Inmarsat is confident its European Aviation Network (EAN) satellite- and ground-based inflight connectivity system will still enter commercial service in the first half of 2018, even though a Belgian court recently ruled to rescind authorisation to operate the service in Belgium. But rival satellite company Viasat—which is taking legal action to prevent Inmarsat from using its S-band satellite to support EAN—sees the ruling as “an indication that stand-alone terrestrial use of the S-band simply is not what the European legislature intended,” and is hopeful that the service will be stopped in its tracks. Frederik Van Essen, Inmarsat Aviation VP of strategy and business development, said last September that EAN launch customer IAG was expected to make the service available to passengers toward the end of 2017. But this did not happen <br/>