airBaltic “on track” to offer first free Starlink Wifi in Europe “soon”
airBaltic is apparently on schedule to become the first airline in Europe to offer high-speed internet for free (using with SpaceX’s Starlink system), CEO Martin Gauss has stated in a social media post, although no date has yet been confirmed for its roll-out.
This follows an initial ground test aboard an A220-300 conducted this March at the airline’s home base in Riga, where the inflight connectivity system was tested with a full cabin comprising airBaltic and SpaceX employees. Following this successful trial, airBaltic reiterated that it continues to work with SpaceX to achieve the required supplemental type certification (STC) approval, and “is expected to begin installing the product on the airBaltic Airbus A220-300 fleet by the end of this year”.
However, the commencement of the product’s installation appears to have slipped somewhat. The Latvian national airline first announced its intention to equip its entire A220-300 fleet with Starlink-enabled Wifi back in January 2023, something Gauss described as “a historic moment for our airline and the industry as a whole,” with airBaltic adding at the time that it was expecting to begin installing the product on the “entire…fleet this year” [2023].
Gauss has previously praised airBaltic’s choice of Starlink, which employs LEO satellites to provide significantly lower latency and higher transmission speeds with the capability of delivering up to 350Mbps to aircraft. “Having the most modern aircraft type on the market, it was the next logical step for airBaltic to implement the most modern available inflight internet solution on the market,” he added.
