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Air passengers connect to in-flight broadband

Passengers flying on King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft will soon be able to use their smart phones, tablets and laptops during their flights.

It has been made possible after Cobham SATCOM’s innovative AVIATOR 200 SwiftBroadband solution was given the go ahead by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for its use aboard the aircraft.

The move marks a key step in making the system’s in-flight broadband available to a wider range of aircraft.

Complete solution

The AVIATOR 200 uses Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband 200 service, providing data speeds of up to 200 Kbps and a single AMBE 2 channel for voice calls.

A complete airborne communications solution like this was previously unavailable to aircraft below a certain size.

The certification covers the installation of the AVIATOR 200 in Beechcraft Corporation King Air models B200, B200C and B300 (Super King Air 350) aircraft, which are widely used by the United States Navy.

The FAA STC also includes AVIATOR 200’s built-in Wi-Fi option, offering access to an extensive range of communication possibilities.