Fast, reliable service that meets (and often exceeds) customers' expectations for high-speed, inflight Wi-Fi.
Improved brand equity and streamlined business operations.
Immediate support if necessary, including in-the-air fixes.
Significant competitive advantage over aircraft without Wi-Fi even at higher cost.
Premium customer experience with no-hassle booking and unlimited usage.
GrandView Aviation, based in Baltimore, Md., began offering helicopter charters in 2004. After 11 years of successful operations, they expanded to include jet charter services in 2015. It quickly became clear that jet charters served a different audience with different needs – including the need for inflight connectivity.
GrandView’s jet charter flights average 2 to 3 hours from takeoff to touchdown, much longer than the flights in their helicopters’ 200-mile radius. The clientele flying on a jet was different as well—mostly entrepreneurs and startup executives who simply couldn’t be without Internet connectivity for that long. “If you can fly Southwest and have Wi-Fi, your private jet should absolutely have Wi-Fi on board,” shares Jessica Naor, director of sales and marketing for GrandView. “Every pilot tells me that it’s the first thing passengers ask when they get on board: ‘do you have Wi-Fi?’"
As a result, GrandView decided to outfit their entire fleet with Wi-Fi within the first year of purchasing an airplane. They explored a variety of options, including text-to-talk plans, but in the end decided on a robust Wi-Fi system that would meet the needs of their clients as well as GrandView’s objectives for business growth.
According to Naor, GrandView chose Gogo Business Aviation because, “We wanted a high-speed network and went for the best of the best. We have new airplanes, new service, and chose Gogo to uphold the quality of our brand.”
The organization installed a Gogo ATG 5000 system on each of their three Phenom 300s. With Gogo’s service onboard, working passengers can check email and stay up-to-date, while others can view movies or play videos and stay entertained. And, Gogo’s unlimited plan prevents surprise overages and allows GrandView to offer a seamless customer experience with no need to pass additional costs on to the end user. Passengers never pay for Wi-Fi; unlimited usage is included in the price of their flight.
The unlimited Wi-Fi service has become an integral part of GrandView’s sales and marketing efforts. “It differentiates us,” Naor explains. “We can capture more trips because we have this capability. If I get a phone call about a trip, and I have Wi-Fi and a competing aircraft doesn’t, we get the trip. No question. And, we generally get the trip even if it’s a few thousand dollars more than the competitor because Wi-Fi is so important to people.”
It’s important to GrandView to deliver on that promise as well. “When you make a guarantee to your customers that they’re going to have Wi-Fi on board, you have to keep it,” Naor emphasizes, and Gogo helps them keep that promise. GrandView has experienced only one issue in two and a half years, and, according to Naor, “Support was great. Our pilots texted us from the airplane that there was an issue, we called Gogo and they immediately reset it while we were on the phone. They fixed the problem while we were still in the air.”
For GrandView Aviation, inflight connectivity allows them to deliver a top-shelf customer experience while streamlining their own operations.
Wi-Fi makes closing the sale so simple,” Naor reveals. “Before we added it, there was a lot of back-and-forth on price. Now they know we have unlimited Wi-Fi, they get a quote, and they book it. We get much less push-back on our pricing and services.
The benefits of having Wi-Fi continue during customers’ flights as well. Clients often text requests or email new bookings to GrandView while they’re in the air, using the Gogo system. “It’s really cool to be able to have that communication while the customers are enjoying the service,” Naor mentions.
Is inflight connectivity worth it for charter organizations? Naor shares her advice for anyone who may be on the fence about investing in Wi-Fi capabilities: “If you’re a charter company, there is no question. It’s absolutely worth the investment. You are differentiating yourself and offering the correct level of service for the product that you’re selling.”
