Pilot project of providing the Globalstar satellite communications services aboard on YaK-42 plane to VIP passengers on Moscow to Athens and Athens to Moscow flights became one of the highlights of the XXVIII Olympic Games.

The communications services are provided by CJSC GlobalTel, the Globalstar system's operator in Russia by means of the AAT-GS Aviation User Terminals (AUT), which has been supplied by the Russian company State Research Institute of Aviation Systems (FGUP "GosNIIAS") and was installed on the plane by CJSC "YaK-Service Aviation Company" according to the documentation developed by OJSC OKB named after A. Yakovlev.

The preliminary certification flight tests of the YaK-42 with the installed AUT were conducted by the CJSC YaK-Service Aviation Company jointly with OKB named after A. Yakovlev and State Research Institute of Aeronavigation and shown good results. Passengers are noticing high quality of the voice communication, reliability of calls and simplicity of service usage in the Globalstar satellite communications system.

In addition to the voice communication the AAT-GS terminals provide Internet access, e-mail, fax and FTP-access services during the flight.

To order AAT-GS terminals you may contact GosNIIAS by phone (095)157-9444, 157-3524; fax: 095-157-3524; e-mail: ask@gosniias.ru.