Gogo’s Air-to-Ground Unit Sales Ended Their Record Run

The Tip Desk · October 17, 2026 · 3 min read

Second-quarter revenue totaled $222.8 million, with equipment weakness outweighing a recovery in service revenue.

Gogo Inc. (GOGO), a broadband-connectivity provider for business and military aviation, ended two consecutive quarters of record air-to-ground equipment sales in the second quarter. Service revenue recovered sequentially, helped by military and government customers, but the equipment reversal left total revenue lower for a second consecutive quarter.

Air-to-ground unit sales fell to 297 after successive records of 472 in the fourth quarter and 511 in the first. Equipment revenue fell to $31.5 million from $38.6 million in the first quarter. The reversal interrupted a period when equipment had supplied a firmer part of the business: the company had reported record air-to-ground unit sales in each of the preceding releases.

Service revenue moved in the other direction, recovering to $191.3 million from $187.7 million in the first quarter and reversing that quarter’s sequential decline. Business aviation remained the larger customer market, supplying $151.3 million of service revenue. The recovery in the service total therefore accompanied continued weakness in the company’s largest customer category, rather than a broad improvement across both markets.

Military and government service revenue reached a company record of $39.9 million. Sequential growth accelerated to 20% from 7% in the first quarter. Chief Executive Chris Moore attributed the business’s performance to ongoing demand for secure airborne connectivity. Gogo also secured a $7.5 million multiyear contract to provide satellite communications, cybersecurity, and cockpit datalink software for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunter research fleet.

The operating base illustrated the uneven transition between connectivity products. Gogo ended June with 5,731 aircraft online using air-to-ground services, including 4,603 using AVANCE systems. Its geostationary satellite broadband service had 1,306 aircraft online. Those installed fleets remained substantially larger than Galileo, the company’s newer low-Earth-orbit satellite offering, which served 184 aircraft at quarter-end.

New-product activity nevertheless continued during the equipment slowdown. Gogo shipped 108 Galileo units and sold 138 units of its 5G equipment during the quarter. Galileo HDX obtained installation approvals covering Dassault Falcon, Pilatus PC-12, and Gulfstream aircraft. Airshare was equipping its Embraer Phenom 300 fleet with Galileo HDX and AVANCE L5. The company expects Galileo and 5G activity to ramp in the second half of 2026.

The service recovery did not preserve bottom-line profitability. Gogo posted a net loss of $2.0 million, or $0.01 a share, against first-quarter net income of $13.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $53.7 million and included $3.2 million of expense for ongoing litigation. The adjusted measure excluded changes in the value of the Satcom Direct acquisition earnout liability, among other items.

Cash generation supplied a separate source of support. Second-quarter operating cash flow was $32.3 million, and free cash flow was $21.6 million. Gogo also made a $40.0 million Satcom Direct earnout payment and a $21.1 million principal payment on its HPS term loan. Both payments were excluded from the company’s free-cash-flow measure. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $63.1 million at the end of June.

Chief Financial Officer Zac Cotner said disciplined execution and debt reduction remained the company’s highest financial priorities over the next several quarters. That emphasis accompanied an updated outlook carrying a larger allowance for legal spending: Gogo now includes $22 million of ongoing litigation expense in its annual adjusted EBITDA guidance, against $8 million in the previous outlook.

For the full year, revenue guidance is $870 million to $895 million, and adjusted EBITDA guidance is $175 million to $185 million. Free-cash-flow guidance is $65 million to $85 million. The company’s capital-spending plan assumes $45 million of FCC reimbursements, leaving projected net capital expenditures of $20 million. That reimbursement assumption remains a component of the year’s cash outlook.