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Network testing giant Ookla, which collects data from consumers via their popular Speedtest.net service, has published the results from a new study that reveals the onboard WiFi (wireless broadband) speeds of various major airlines (e.g. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic) and their satellite-based network partners.
As anybody who has tried in-flight WiFi could probably attest, it’s far from a perfect experience. The internet connectivity can be fairly expensive, very restrictive and is often incredibly slow. But a growing number of Airlines are now switching to more modern satellite backhaul solutions, such as those based in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – like Starlink or OneWeb, which is starting to show a positive impact.
For example, Ookla’s study found that the fastest carrier was Hawaiian Airlines, which now uses Starlink and managed to deliver a median average download speed of 161.76Mbps, with uploads of 20.47Mbps and latency times of 74ms (a lower figure is quicker for latency). This is not too different from what Starlink’s regular home broadband customers typically receive, albeit this time occurring on a fast moving aircraft with many users.
By comparison, British Airways, which appears in the bottom half of the table, still largely appears to use GoGo’s 2Ku based satellite solution from the Panasonic Avionics Corporation. This harnesses satellites in a high Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and shares capacity of around 50-100Mbps across all cabins. But GoGo do have a deal with OneWeb that may eventually improve matters (here).
As a result, British Airways scored an average download speed of 22.57Mbps, with uploads of 3.9Mbps and latency 827ms. The raw internet speeds are actually pretty good (better than the 6-8Mbps I’ve had on recent BA flights), but having nearly a full second of latency to contend with can still be quite annoying. You can check out the full results here, but we’ve summarised the download ranking and network-specific results below.
