Starlink is taking another step into aviation, this time through a deal with Israeli carrier EL AL. The airline says it will roll out the satellite internet service gradually starting in 2027, giving passengers access to fast connectivity across the cabin, including over oceans and other places where ordinary networks run out of steam.
If the promise holds up in the air, this is less about novelty and more about making aircraft feel a lot less like dead zones. Browsing, messaging, and online services should work with far fewer of the usual mid-flight annoyances, which is exactly the kind of feature airlines love to sell and passengers quickly stop noticing until it disappears.
How Starlink in-flight internet will work on EL AL flights
Starlink says the system will provide high-speed satellite internet throughout the journey, not just on certain legs of the route. That matters because aviation Wi‑Fi has long been a compromise: acceptable on some routes, frustratingly patchy on others. Low-Earth-orbit satellites are changing that equation by keeping a more stable link across long-haul flights and remote airspace.
The company already has more than 40 contracts with commercial airlines worldwide, so EL AL is joining a growing club rather than striking out alone. Competitors in the airline Wi‑Fi business have been racing to catch up, but Starlink’s pitch is simple enough to sell: the connection should feel closer to home broadband than the old ”good luck, the signal is weak” experience passengers have tolerated for years.
Starlink’s airline push is getting bigger
The EL AL agreement also fits into a broader expansion of Starlink beyond homes and remote communities. The service already has more than 12 million subscribers in 160 countries, and its satellite network now numbers more than 10,000 spacecraft in orbit. That scale is the real moat here: airlines want reliability, and scale is what makes reliability less of a marketing slogan and more of an engineering claim.
There is still a long runway between signing a deal and delivering a smooth passenger experience, of course. Aircraft certifications, hardware installation, and fleet-by-fleet rollouts all slow things down, which is why 2027 is the meaningful date, not the announcement itself. The first real test will be whether EL AL can turn Starlink from a nice press release into a feature passengers expect on every flight.