Latvian-based carrier airBaltic has become the first European airline to introduce SpaceX’s Starlink in-flight internet onboard on one of its Airbus A220-300 fleet.
On February 20, 2025, the airline invited AeroTime on a dedicated test flight to try out the new in-flight service firsthand. This article was written and published while flying approximately 32,800 feet in the air – 10 kilometers above the ground.
On December 22, 2022, the airline signed a contract with SpaceX and became the first airline in Europe to equip Starlink internet on board its aircraft, President and CEO of airBaltic Martin Gauss said during the opening ceremony held at Riga Airport.
“The journey was very difficult, because we are in Europe under the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the installation of internet on an aircraft is a very complicated and long process,” President and CEO of airBaltic Martin Gauss said.
The inaugural flight left Riga International Airport (RIX) at 19:45 local time, with media and airline representatives on board. The aircraft featured a custom Latvian artistic livery.
The flight lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. As soon as all passengers boarded, the Wi-Fi was ready to use — no logins, no pop-ups, and no extra charges. The network simply connected, just like at home or work.
At the time of writing, 1 hour 18 minutes into the flight, the Speedtest app shows download speeds of 161 Mbps and upload speeds of 9,59 Mbps.
Basic and social media browsing, chatting, responding to emails and messages, downloading files, listening to podcasts, online gaming, shopping online, and even participating in video calls were all possible without noticeable lag.
Streaming services like YouTube and Netflix worked well. In our test, a Microsoft Teams video call with a colleague remained clear and stable, with no buffering or connection loss.
This level of air connectivity is made possible by Starlink’s in-flight internet, which works at any altitude using a constellation of thousands of satellites positioned in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometers, which is over 65 times closer than traditional geostationary satellites. This ensures uninterrupted coverage.
“No aircraft which doesn’t have Starlink can replicate the speed of this internet connectivity. Simple reason: the satellites providing the internet are orbiting at 36,000 kilometers. The difference in the signal from the aircraft to the satellite goes 70 times faster than it goes to a normal satellite,” Gauss explained.
One more notable aspect is the Starlink antenna installed in the aircraft. Gauss mentioned that this antenna is very lightweight, which means it does not create the same drag as a typical satellite antenna. As a result, over time, the airline can save millions on fuel that would be wasted with a conventional satellite system.
On February 4, 2025, Starlink shared on X that over 500 aircraft worldwide now have active Starlink internet connections. Over the last few months, a number of prominent airlines, amongst them Qatar Airways, Air France and United Airlines, have announced plans to equip their fleets with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet.
airBaltic said it plans to have half of its fleet equipped with Starlink internet by mid-2025 and aims to have its entire A220-300 fleet equipped with Starlink’s internet system by the end of 2025.
