In-flight Wi-Fi providers

Six major Wi-Fi providers serve commercial aviation. Speed, technology and reach vary dramatically — Starlink and Viasat lead on throughput, Panasonic and Inmarsat on global coverage.

Starlink

growing

LEO satellite (Starlink) · 100–250 Mbps to the cabin

SpaceX's low-Earth-orbit constellation. Lower latency and dramatically higher throughput than legacy geostationary providers. Free for passengers on most operators that have rolled it out.

Viasat

stable

Ka-band satellite · 20–80 Mbps to the cabin

High-throughput Ka-band satellites. Dominant on US carriers (JetBlue, Delta) with reliable browsing and streaming on most flights.

Panasonic Avionics

stable

Ku-band satellite · 10–30 Mbps to the cabin

Long-standing global Ku-band provider serving long-haul widebody fleets. Reliable but typically lower throughput and higher latency than Ka-band or Starlink.

Inmarsat (GX Aviation / SwiftBroadband)

stable

Ka-band satellite · 15–50 Mbps to the cabin (GX)

Inmarsat's GX Aviation Ka-band service powers many European carriers including the FlyNet branding used by Lufthansa Group. SwiftBroadband (L-band) backs older deployments and messaging-only tiers.

Gogo Business Aviation / Intelsat 2Ku

shrinking

Ku-band satellite · 12–25 Mbps to the cabin

Gogo's commercial Wi-Fi business was acquired by Intelsat in 2020 and rebranded around 2Ku. Common on US regional and mainline narrow-body fleets.

Anuvu (formerly Global Eagle)

stable

Ku-band satellite · 5–20 Mbps to the cabin

Anuvu serves several low-cost carriers and Southwest Airlines. Throughput is workable for messaging and basic browsing.