Monday, June 6, 2016

Gogo Sees Major Hit As American Airlines Swaps In-Flight WiFi Provider

Gogo, the in-flight wireless provider which has operations in Broomfield, has seen a big hit to the company's business--and stock price--after American Airlines announced late Friday that it will be deploying a competing, satellite-Internet system from ViaSat on its next generation 737 MAX aircraft. Gogo and American Airlines have been locked in a lawsuit, where American had been seeking an exit from an exclusivity contract with Gogo, after ViaSat's speedy satellite network went into operation. Gogo's shares sunk more than 15% in Friday trading, and were continuing their decline this morning as news of the American Airlines move spread. American Airlines is around 20% of Gogo's total revenues. A regulatory filing by Gogo on Friday said that--although it is currently still installed on 560 aircraft, is currently expects that American will deinstall a "significant portion, or potentially all" of its systems currently deployed, over the next few years.