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airBaltic’s Free Starlink Wi-Fi Takes Flight On Airbus A220s
In early 2023, Latvia’s airBaltic announced plans to introduce free, high speed Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. There’s now a major update — just over two years after the announcement, the first aircraft is taking off with this service, and it’s also the first commercial jet of a European airline to feature Starlink.
In early 2023, Latvia’s airBaltic announced plans to introduce free, high speed Wi-Fi throughout its fleet. There’s now a major update — just over two years after the announcement, the first aircraft is taking off with this service, and it’s also the first commercial jet of a European airline to feature Starlink.
airBaltic begins free Starlink Wi-Fi rollout
airBaltic plans to equip its entire Airbus A220-300 fleet with SpaceX’s Starlink internet connectivity system. Not only is it great that the Riga-based carrier is introducing Wi-Fi, but it’s even being offered on a complimentary basis. The connection is available gate-to-gate, with no login even required — you can just connect to the network and start browsing.
Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet in around 120 countries (and counting), and started being offered on select commercial aircraft as of 2022. Because satellites are positioned in low-earth orbit at an altitude of 550km (over 65 times closer than conventional geostationary satellites), Starlink has significantly lower latency and higher transmission speeds for its end users.
Starlink can deliver up to 350 Mbps to aircraft, and with latency as low as 20 ms, passengers can use VPNs and engage in other high data usage activities.
Initially installation was supposed to start as of late 2023, though that timeline didn’t stick. The process of getting an aircraft certified to have Starlink is complicated, as it requires STC (supplemental type certification) approval. The good news is that once that’s achieved, the actual installation process is quick.
