rest of the world.

The only alternative for passengers to use their smartphones to connect to an airborne telecom system has been installation of a picocell in the aircraft, but that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Wade.

Gogo’s inflight entertainment system, the Gogo Vision streaming movie delivery service, is currently only available for U.S.-registered aircraft, because of region content licensing agreements.

Next year, the company plans to sign new region licensing agreements so it can offer Gogo Vision to operators flying aircraft registered in other countries, according to Wade. Gogo Vision, delivered within the aircraft by Gogo’s UCS 5000 system, is an all-in-one smart router and media server, provides a rotating library of first-run movies and TV shows, along with other services. Passengers can access the content on a variety of personal Wi-Fi-enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops.