Aircell Appoints Jonathan Cobin as Senior Vice President of Project and Operations Management

Joe Cruz to lead Aircell's next generation of network technology

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May 10, 2010, 09:00 ET

ITASCA, Ill., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Aircell, the world's leading provider of airborne communications, recently announced the appointment of Jonathan Cobin to Senior Vice President of Project and Operations Management. With fifteen years of business and project management experience, Mr. Cobin will be responsible for overseeing the overall success of Aircell's organizational and operational effectiveness. In addition, Joe Cruz, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, will focus on Aircell's technology roadmap and development of the company's next generation technologies. Both Mr. Cobin and Mr. Cruz will report directly to Aircell's President and CEO, Michael Small.

"We are very pleased that Jon has joined the Aircell team. His expertise and unique track record of successful business leadership will be invaluable in taking Aircell to new levels of profitable growth," commented Michael Small, Aircell's President and CEO.

Prior to joining Aircell, Mr. Cobin served as the Vice President of Strategic Planning at Centennial Communications and was instrumental in formulating the company's overall strategy as well as planning and executing major growth initiatives and milestone transactions. Prior to Centennial, Mr. Cobin held positions of increasing responsibility as a strategy consultant at Dean & Company, and in investment banking at J.P. Morgan.

"To ensure that our network will continue to support the services customers demand today and in the future, Joe will concentrate on Aircell's technology roadmap and long-term vision. There is no better person than Joe to ensure that Aircell maintains its technological leadership in inflight internet," continued Mr. Small.

Joe Cruz has been leading the engineering and technology teams since 2003. Mr. Cruz's experience includes senior executive roles in the aviation, satellite and terrestrial communications industries with companies including Ameritech Cellular and LG Electronics.

Mr. Cruz co-founded several technology development companies including Airfone, Railfone, Personal Guardian, Med-Net and Intelli-Sens. He has contributed directly to the development of CDMA technology and CDMA 3G enhancements for broadband data communications and network capacity for mobile voice and data communications. In addition, he is one of the founding partners of the CDMA Development Group (CDG) and the CDPD Consortium of companies. Mr. Cruz earned his degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines.

About Aircell

Aircell® is the world's leading provider of airborne communications. As winner of an exclusive FCC frequency license in 2006, Aircell has built a revolutionary mobile broadband network for commercial and business aviation. In 2008, the Aircell Network and its inflight portal, Gogo®, revolutionized the commercial airline passenger flight experience by delivering a robust Internet experience at 35,000 feet. In addition, the Aircell Network provides airlines with connectivity to operations and a path to enhanced cabin services such as video, audio, television and more. A similar feature set is available to Business aircraft operators. Aircell has facilities in Broomfield, Colorado, and Itasca, Illinois. Aircell's vision is to give everyone the ability to stay in touch, in flight®. For more information about Aircell, please visit www.aircell.com.

About Gogo

Gogo®, powered by Aircell, turns a commercial airplane into a Wi-Fi hotspot with true inflight Internet access. Passengers with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, can surf the Web, check e-mail, instant message, access a corporate VPN and more. For more information about Gogo, please visit www.gogoinflight.com. You can also follow 'gogoInflight' on Twitter (www.twitter.com/gogoinflight) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/gogoinflight).