Satcom Direct SkyTicket® is an in-flight user experience for charter jet operators to create and brand their own personalised Wi-Fi services. The solution is a best-practice, self-service product for the private aviation sector, providing central control of all services and a view of all passenger accounts.
SkyTicket was co-designed by Satcom Direct in partnership with GlobalReach. It launched in February 2022, offering more flexibility and better user experiences for both charter operators and their passengers.
Given the challenges of providing in-flight connectivity, the team architected the service to account for the bandwidth limitations of certain satellite backhaul services. It also allowed for increased network latency due to communication with satellites located in geostationary orbits, while allowing charter operators to tailor their passenger-facing experience to best fit the available bandwidth of their selected satellite IFC provider.
Satcom uses a mixed infrastructure, providing economies of scale and lower total cost of ownership. In many cases, the hardware is Satcom’s proprietary access points, connected to one or more high-speed satellite networks. It also provides managed services support 24/7/365
Self-Service, Customised Wi-Fi Creation
SkyTicket uses GlobalReach’s custom-built Wi-Fi management platform. Designed to be self-service, it allows charter operators to build customised in-flight Wi-Fi experiences per-fleet or per-tail, and to apply different packages to any captive portal.
It also allows operators to create custom login experiences providing connectivity for the whole cabin or individual devices. Passengers select the connectivity service package right for them prior to, or during a flight, and pay, all within the operator’s branded portal experience.
Solution Features
Administrator Dashboard
To control the passenger experience, manage the captive portal and define the connectivity service packages passengers can purchase. Charter operators can also respond to feedback from a rich set of usage analytics and, when necessary, issue connectivity service refunds to passengers.
Configurable Captive Portal
To customise captive portal elements like brand and text at a fleet, sub-fleet, and individual aircraft level. New captive portal experiences can be applied to each route or passenger type. No technical expertise or developer support is needed.
High-Throughput Satellite Connectivity Service
Compatible with Intelsat FlexExec, Inmarsat Jet ConneX (JX) and SwiftBroadband (SBB), and Viasat Ka or Ku-band.
Flexible and Innovative Solution
- Fully configurable data package pricing to match the business model and passenger experience.
- Payment: Satcom chooses whether the service is billed in USD or Euros when setting up new operators. WorldPay is used for payment processing, with Google Pay, Apple Pay, credit card payment and voucher payment options.
- Passengers can use e-wallets across any flight within an operator. Credit is held for reuse on subsequent logins. Unused credit is not lost at the end of a flight.
- Central visibility of all packages and purchases across the operator’s entire fleet, their customers’ accounts and related purchases.
“The drive to deliver a competitive edge and build revenue streams has never been so important for charter operations. SkyTicket® is a powerful solution that offers a way to manage your connectivity services, recoup costs and protect margins while still delivering the experience that passengers demand.”
Michael Skou Christensen, Chief Commercial Officer, Satcom Direct.
“SkyTicket® is designed to deliver a powerful and flexible inflight connectivity service to operators in one of the most challenging environments for guest Wi-Fi services. SkyTicket has been optimised to work over a wide range of satellite connectivity solutions from L-band to LoE, ensuring that passengers will always get the best possible user experience.”
Thomas Locke, Chief Technology Officer, GlobalReach Technology.