THE ARCH disruptor. The needle mover. The new normal. All words that could be used to describe Starlink’s impact on the satellite connectivity scene. Its arrival has sparked a space race to command a dominant position in low Earth orbit (LEO). With more than 13,000 satellites launched by parent company SpaceX, Starlink is at the forefront of this new frontier. For business aviation customers, this battle for onboard connectivity supremacy is like manna from heaven. Almost literally.

Like other LEO solutions, Starlink’s attraction is the low-latency, officially under 99ms but often about 25ms, and download speeds of up to 1GB. This means it is ideal for video conferencing, 4K streaming, VPN use, cloud access, real-time collaboration and multiple simultaneous users.

There are other benefits such as a touted reduction in fuel burn because of the low-profile, electronically steered antenna which Starlink claims is 2-4x more efficient than other systems.

Its coverage is, in theory, global with lasers linking satellites to provide a seamless service, but regulatory hurdles in a host of countries mean this is not the case in practice. China, Russia, Afghanistan and Syria are off-limits, while India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are among countries still awaiting regulatory approval. South Africa and large swathes of North Africa have no Starlink service. And there is a corridor stretching from eastern Europe to Vietnam where Starlink is as yet unavailable.

Despite this, and perhaps because of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s publicity, Starlink has quickly gained traction among business aviation end users and operators.

“Especially for Gulfstream’s ultra-long-range aircraft, Starlink high-speed internet has proven quite popular amongst our customers,” says Lor Izzard, senior vice president, Gulfstream Customer Support.

“This demand led Gulfstream to pursue FAA supplemental type certification to perform these installations in-house.”

A host of major airlines as well as business jet charter fleets have also either adopted, are rolling out or have signed agreements with Starlink including United, Qatar, Lufthansa, Emirates, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. NetJets is set to install Starlink on 600 aircraft.

That makes Starlink not so much the brash upstart and more an established senior player. The new kid on the block, Amazon’s proposed Amazon LEO, which is set to go live from 2028, could test this authority.

However, Musk’s SpaceX company, the creator of Starlink, has approval for up to 15,000 satellites and a vision for about 42,000 in total to form a mega constellation.

With the market hooked, Starlink made waves in July 2026 when it emailed users to inform them that prices had gone up. In the case of the premium unlimited business aviation option, the cost has doubled from $10,000 to $20,000 per month. It has also added regional boundaries to service plans that limit coverage to a chosen continent.

The cost of the kit has also increased from $145,000 to $200,000.

Installation costs vary dramatically depending on the specific aircraft, whether there is already an STC, the aircraft’s interior layout and the installer but can range from $100,000 to more than $300,000.

Starlink is available on a wide range of aircraft, with supplemental type certificates (STCs) in the pipeline for a range of airframes from the Pilatus PC-12 to the Dassault Falcon 10X and Airbus A380.