SpaceX’s satellite internet business has now hit a new milestone, as it is reporting 8 million global subscribers and adding to that momentum with another major commercial aviation deal. International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and LEVEL, will bring Starlink connectivity to nearly 500 aircraft starting in early 2026.
The one-two punch — customer acceleration and a marquee in-flight Wi-Fi deal — further cements Starlink’s position leading the low-Earth orbit broadband race, and highlights how swiftly satellite connectivity is taking shape as a standard amenity for travelers and rural households alike.
Momentum and market impact of Starlink’s rapid growth
Starlink’s trajectory has gotten even steeper: The service added a million users in just over two months, going from 7 million to 8 million, after doubling over the last year from about 4 million. The scale is driven by a growing swarm of what is now approaching 8,000 satellites in orbit and a constant drumbeat of launches to grow coverage and capacity.
Though fiber is the gold standard in stationary broadband, Starlink’s appeal is greatest in underserved markets where laying fiber is slow or uneconomic. Separately, performance snapshots from Speedtest Intelligence and user reports show improving median download speeds and reduced latency in many areas, trends that SpaceX attributed to newer satellites and optimized networking.
What the IAG deal means for flyers and onboard Wi-Fi
IAG plans to offer Starlink service on short-haul European routes and long-haul transatlantic flights, serving the workhorse fleets of Airbus A320 family and Boeing 777/787 aircraft. SpaceX pitches airplane-grade service with latency of less than 30 ms and speeds up to 350 Mbps per aircraft, capable of streaming, VPN and real-time applications for a full load of passengers.
The deal comes in a slew of carriers adopting low-Earth-orbit links — United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Qatar Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and airBaltic among them — as airlines strive for faster and more reliable Wi-Fi on board. Passenger expectations are also on the rise: industry surveys run by IATA routinely reflect high passenger thirst for gate-to-gate Wi-Fi they can rely on, with satisfaction closely tethered to performance rather than availability.
Behind the scenes, equipping hundreds of jets for 5G requires obtaining Supplemental Type Certificates from regulators such as EASA and the FAA, integration with cabin Wi-Fi platforms and careful antenna placement that introduces little drag. Rollouts of large fleet installs typically happen in stages, so anticipate a staggered schedule based on business routes.
Capacity and performance trajectory for consumers and aviation
Starlink’s ability to serve both home users and entire aircraft fleets rests on two drivers: spectrum and satellites. SpaceX has continued to secure more spectrum agreements and launch more advanced satellites in order to increase throughput per beam and alleviate congestion in peak markets. The company has also released congestion maps and altered sign-up queues in congested cells to keep service levels balanced.
For consumers, real-world performance is all over the map depending on where they live and network congestion, but LEO latency — as low as 25 to 60 ms in some cases — has represented a stark upgrade over legacy geostationary services. In aviation, that latency lag means snappier web sessions, smoother video calls and fewer time-outs when a whole cabin logs on at once.
Rivals and differentiators in LEO and aviation connectivity
China’s state-supported Guowang project is just beginning deployment with about 100 satellites, while Amazon’s Project Kuiper is under testing but not yet in service for consumers. In Europe, Eutelsat Group has been focusing on enterprise and mobility (which obviously includes OneWeb’s LEO network), while traditional players like Viasat and Panasonic Avionics keep serving big airline fleets with GEO and hybrid solutions.
What makes Starlink different today is density and refresh rate: rapid launches allow SpaceX to add capacity where demand surges, retire older spacecraft and iterate rapidly on hardware. That is now expanding to direct-to-cell offerings for smartphones and wearables, using support from carriers to get early messaging pilots going, so that smartwatches can be connected through carrier deals — something Boku is also doing in partnership with carriers in markets like Canada and Japan.
Why this milestone matters for airlines and rural connectivity
Eight million subscribers also means more than consumer interest; it signifies a shift in the way connectivity is brought to locations that have been difficult to serve and wheeled objects in motion. For rural areas, LEO broadband is a complementary option while construction of fiber networks continues. For airlines, it paves the way for consistent, high-speed Wi-Fi to be deployed across extensive fleets — an operational and customer experience advantage that can lead to loyalty as well as ancillary revenue.
The next challenge will be maintaining quality at scale. So long as SpaceX is able to maintain its launch cadence, win more spectrum and simplify the time-consuming process of aircraft certifications, Starlink’s ambitions in both aviation and direct-to-device could unfold even more quickly than expected. With IAG’s commitment for 500 aircraft, the industry will have a high-profile set of proving grounds to gauge whether LEO connectivity can bring in-flight Wi-Fi into the category of normal internet behavior — a goal that has eluded satellite-based offerings until now.
