When does a disruptor become mainstream? Starlink has undoubtedly reshaped the aviation connectivity more than any other company in the last two years. But despite only getting its first FAA certification in September 2023 it is already being viewed as the right option for many owners.

While Starlink’s offering always looked good on paper, it is also working in practice. Early business aviation adopters who installed Starlink say they it has performed well. They have also been happy with customer support when they needed it.

One reason that Starlink has proved so popular is the simplicity with billing. You can pay $2,000 a month for 20GB (plus $100 for every GB over this) or $10,000 a month for unlimited data. Starlink promises latency of less than 90 milliseconds and download speeds of 100Mbps – 250 Mbps.

Starlink sells direct to customers (through a simple form on its site), with maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) dealers installing the hardware.

The Starlink dealer network is continuing to grow. MROs are increasingly having to order hardware to keep in stock or miss out on installations. Nextant, the maintenance division of Flexjet, led the way with the dealer model and also applied for the first certifications.

“It was us who approached SpaceX after years of conducting research on the evolving technology around connectivity services for aircraft,” says Jay Heublein, president of Flexjet global maintenance and product support. “Connectivity for passengers while in the air has been an ongoing challenge for the aviation industry for years and we had become so frustrated with legacy technology that we were considering acquiring an actual connectivity company to try and fix the problem ourselves.”

Aircraft manufacturers are also adding it to both new and pre-owned aircraft. Gulfstream completed its 100th Starlink installation in August 2025.

Starlink is continuing to use its fleet of rockets to launch satellites – by the middle of 2025 it had more than 8,000 in orbit, up 2,000 in 12 months. These are operating at about 550km (340 miles) from the earth which is why the latency (or speed) can be low.

Customers like being able to log-in before take-off. However, there are some restrictions on where this can be used. While it is available over international waters, Starlink has not received regulatory approval to be used in every country. Countries where it has not yet been approved include China and Russia.

Starlink has seen strong adoption from airlines including Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Air New Zealand, Hawaiian Airlines, airBaltic, Air France, WestJet, and SAS. While this demonstrates their faith in the product some connectivity consultants say it could reduce bandwidth for business jets flying on similar routes.

Valour Consultancy, which specialises in connectivity reports, estimates that Starlink will have a 39% share of the commercial aviation connectivity market by 2034. It expects Starlink to be on more than 3,000 business jets at the same time. This would give it less than 15% business aviation market share. Valour Consultancy says that this is partly because it is targeting larger aircraft.

The company’s competitors say that one of Starlink’s downsides is that it is a closed system. This means that once the hardware is fitted you are effectively locked in. This could be less attractive for government or corporates that want back-up systems.

While Starlink is enjoying its place as a disruptor, its employees are closely watching Amazon’s low Earth orbit offering called Project Kuiper. Project Kuiper is set to become available in 2028. This may be when Starlink officially becomes a legacy business aviation company.