In Latvia there is free wireless internet almost everywhere. Ironically, there is “radio silence” on board the country’s largest airline. That will change, because Air Baltic is upgrading the entire Airbus A220 fleet and wants to offer free internet above the clouds in the future.

They rely on a cooperation with Starlink. Passengers should be offered WLAN access without additional logins. According to the airline, the Internet should be available as soon as you board the aircraft.

“This is a historic moment for our airline and the entire industry. Air Baltic will soon be the first airline in Europe to offer free unlimited high-speed satellite internet on board. We look forward to further improving our service to our passengers, who will soon benefit from this internet connection onboard our flights within the Air Baltic network in Europe and beyond,” says CEO Martin Gauss. “We are pleased to have found the right connectivity provider in SpaceX's Starlink to meet our needs and desires. As we have the most modern aircraft type on the market, it was the next logical step for Air Baltic to implement the most modern available inflight internet solution in this fleet”.

However, it is currently not foreseeable when the Starlink Internet will be available. Although Air Baltic assumes that the installation of the technology can begin this year, the STC approval (Supplemental Type Certification) must first be obtained. We are working closely with SpaceX on this.

Developed by SpaceX, Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet in over 40 countries around the world and last year began bringing high-speed onboard internet to commercial aircraft. With satellites positioned in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 550 km, more than 65 times closer than traditional geostationary satellites, Starlink achieves significantly lower latency and faster transmission speeds for its end users. Starlink can serve aircraft at up to 350Mbps, and with a latency of just 20ms, passengers can engage in activities previously not possible in-flight, such as B. Online games, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities.