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Demand for airline wifi helps Inmarsat grow in Q3

* Q3 revenue up 5.8 pct, core earnings up 13.5 pct

* Sticks to full-year guidance

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) up 11 pct (Adds CEO comments, analyst reaction, shares)

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - British satellite company Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT.L - news) reported a rise in third-quarter revenue and earnings, helped by increasing demand from airlines for onboard wifi and services to governments, lifting its shares more than 10 percent on Thursday.

British Airways-owner IAG said on Wednesday it would use Inmarsat (Other OTC: IMASF - news) 's network to provide wifi on its short-haul fleets from 2017, joining Air New Zealand and another major European airline in choosing the provider in the period since the quarter ended.

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Chief Executive Rupert Pearce said opportunities were coming through for its new European Aviation Network, which uses ground stations and satellite to connect aircraft.

"Basically we now have the top three European airline fleets in the bag, which is a wonderful position to be in, with DLH (Lufthansa), this third airline and IAG," he said.

It was in talks with a number of other airlines, he said, and a deal with another smaller European carrier was imminent.

The system is on track to go live next year, he added.

The strong performance in aviation and government, and a contribution from Legado Networks, offset weakness in maritime.

"Maritime overall is moving sideways, not growing, but what we've clearly tee-ed up (...) is a reversal of that back into intrinsic growth," Pearce said.

Inmarsat is switiching its maritime customers on to its newest terminals, which offer fastest speeds and higher capacity, but the changes increase some costs in the short-term, he said.

"I expect us to return to revenue growth during 2017, but we'll have to explain careful to shareholders how these trends are playing out," he said.

Shares in the group jumped 11 percent to a 10 week high of 826.5 pence.

Analysts at Citi said the results were ahead of consensus, and although maritime was still suffering recessionary impact, aviation continued to grow well.

Inmarsat reported a 5.8 percent rise in total revenue to $341.9 million and a 13.5 percent rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation nd amortisation to $204.6 million.

It kept its revenue guidance for 2016 unchanged at $1,175-1,250 million, excluding a contribution from Ligado, which was previously know as LightSquared and which has a spectrum sharing agreement with the British company. (Editing by Sarah Young)