Christopher J. Moore
Analyst · ROTH Capital Partners
Thanks, Will, and good morning, everyone. We believe our Q2 performance reflects the fundamental strengths and capabilities of our business to revolutionize in-flight connectivity by leveraging our strong market position as the only independent global multi-orbit, multiband connectivity company in aviation. With LEO, GEO and ATG Broadband, we are strongly positioned to support durable demand trends. In Q2, the business continued to show growth as demand for our GEO solutions remained strong across the global business aviation and military government mobility markets as we see increased advanced shipments and continued rollout of Gogo Galileo's STCs. Zach will provide more details on our financial performance shortly, but I first want to highlight some key areas of growth and success. Starting with ATG, we reached several significant milestones in the quarter. It gives our team great pride that we announced an important industry first as we completed the initial end-to-end call using the Gogo 5G chip. We now have the first 5G aircards in hand and are progressing with the remaining development, integration and testing that will prepare us for our expected Q4 launch this year on the already deployed and operational 5G terrestrial infrastructure. We also have positive news regarding our FCC rip and replace program, which now provides a $35,000 incentive for C1 installations completed before December 31, 2025. The C1 incentive enables upgrades for over 40 aircraft models to our LTE network. This funding and certification allows classic customers to seamlessly upgrade in advance of the May 8, 2026, classic network cutover. We also had significant announcements for Gogo Galileo with the 2 OEM wins. Embraer announced it will offer Gogo Galileo HDX as an aftermarket option for the popular been on 300 light jets, which has over 800 aircraft in operation. Textron also announced that the HD-X will be available for aftermarket installations on Cessna Citation types once the FAA has confirmed the STC, this is expected in late 2025. We expect it to continue delivering on the 38 HDX STCs under contract through our dealer and OEM networks. We now have 8 HDX STCs approved, covering 10 aircraft types, with a further 13 in development. STCs for the FDX variants are in progress with 10 STC contracts in the works with dealers. As previously announced, we have also signed an agreement with an undisclosed OEM confirming FDX will be live for option for all its production aircraft. On the back of this good news, I'm looking forward to reviewing our strong Q2 performance. I'll cover our quarterly operating results, provide updates on our GEO broadband services and highlight realized acquisition-related cost synergies. We will also review our demand potential and outline our strategic approach to capitalize on these opportunities to enhance shareholder value. I'll finish by sharing progress on key strategic initiatives. Our free cash flow exceeded our internal forecast and consensus expectations. This was driven by high gross profit due to record equipment revenue, lower operating expenses, continued synergy realization and higher-than-expected adjusted EBITDA at approximately $62 million. On the revenue front, the higher-than-expected advanced equipment sales and higher ARPU on geo services contributed to driving revenue 3% above consensus. Though we're still seeing a gradual decline in ATG units online, we expect to see this slow and perhaps even turnaround as classic customers start taking advantage of our C1 rebate program and others to decide to upgrade from Classic to AVANCE in anticipation of our classic network cutover to LTE in May 2026. Towards that end, we set a record for ATG shipments in the quarter with 405, including 276 AVANCE and 129 C1 units. Shipments is a strong indicator of future online activations. We also set a record 144 Classic to AVANCE upgrades for the quarter as shipments turned into activations. We had strong performance in our HDX LEO terminals as we recognized $1.7 million of equipment revenue. Year-to-date, we have shipped a total of 77 units. As I've stated earlier, we now have 8 HDX STCs approved, covering 10 aircraft types with a further 30 STCs in development. We have also shipped our first 3 Gogo Galileo FDX units to support STC generation for mid- to large business jet customers. Our GEO products and airline -- aircraft online continue to grow, up 41 units from Q1 with 1,321 aircraft connected to Gogo. This is up 177 units from Q2 2024, up 15%. This demonstrates the power of the OEM line-fit as many of these systems are installed at the factory. We also believe it shows a predisposition of many heavy jet customers to take both LEO and GEO offerings to get the capacity, redundancy and global coverage that neither LEO nor GEO can provide alone. For instance, no LEO provider today can provide service in China that CEO can. In Q2, we completed synchronizing our AVANCE and SDR routers to schedule. The router located in the aircraft are the core of in- flight connectivity systems and data management. The SDR, SDRG and AVANCE routers are now compatible for Gogo Galileo installation, allowing for easy upgrade opportunities for customers. This adds the approximate 2,400 aircraft equipped with SD routers to the almost 4,800 AVANCE installed Gogo fleet. These aircraft can now be installed at Gogo Galileo without extensive rewiring inside the aircraft. It's also worth noting that the Satcom Direct routers are line-fit on 3 aircraft models, which adds several hundred aircraft a year to that easy installed fleet. Additional software and hardware harmonization for our router family are scheduled for the next 2 years, which will continue to improve performance for customers and lower cost for Gogo. Gogo remains the only company that can satisfy the needs of customers seeking multiple connectivity solutions from a single source. The military needs to fulfill PACE, primary, alternate, contingent and emergency requirements and global customers want assured redundancy. This gives us a significant competitive advantage in some very attractive segments of the market. We are progressing towards our synergy goals. We've completed most of the key actions to reach our now anticipated $30 million to $35 million synergy cost savings. We have completed staff synergies associated with the merger, along with other actions such as the Chicago data center transition to the Melbourne, Florida site, the transition of the SD Avionics manufacturing to Colorado, which is targeted to be completed by the year-end. The SD Melbourne building sale is expected to be finalized by the end of August. This will offset the $15 million to $20 million investment required to achieve the projected recurring synergy savings. In total, we have another 36 integration projects still underway focused on moving to common systems and process, and we expect further cost synergies from many of these. Business aviation is currently characterized by strong OEM results, expanding fractional fleets and robust flight counts. In Q2, the 5 major OEMs increased aircraft deliveries 11% year-on-year and reported a very strong aggregate book-to-bill of 1.3x. The trend is set to continue. And with the one Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July, allowing businesses to deduct the full acquisition cost of eligible aircraft, we believe this positive momentum will continue into 2026. We believe this presents a significant opportunity for the increased broadband connectivity installations and a major opportunity for Gogo. This sector remains buoyant with recent announcements confirming strong market growth. Fractional ownership operator, FlexJet announced an investment of $800 million. The company has indicated that much of it will be spent on improving passenger experience, much of which relies on connectivity. In addition, Bombardier recently announced a new fleet order for 50 aircraft with an option for a further 70, presenting a considerable opportunity for Gogo. This trend indicates more business aircraft will be entering the global fleet than leaving and more hours being flown. As a result, demand for connectivity should continue to increase. International governments are seeking alternative satellite suppliers, which provides an opportunity for Gogo and our multi- network approach. The French government has already strengthened OneWeb's competitive position by becoming Eutelsat's largest shareholder following a $1.55 billion capital commitment. This will support continued OneWeb network investments. As OneWeb's only connectivity service partner for business aviation, we believe this strengthens our position to respond to growing demand and maximize our global office expansion. In summary, we see demand for quality in-flight connectivity in both business aviation and military government mobility verticals surging. While overall penetration remains extremely low, only 9,700 or 24% of roughly 41,000 global business aircraft, which have broadband connectivity today. Gogo's strategy for value creation is to grow our share of a highly unpenetrated market by strengthening existing and creating new long-term high-margin recurring revenue customer relationships. We plan to do this by first delivering the many new products I've just described that significantly improved performance over traditional in-flight connectivity products. Second, engineering equipment that is purpose-built for our markets and easier to install, maintain and upgrade than competitive products. Third, expanding our addressable market by utilizing the broad product offering and global footprint facilitated by the SD Gogo merger to satisfy the needs of all segments of our vertical markets. Fourth, leveraging our significant presence in those markets to attract the best technology, distribution and network partners on the best terms to serve our customers. And finally, provide the world-class customer support that our customers demand. This strategy underpins our approach to multi- network open architecture platforms and enables broad mission coverage across both business aviation and military government markets. That flexibility is core to our future-proofed hardware design strategy that can support multiple bearers with network- agnostic modular terminals such as our Plane Simple GEO and Gogo LEO antenna portfolio. With the upcoming launch of multiple Ka-band LEO networks, Gogo can leverage our terminal network architecture so we remain agnostic about our customers enabling the latest developments from satellite providers on any aircraft type. Our expanding global support network is a key part of the distribution partners' part of this strategy. We now have 148 dealers across 233 locations. These dealers are invested in STC generation, ongoing customer support and as our representatives across the globe act as a force multiplier to our sales efforts. Now I'd like to share a few updates on the progress we are making towards some of the efforts that support this strategy. Since the start of operations in April, our LEO Eutelsat OneWeb customers have used over 1,200 hours. HDX is ideal for the 12,000 midsized and smaller aircraft that fly outside of North America and have no broadband solution today. An aircraft among the 11,000 midsized and smaller North American registered aircraft that often fly regionally outside conus or want faster mean speeds than 5G alone can provide. The HDX terminal is designed for the 9,700 larger business aircraft operators, many of which fly intercontinental missions as well as our VVIP and government clients. We are off to a strong start for Galileo. Our early customers are positive about the HDX performance, and we have more than 500-plus immediate opportunities for HDX in our sales pipeline. 40% of these are overseas, and we are seeing strong interest from international operators. We've already signed our first multi-aircraft deal with a Middle East charter operator. As I mentioned at the start, we have made a crucial step towards [ forward ] in terms of our 5G product, which is targeted at large segments of the North American midsize and smaller market that want a good connectivity experience but a lower cost than satellite products. Our chipset supply successfully completed the first end-to-end call using the Gogo 5G chip in June. The chip is now in the final phase of testing at our Broomfield and Chicago facilities. Following the integration into the AVANCE LX5, flight testing is anticipated to commence in September and to go live by year-end. It is worth noting that we have already made a bulk chip purchase to ensure supply for our customers when ready. More than 300 aircraft are now pre-provisioned for launch. The 5G tower network is complete with 170 installed across the U.S. and Southern Canada. Gogo has already received FAA approval to produce and manufacture the AVANCE LX5 LRU and 25 STCs for the new antenna covering 8,500 aircraft. The new 5G core is installed in our data center. Our next-generation LTE network deployment is also underway. The first LTE tower antenna has been installed, and we are beginning network build-out in anticipation for the cutover. Supporting the transition, we announced a multiple aircraft type STC for the Gogo C1 unit. This covers 42 aircraft, representing 70% of the installed Gogo Classic fleet. We have already shipped 234 units for customers. As mentioned previously, the FCC Rip and Replace Program now provides incentives for C1 installations, assisting customers with the replacement of the old Gogo Classic installs. The C1 LTE box has the same form factor as the old classic product, allowing for a very fast unit swap. But it has dual EVDO and LTE aircards. This enables a seamless network cutover. For customers lacking the time or budget for an AVANCE upgrade before the May 2026 transition, this solution enables a cost- effective option. It keeps our customers connected and preserves Gogo service revenue from this market segment. We are urging customers to commit before year-end to take advantage of the FCC rebate and be ready for the cutover. In the MilGov vertical, we see an opportunity for Gogo solutions to be integrated with SD's GEO offerings. Our current revenue mix in this segment includes a significant portion of legacy narrowband services, which are expected to decline gradually over the next several years. However, we anticipate broadband growth in the MilGov sector. We'll materially outpace the decline in narrowband as the segment transitions to broadband solutions. Today, almost all MilGov mobility aircraft still rely heavily on voice over radio and narrow band for communications, which is limited in bandwidth. There is a significant effort underway to upgrade to new broadband satellite technologies. The U.S. Air Force [ 25 by 25 ] program aims to equip 25% of its 1,100 mobility aircraft with satellite communications by the end of 2025. This still leaves 75% of the fleet without satellite connectivity, which the Air Force believes must be addressed presenting a substantial opportunity for growth. We believe Gogo's LEO product will be an excellent complement to our GEO products in this market due to the DoD's PACE protocol, which requires military programs to have primary alternate, contingent and emergency systems. With the support of the government funding, Gogo is also leveraging our SD Pro operating system, which enables monitoring and utilization of PACE. We also see the opportunity for 5G air-to-ground as a possible new alternative for redundancy. While there have been some delays in awards, the general trend towards better communication systems for aircraft aligns with the U.S. administration's broader goal for modernizing the military. We've also added a key resource to the Gogo Board of Directors with the recent appointment of retired General Mike Minihan. Finally, I'll touch briefly on tariffs. We have made provision and while our decisions remain fluid, we believe that as the trade deals currently stand, there is minimal impact on aviation and our exposure is much reduced. In conclusion, we are pleased that our strategic investments are now being delivered. We are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the increased demand of in-flight connectivity as our multi-orbit, multi-band approach gives the business a competitive edge. We feel very positive about the merger process. So far, we are achieving the cost, product and commercial synergies we wanted to accomplish with the SD Gogo combination. We expect to produce compelling financial results in 2026, driven by growth in service revenue from our new products, a significant reduction in product program spend, the full year impact of synergies made in 2025 and full funding of our FCC Rip and Replace Program. And now I will hand over to Zach to talk about the numbers.