Alaska Airlines Selects Gogo's 2Ku Inflight Connectivity Solution for its Entire Boeing and Airbus Fleet

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Aug 22, 2017, 09:00 ET

CHICAGO, Aug. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gogo (NASDAQ: GOGO), the leading global provider of broadband connectivity products and services for aviation, announced today that it has been selected by Alaska Airlines to install Gogo's 2Ku inflight connectivity solution on its entire Boeing and Airbus fleet.

2Ku is the industry's leading inflight connectivity solution and delivers an internet experience comparable to what guests have on the ground, including the ability to stream video from the most popular streaming video services. 2Ku also has global coverage, which means guests onboard Alaska aircraft will have service from gate-to-gate nearly everywhere these aircraft fly, including while traveling over the ocean to popular destinations like Hawaii, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

"We are excited to partner with Alaska to bring their guests a new onboard connectivity experience with 2Ku," said Michael Small, Gogo's president and CEO. "2Ku is the leading inflight internet solution on the market today in terms of bandwidth delivered to each guest's device, coverage and reliability. We have market leading satellite capacity with the ability to continually add more to meet growing demand. We continue to innovate and improve the technology to make sure 2Ku will keep Alaska ahead of the technology curve."

"We conducted an extensive review to find a satellite Wi-Fi solution that has a proven track record with commercial airlines and will meet our guest's expectations for what they want to do in the air today, but will also continue to meet their needs in the future," said Andrew Harrison, chief commercial officer at Alaska Airlines. "Our guests will soon be able to connect in the air, just as they do out and about on the ground helping make their travel time more relaxing and productive – whether that's scrolling through Facebook, checking email, or watching what's trending on YouTube."

2Ku will give Alaska's guests a seamless experience across their Boeing and Airbus fleet. Alaska will be disclosing pricing closer to service launch. Gogo's 2Ku service will be installed on Alaska's Boeing 737 aircraft beginning in the first half of 2018, with 40 to 50 planes expected to be completed by the end of the year. The remainder of Alaska and Virgin America's mainline fleet will be fully satellite-equipped by early 2020.

In addition to installing 2Ku, Alaska also announced today that it will now offer free chat with Gogo Messaging Pass on flights operated by Virgin America – a benefit already available to guests flying on Alaska.

With Free Chat, guests flying with Virgin America can now use iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger on their smartphones to send greetings from 35,000 feet - for free. Alaska was the first U.S. airline to offer a dedicated Free Chat service and, since its introduction, more than 1 million guests have used it to stayed connected on their Alaska flights.

About Gogo:
Gogo is the Inflight Internet Company. We are the leading global provider of broadband connectivity products and services for aviation. We design and source innovative network solutions that connect aircraft to the Internet and we develop customizable services for our aviation partners. Once connected, we provide industry leading reliability around the world. Our mission is to help aviation go farther by making planes fly smarter, so our aviation partners perform better and their passengers travel happier.

You can find Gogo's products and services on thousands of aircraft operated by the leading global commercial airlines and thousands of private aircraft, including those of the largest fractional ownership operators. Gogo is headquartered in Chicago, IL with additional facilities in Broomfield, CO and locations across the globe. Connect with us at gogoair.com.

About Alaska Airlines:
Alaska Airlines, together with Virgin America and its regional partners, flies 40 million guests a year to 118 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Alaska Airlines ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers in North America" in the J.D. Power North America Satisfaction Study for 10 consecutive years from 2008 to 2017. Learn more about Alaska's award-winning service and unmatched reliability at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain disclosures in this press release include "forward-looking statements" that are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Most forward-looking statements contain words that identify them as forward-looking, such as "anticipates," "believes," "continues," "could," "seeks," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential," "predicts," "projects," "should," "will," "would" or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms that relate to future events. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, trends and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control, that may cause Gogo's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any projected results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, trends and uncertainties include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on February 24, 2017 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 filed with the SEC on May 4, 2017. Forward-looking statements represent the beliefs and assumptions of Gogo only as of the date of this press release and Gogo undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.