AvSat: the first dedicated aeronautical satellite communications system

Airlines have long recognized the crucial role of reliable communications to provide safe and profitable services. ARINC, an airline industry-owned and operated company in the United States, has taken steps to establish a global aeronautical satellite communications system. Plans call for initiation of thin-route data operations in 1989, upgrading to establish voice communications via shared spot-beam transponders carried on other satellites, and finally deploying a worldwide network using dedicated satellites in the mid-1990s