London | February 11th 2026 | 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
According to a new report by Valour Consultancy, “The Future of In-Flight Connectivity – 2025”, the number of connected commercial aviation aircraft will surpass 21,000 by 2034, with the majority of the global fleet equipped with in-flight connectivity (IFC) by 2030 – heralding a major milestone for the industry.
A new era in the IFC market is now underway. Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have moved to the forefront, rapidly emerging as the foundation of next-generation IFC services. Indeed, by the end of 2025, more than 700 commercial aircraft were actively using LEO-only or multi-orbit connectivity.
Starlink (SpaceX) has swiftly established itself as a major player, securing a wave of high-profile contracts over the past two years with airlines such as Emirates, International Airlines Group (IAG), United Airlines, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa and others. As a result, it has built a backlog of more than 5,000 committed commercial aircraft and will be scaling up installations further in 2026.
However, Starlink will not have things all its own way. According to the report’s author, David Whelan, long-standing suppliers like Viasat, SES and Panasonic Avionics still collectively account for the lion’s share of the market and are responding to Starlink’s challenge by positioning multi-orbit services at the heart of their respective strategies. “SES has already connected hundreds of aircraft – primarily across Air Canada and American Airlines – to its solution, which uses Eutelsat’s OneWeb network for the LEO component. Panasonic is also using capacity from OneWeb, and has more recently added Spacesail as a future LEO option, while Viasat will integrate the Telesat Lightspeed LEO constellation into its portfolio starting in 2027,” Whelan said.
Amazon is also generating plenty of excitement with the aptly named Amazon Leo network (formerly Project Kuiper). Satellite launches are ongoing and the company is aiming to have its first connected aircraft in service by 2027 with JetBlue Airways already announced as the launch airline customer.
Another key driver in the market is the shift toward mass adoption of free Wi-Fi: “This has been building for some time, but there’s no doubt that Starlink positioning free Wi-Fi as the default option in its go-to-market strategy has played a big role in accelerating the trend,” Whelan added.
This has created a domino effect across the airline industry. In May 2025, Air Canada switched on its complimentary Wi-Fi service for Aeroplan members (its loyalty programme) flying across North and Central America and many others, such as Southwest (IFC from Anuvu and Viasat) and American Airlines (on aircraft equipped with IFC from Viasat and SES) have followed more recently.
Overall, the report concludes this is an exciting time for the IFC industry. As thousands of aircraft are transitioned onto next-generation services, commercial opportunities are aplenty. Moreover, the declining cost of data – partly thanks to an abundance of new capacity – will also encourage some unconnected airlines to consider IFC for the first time.
Valour Consultancy is a multi-award-winning provider of high-quality market intelligence and consultancy services. Now in its sixth edition, “The Future of In-Flight Connectivity – 2025” is the latest update to the firm’s highly regarded aviation research portfolio and a must-have resource for those seeking a deeper understanding of IFC. It has been aided by interviews with companies across the connectivity value chain: satellite operators, connectivity service providers, airlines, aircraft OEMs, and technology manufacturing companies. The study includes 195 pages of detailed insights into the market dynamics: drivers, inhibitors, technology, as well as market forecasts containing over 100 tables and charts.
For a full table of contents, report scope and sample pages, please click here.
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