GEE Announces Airconnect Global™ Ka-band High-speed Antenna

LOS ANGELES and HOLZGERLINGEN, Germany, April 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (GEE) (Nasdaq:ENT), a worldwide leading provider of aircraft connectivity systems, operations solutions and media content to airlines, today announced the development of the new Airconnect Global Ka high-speed antenna.

The new antenna, developed in partnership with QEST Quantenelektronische Systeme GmbH (QEST), a leading developer of high performance antenna systems, adds Ka-band capability to the current Airconnect Global antenna platform.

By offering Ku- and Ka- band capability on a single antenna platform, GEE’s open architecture will allow customers to select the most efficient satellite solution for global flight operations. The design of the Airconnect Global Ka antenna is compatible with GEE's current installation architecture and Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs), and meets the requirements for future linefit installations.

In 2015, GEE announced the development of its next generation Airconnect Global Ku antenna. This antenna operates consistently at all latitudes on Ku networks worldwide, offering reliability, high connectivity speeds and global coverage. The expansion adds Ka-band compatibility to the core antenna architecture, with target certification for Ka-band capability in early 2017.

"We're excited to announce the development program of our new Airconnect Global Ka solution,” explained Aditya Chatterjee, Senior Vice President of Connectivity Systems and Chief Technology Officer of GEE. “Our Ka-band antenna extends our technology leadership in inflight connectivity and shares core architecture with our proven Ku-band platform, reducing time to market and certification complexity. This streamlines operations and line support for our customers.”

“A common Ku- and Ka-band antenna platform is part of our long-term vision of providing airlines fast, cost-efficient, broadband Internet access around the globe,” said Dave Davis, Chief Executive Officer of GEE.

"We're delighted to work closely with GEE to expand our inflight connectivity antenna program to Ka-band,” added Dr. Jörg Oppenländer, CTO at QEST. "With our design expertise in high performance antenna systems, we will provide GEE and its customers with a technology solution that takes full advantage of both Ka and Ku performance capabilities and platform commonality.”

About Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) 
Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq:ENT) is a worldwide provider of aircraft connectivity systems, operations solutions and media content to the travel industry. Through the industry's most comprehensive product and services platform, Global Eagle Entertainment provides airlines with a wide range of in-flight solutions. These include Wi-Fi, movies, television, music, interactive software, as well as portable IFE solutions, content management services, e-commerce solutions, original content development, operational data warehousing and flight crew information solutions.  Serving more than 200 airlines worldwide, Global Eagle Entertainment delivers exceptional quality and value to its customers to help them achieve their passenger experience objectives.  The company's headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California, with offices and teams located in North America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Oceania and South America. Find out more at: www.geemedia.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
We make forward-looking statements in this press release. These forward-looking statements relate to expectations or forecasts for future events, including without limitation, our earnings, revenues, expenses or other future financial or business performance or strategies, or the impact of legal or regulatory matters on our business, results of operations or financial condition. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words "may," "might," "will," "will likely result," "should," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "continue," "target" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date they were made, and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those risks and uncertainties described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as amended, and subsequently filed reports on Form 10-Q, as amended. As a result, our actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jenelle Benoit 
Director, Marketing & Communications
+1 310-321-6612 
pr@geemedia.com   

Kevin Trosian 
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations 
+1 310-740-8624 
Investor.relations@geemedia.com

Released April 6, 2016