In August 2024, SmartSky Networks shut its doors. The press covered it as a failure. And in the narrow financial sense, it was.
But here’s what the headlines missed: the technology worked.
SmartSky built a next-generation air-to-ground network using patented beamforming technology — dedicated, secure per-aircraft connections, ultra-low latency, and performance that made legacy inflight wifi look like dial-up. It earned industry awards, signed major customers, and achieved nationwide coverage.
Then it ran out of money.
That distinction matters. Because the problems that grounded SmartSky had nothing to do with whether the technology could transform aviation connectivity. It can. And now it will.
What Went Wrong
Three compounding forces brought SmartSky down.
1. Serial Supplier Issues That Delayed Delivery by Years
SmartSky’s original hardware manufacturer failed to deliver. The replacement supplier was pilfering IP, entangling the two in litigation. SmartSky ultimately prevailed, but two failed supplier relationships burned years of runway and tens of millions in capital. By the time the technology was commercialized, the delays led SmartSky’s network and commercial rollout head-on into the Covid-19 pandemic — one of the most challenging business environments in modern history.
2. Patent Infringement and Anticompetitive Behavior by a Dominant Incumbent
SmartSky sued Gogo for patent infringement. They lost the preliminary injunction — which meant Gogo kept marketing its infringing product while the case crawled through the courts. The legal costs alone were staggering. But the deeper damage was competitive: SmartSky was trying to break into a market where the incumbent had every incentive and every resource to make sure that didn’t happen. The combination of patent infringement and what SmartSky described as anticompetitive behavior pushed the company past its breaking point. A win for the incumbent.
Footnote: After ceasing operations, SmartSky filed a billion-dollar-plus antitrust lawsuit alleging Gogo operated as an abusive monopolist. In November 2025, SmartSky’s patents were vindicated in court. Round one for the little guy.
3. A Capital Structure That Couldn’t Absorb the Delays
Building a nationwide wireless network with over 320 ground stations is extraordinarily capital-intensive. When customer acquisition didn’t materialize fast enough — because of supplier failures, a pandemic, and ongoing litigation — the math stopped working for investors.
In August 2024, the network went dark. Customers were stranded. And a genuinely transformative technology sat idle.
The Next Chapter
Not everyone saw a failed company. We at Apcela saw the most advanced ATG infrastructure ever developed — a fully built nationwide wireless network, STCs covering 16,000+ aircraft, and patented technologies that raised performance and security to levels previously unattainable — all of it unencumbered by the constraints that had held it back.
We weren’t strangers to this network. Apcela built and managed SmartSky’s terrestrial network. We knew every tower, every node, what it could do, and what it needed. In October 2024, we reached an agreement to restructure and acquire the SmartSky ATG network. This time last year, we closed the transaction and got to work.
Over the summer we relaunched the network, upgraded the core and edge technologies, and deployed an end-to-end, fully encrypted, software-defined network. At NBAA-BACE in October we relaunched the business, with former customers flying and new installations across charter and corporate operators underway. Now, with two quarters of performance behind us, and new aircraft joining the network weekly, the technology and network performance is everything we expected.
Why This Time Is Different
The obvious question: what makes Apcela better positioned than SmartSky?
The answer is part timing, part structural. Apcela has 20 years of experience running mission-critical networks for enterprises that cannot tolerate downtime. The infrastructure is built. The STCs are in place. The hard work is done. And for enterprise customers already working with us on the ground, this means the same provider, the same security posture, and the same commitment to uptime — now extended from their offices and data centers to 45,000 feet.
SmartSky was a network company trying to grow into a business. Apcela is a business that knows how to grow a network.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll share the full story — what SmartSky got right and wrong, and what we’ve learned along the way. Where ATG still wins over even the latest generation of LEO satcom, and what we’re building for the future.
The rebirth of this technology isn’t just good news for us. It’s good news for every business aviation or charter passenger who has ever tried to join a video call or stream something from 35,000 feet and given up. It’s even better news for the commercial operators who aren’t carrying passengers for hire or otherwise operate aircraft that don’t support the footprint or economics of satellite.
The skies are about to get a lot more connected — a lot more affordably.
— Mark Casey is CEO at Apcela, with more than 30 years of experience in aviation as a pilot, operator, and technology executive. Follow Apcela for updates on ATG and the future of aviation connectivity.
