Opinion: Onboard connectivity must evolve from cost centre to value driver
May 3, 2026
Tanguy Morel is co-founder and CEO of Moment, specialising in onboard digital experiences. He launched the company in 2013 to bring digital services to unconnected transport environments, and now focuses on helping operators turn connectivity into a driver of value.
Onboard connectivity: from infrastructure cost to strategic revenue platform
Until recently, bringing internet onboard required major technological effort and substantial financial investment. For many airlines, connectivity was not yet central to the business model, and some carriers continued to operate without it. That phase is now largely behind us.
With over 70% of airlines offering onboard Wi-Fi today, and connectivity infrastructure continuing to expand across fleets worldwide, the question is no longer whether connectivity should be deployed, but how it can generate sustainable business value.
This shift comes at a critical moment. Passenger expectations continue to rise, and the comparison point is no longer another airline, but the always-on digital experience people have on the ground.
Travellers increasingly expect to stay connected throughout their journey, with the same simplicity, continuity and personalisation they experience elsewhere. As a result, airlines are investing heavily to close that gap.
Yet the economic equation remains fragile. As onboard connectivity becomes more widespread, passengers are also becoming less willing to pay for access alone. What was once perceived as a premium service is increasingly seen as a basic expectation.
For airlines, this creates a structural tension: connectivity requires major long-term investment, but direct monetisation through access fees alone is becoming harder to sustain.
And those investments are far from marginal. Installation, certification, onboard equipment, and aircraft downtime represent substantial capital expenditure, especially at fleet scale. Added to this are recurring operating costs such as bandwidth, technical support, service management, and ongoing optimisation.
Connectivity is therefore not a feature layered on top of the airline experience. It is a strategic infrastructure investment with long-term commercial implications.
Why airline Wi-Fi is no longer a competitive differentiator
In that context, the industry must enter a new phase and move beyond a narrow view of connectivity as a technical service. The real challenge is no longer deployment, but value capture.
As connectivity infrastructure matures, competitive differentiation no longer depends on internet access alone. It increasingly lies in the ability to deliver innovative connected services and orchestrate access: who controls the customer interface, who defines the access rules, who owns the business logic, and who captures the data and resulting revenue opportunities.
The Wi-Fi portal deserves far more strategic attention than it usually receives. Too often treated as a simple login page or access gateway, it is in fact the layer where connectivity transforms into a business platform.
The portal determines how the service is presented, who can access it, under what conditions, and through which model. It enables airlines to align connectivity with broader commercial and customer objectives, from loyalty activation and differentiated service by cabin or route to targeted upsell, sponsorship, premium access, and integration with other digital services.
In other words, it is where technical infrastructure turns into passenger experience and economic value.
Monetising onboard connectivity: freemium models, loyalty access and beyond
The traditional logic of onboard connectivity no longer holds. Freemium is now the dominant access model, adopted by 58% of connected airlines worldwide, while free, loyalty-gated access is also gaining ground, already offered by 13%. In that context, profitability can no longer depend on a single paywall.
Airlines need more flexible approaches that adapt to passenger profiles, routes, loyalty tiers, and strategic priorities. They must be able to refine and evolve their offers continuously, rather than applying the same model across the fleet.
Connectivity environments are often fragmented across aircraft generations, geographic regions, and service providers. For many operators, this model remains a major challenge. Different connectivity partners can mean different user journeys, interfaces, access conditions, and data flows. The result is an inconsistent passenger experience and reduced control for the airline.
A strategic connectivity model, therefore, requires a unified control layer. Airlines need the ability to standardise the experience across providers and aircraft types, while still adapting commercial rules and service levels where relevant.
They need to control branding, payment flows, offer design, access logic, and data collection without being locked into the operating model of a third party.
Data, regulation and the future of onboard connectivity
This is also essential from a governance perspective. Connectivity increasingly sits at the crossroads of privacy regulation, payment rules, data retention obligations, lawful interception requirements, and regional operating constraints.
As the market matures and connectivity becomes standard, the real competitive advantage will no longer come from simply being connected. It will come from owning the digital layer between the network and the passenger. That is where differentiation will happen. That is where value will be captured.
