Apologies for the radio silence, been a lot of marketing activity and we moved into a new building, which always has its challenges. .
On Wizz, we placed the installation kit orders for the next batch of 10 A321’s (the 3 remaining A320’s will be replaced by new 321’s) The first kits are due to arrive early next month. The new kit is important as the design has reduced our installation cost by 50% saving us $10k per aircraft.
You will recall we have been flying the new Iridium Certus satellites on bizjets as a precursor to our airline program. The results after 9 months of testing on 4 systems show the network is performing well. Certus data in volume reduces our data cost by 1000 times which is a key element of our business model. Bear in mind, we were the very first to fly it and it usually takes Iridium time to refine the link software, particularly with satellite handover. The 2nd airline program also revolves around Certus integration.
Our Q2 goal is to be in revenue generation on Wizz and airline two integration complete looking to approval for the first install. The Certus program has taken far longer than anyone expected. Iridium is effectively 4 years behind the original schedule they presented to the FAA (2 years of COVID didn’t help) however, the network is complete and the transceivers are now in full scale production.
Discussions are progressing on BOB with the entertainment and shop online program. A few more boxes to tick yet before I can confirm anything positive.
Finally, regarding major funding, we have consistently seen over the past 9 months a level of uncertainty in the US financial markets, but that’s not impacting our launch airlines. Our main focus is on groups with aviation interest that we feel will enhance our position. The industry is well on the way back with both Wizz and Ryanair back in the black and we have declined a preliminary investment proposal as we felt it was not realistic. We will continue discussions to see if we can find the right strategic partner.
I will update again later next month as we should have a lot more progress on all fronts.
